Arriving in Lhasa, the ancient holy city of Tibet and Our Tibet travel guide and driver will be welcomed you at the railway station and transfer to the hotel. Rest in the afternoon.

After breakfast, travel to Potala Palace, which will take you 10 minutes from your hotel. THE POTALA PALACE is one of the great wonders of the world. It is held sacred by Tibetans as the former residence of successive Dalai Lamas, and is one of Tibet’s most holy pilgrimage sites. A palace was originally built in the 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo, and was believed to have been nine stories high, but around the 9th century, it is believed to have been destroyed by a big fire. The present Potala Palace was constructed by the great fifth Dalai Lama in the 17th century after he became ruler of Tibet. The Potala Palace is divided into two sections, the White Palace (completed in 1653) and the Red palace (completed 1694). It has over one thousand rooms and is thirteen stories high. The White Palace was secular and mainly used for government administration, whilst the Red palace was mainly used for religious functions and still has many chapels, including those containing reliquary stupas of the successive Dalai Lamas which are richly decorated in gold, silver and semi-precious stones. Afternoon, visit Jokang temple and Bharkor. JOKANG TEMPLE the Jokang is Tibet’s most sacred temple, the main point of pilgrims from the entire Tibetan plateau. At the heart of the ancient town of Lhasa, it was built in the 7th century by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo’s queen Bhrikuti on a site identified by Queen Wencheng according to her geomantic calculation. The temple is 3 stories high, and it is constructed with enormous chapels, including the most sacred statue of Budhha Shakyamuni, enshrined. It has around 70 monks nowadays.

NORBU LINGKA is the first summer palace which was founded by the seventh Dalai Lama in 18th century and the first Palace Kelsang Podrang was also constructed as the same name as the 7th Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso. The eight Dalai Lama Jampel Gyatso (1758-1804) started work on the Norbulingka, spending the gardens and digging a lake which can be found south of the new summer Palace. The thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1933) handled the three palaces in the North-West corner of the park and the fourteen the Dalai Lama built the new summer palace in 1956. Nowadays there are some monks who are taking care of the Palace.

ANCIENT BHARKOR STREET is the most sacred pilgrimage site in Lhasa and it is full of pilgrims from down till dusk. There are four huge prayer flags in Bhakor street which surround the Jokang, known respectively as Gadhen Dharchen in the northeast, Juyak Dharchen in the west, Kelsang Dharchen in the southwest and SharKyaring Dharchen in the southeast. The Bharkor street is the most active market in all Tibet and it is possible to purchase traditional Tibetan artifacts, religious implements, antiques, modern goods, books, music, clothing, spices, fresh meat and vegetable.

After breakfast, drive to Drepung monastery which will take you 15 minute drive from your hotel. DREPUNG MONASTERY is the largest monastery in Tibet, built in the 15th century by Jamyang Choeje, one of Tsongkapa’s foremost disciple. The monastery is beautifully located up in a hill at the distance of 7 Km from the old section of the city and it is the biggest monastery in Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery has four major colleges with many small chapels and house chapels, known as Khangtsen in Tibetan. There are around six hundred monks nowadays.

SERA MONASTERY was founded in around 15th century by Jamchen Choeje who is another famous disciple of Tsongka pa and it is the second largest monastery of Tibet. There are three big colleges with many chapels and house chapels. The most attraction to visit this monastery is to see the monks debating which hold from 3-5Pm everyday apart from Sunday.

After breakfast, start your Yamdrok lake day trip and drive through the Kyichu valley and Gampala pass with many zigzags. After driving two hours and a half, you will reach the top of the Gampala pass and enjoy the spectacular view of Yamdrok holy lake and Mount Noejing Kangsang (7191m). Yamdrok Lake is a freshwater lake in Tibet. It is one of the four largest sacred lakes in Tibet. It is over 72 km long. The lake is surrounded by many snow-capped mountains and is fed by many small streams. It has over eleven arms. On the way back to Lhasa, you will visit a Tibetan family to see the real Tibetan lives and get more authentic Tibet travel experience.

After breakfast, you will start your excursion to Ganden monastery through Lhasa to Nyingtri highway and you will have a fantastic overlooking view of Tibetan traditional villages, surrounded by green fertile agricultural land of Tibet and beautiful meadow hill side near Ganden monastery with many Yak. It will take you an hour to reach Ganden monastery by van. You will visit Ganden monastery, which is the mother monastery of the Gelukpa sect, and it is the most important Buddhist school in Tibet. The monastery is also one of the biggest monasteries in Tibet. After the sightseeing at Ganden monastery, you will do a short walk around the monastery, known as monastery Kora in Tibetan. You take around two hours and enjoy a panoramic view of the Kyichu valley. On the way back, you will visit a small Tibetan Thangka factory and see how the Tibetans build their Thangka, the most significant Tibetan traditional art which has hundreds of hundreds of years history.

After breakfast, we will drive you to the airport for your last departure from Lhasa. You can fly either to your home country from mainland China or to Kathmandu for your next destination.