Lhasa Short Tour-5 days

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 considered 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 7 th 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 17 th century after he became ruler of Tibet. The Potala Palace is divided into two sections, the White Palace (completed in 1653) and Red palace (completed 1694). It has more than one thousand rooms and is thirteen stories high. The White Palace was secular in nature and mainly used for government administration, whilst the Red palace was mainly used for religious functions and still has numerous 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. Located 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) did more initiated work on the Norbulingka, expending the gardens and digging a lake which can be found south of the new summer Palace. The thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1933) was responsible for 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 situated in Barkhor street which surrounds the Jokhang, 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 who is one of Tsongkapa’s foremost disciples. 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 main colleges with numerous 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 numerous 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, 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 in Ganden monastery, you will do a short walking around monastery, known as monastery Kora in Tibetan. It takes you 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 years history.

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