SHANGHAI – Flight to LHASA
Transfer to the airport to take a flight from Shanghai to Lhasa. You will be met on arrival at Gonggar Airport and transferred to the city, seeing the Stone Giant Buddha engraved on the mountain face en route. Lhasa is the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region with an elevation of 3,650 metres (12,000 feet) above sea level – the highest city in the world. This ancient sprawling city, settled 1,300 years ago, is the region’s political, economic and cultural centre, as well as a sacred place of Tibetan Buddhism. Check in at the 5* LHASA MANASAROVA HOTEL, decorated in Tibetan style, situated in the old part of the city, for the duration of your 4 night stay in Tibet. The rest of the afternoon will be at leisure to rest and to adapt to the high altitude.

LHASA - Potala palace, Johkhang Temple, The Barkhor, Meru Nyingba
We start our sightseeing programme after breakfast with a visit to the Potala Palace, perched atop Marpo Ri Hill, 130 metres about the Lhasa Valley, the greatest monumental structure in Tibet. Thirteen stories high, with over a thousand rooms, it was once the winter residence of Tibet’s chief monk and leader, the Dalai Lama and the centre for both spiritual and temporal power. Today, after the Dalai Lama’s escape to India in 1959, it is a vast museum, serving as a reminder of Tibet’s rich and devoutly religious culture, although major political events and religious ceremonies are still held here. Construction was started in 641 AD and the palace was later enlarged to what we see today. A visit to the Jokhang Temple, the most sacred building in all of Tibet, with its bright paraphernalia of worship, wreaths of heady incense and thousands of Tibetans paying homage day and night, is one of Tibet’s most memorable experiences. Finally, we will pay a visit to the Barkhor, bustling with locals, pilgrims and tourists. The clockwise circuit, or kora, has been Tibet’s holiest since the 7th century. The cobbled alleyways maintain a unique character and market stalls line the wide pedestrian street, where you can bargain with vendors for handicrafts rarely seen elsewhere.

LHASA - Norbulingka Park, Sera Monastery, Visit to Tibetan Family
We pay a leisurely visit to Norbulingka Park (Jewelled Garden) built in 1751 as a summer palace for the Dalai Lama. The complex contains several palaces, chapels and buildings. You can take a fascinating look at the personal effects of the current Dalai Lama, housed in the New Summer Palace, exactly as he left them when he fled from here in 1959, disguised as a soldier and began his journey to India. On the northern outskirts of Lhasa is the Sera Monastery, founded in 1419, once home to 5,000 monks. Today there are far less than this number, but animated debates accompanied by emphatic hand movements still take place each afternoon. A treat today will be a visit to a Tibetan family where you will be introduced to their typical food.

LHASA - Ganden Monastery – Tibet Museum
Take a full day’s excursion to the rambling Ganden Monastery with its ochre coloured walls, 45 kilometres outside the city in a scenic setting high on the Gokport Ridge. This will also give you the opportunity of seeing something of the Tibetan countryside. The monastery was established in 1409 by Tshongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa sect. Of the great monasteries, Ganden was the most seriously damaged during the Cultural Revolution, but since the 1980s Tibetans have put tremendous effort into rebuilding the complex and it now has some 400 monks in residence. Pilgrims from Lhasa visit daily to pay homage at the sacred sites. Visit the Tibet Museum portraying the culture and art of Tibet.