11 Days Chengdu and Lhasa World Culture Heritage Tour

Upon arrival in Chengdu airport, you will be transferred to your hotel in Chengdu. The rest of the day is at leisure.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

In the morning, drive about 2 hours from Chengdu to Leshan to have an overlook at the famous Giant Buddha by boat. The grand Buddha carved out of the cliffs at the confluence of the Dadu, Minjiang and Qingyi Rivers. You will take a sightseeing cruise to the center of the river and face the huge stone Buddha.
In the afternoon, drive from Leshan to Mt. Emei to visit Baoguo Temple at the foot of Mt. Emei, known as one of the four sacred Buddhism mountains in China and added to UNESCO's Natural and Cultural Heritage List in 1996. Baoguo Temple is the largest temple on the mountain. Later, you can enjoy a hot spring bath at the foot of Mt. Emei. There are many hot springs near the Baoguo Temple, such as Hongzhu Hot spring Clubhouse, Lingxiu Hot Niton-spring, Yoga Hot Spring of Mt. Emei Hotel, etc.

Stay overnight at the foot of Mt. Emei

In the morning, visit the famous Mount Emei. Many ancient temples are scattered in the deep mountain, and the nature is beautiful. Dense forest, naughty monkeys, clean rivers and something else are beyond your expectation! With an elevation of over 3,000 meters above sea level, Golden Summit is the highlight of Mount Emei and an important attraction integrating the temples and scenic sites together.
After breakfast, move on to the entrance to Mt. Emei and take bus and cable car to the Golden Summit. Standing on the Golden Summit, you are truly among the clouds, as clouds can be seen above and below you. You might have the good fortune to see Cloud Sea even Buddha light if it is a nice day. After having an eyeful of the spectacular view at the Golden Summit, you can take the cable car down and the bus back to Wannian parking lot which is located halfway of Mt. Emei. Take another cable car to visit Wannian temple where you can have a simple lunch. Then walk along the scenic mountain path for around two hours to another parking lot to take a bus out of the Mt. Emei Scenic Area. Drive back to your hotel in Chengdu.

Stay overnight in Chengdu

In the morning, drive for about half an hour to Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, the home to giant pandas, where you will catch pandas' feeding time. They are at their most active, both Adults and Babies. There's a wealth of information and a panda museum in this 230-hectare park 10 km (6 miles) north of Chengdu. It takes about 2.5 hours to visit this site.

Then, the whole afternoon can be free for you to explore around.

In the evening, you will be transferred to Chengdu Train Station for the overnight train to Lhasa. The train departs from Chengdu North Railway Station. It takes about 1 hour to check in as the train takes about 1000 passengers. Please be sure to arrive at the train station for 1 hour or a half before the train departure. Train Z322 from Chengdu to Lhasa departs at 21:37, and your Tibet Permit will need to be checked when you check in.

Stay overnight in the train

Spend the whole day on the train to Lhasa. It is quite a long journey of taking a train from Chengdu to Lhasa. It will take 44 hours, two days and two nights in the Train. On the first day you will pass through two important provincial capital cities in northwest China, Lanzhou and Xining. Xining is known as the beginning of Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Travelling along the rail line, you could see the scenery of countryside and cities in northwest China. The last stop for today is Xining, where you will arrive in about 17:00.

Stay overnight in the train

Enjoy the most beautiful scenery of Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Spectacular land of snows, boundless desert, vast grassland, grand ice mountains, beautiful lakes that will continually appear and strongly attract your heart. You will arrive in Lhasa at about 16:00. Your tour guide will hold a board with your name to welcome you at the exit of the train station and escort you to your reserved hotel in Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Today's tour will first bring you to the Potala Palace which is the winter palace of the Dalai lama. It was put to use since the 7th Century by the 33rd great king of Tibet. The most valuable collections of Potala Palace are the gilded burial stupas of former Dalai Lamas and meditation Cave of the 33rd great king of Tibet.

Then after lunch, tourists head to Jokhang Temple which was founded by the 33rd great king of Tibet in the 7th century, in order to promote the Buddhist religion. Inside you can see the statue of Buddha Sakyamuni at the age of twelve, perhaps the only most venerated object in Tibetan Buddhism. Around the temple is Barkhor street where you can do kora (a religious circle of a building or mountain) with pilgrims and locals, in the meantime you can buy souvenirs.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Visit two important monasteries in Lhasa, the Drepung and the Sera. Drepung monastery is situated at the foothill of a mountain and was founded by Jamyang Choeje in 1416. It was once home to10000 monks and Ganden podrang in Drepung is famous as it was the government centre and later moved to the famous Potala palace during the fifth dalai lama. After lunch, continue to visit the Sera Monastery, which was founded in 1419 by Tsongkapa's disciple Jamchen Choeje. The most attractive is its Buddhist Scriptures debating held in the courtyard mostly around 6:00 - 7:30 in the afternoon.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Passing by the green farmland of Nyangchu Valley, Yamdro-tso Lake, Karo-la Glacier roadside at 4960m, we move westwards to the second biggest city of Tibet, Shigatse, the area spiritually hosted by Pamchan Lama. The most important attraction for today is Yamdro-tso Lake and Kubum monastery in Gyantse. Yamdro-tso Lake is shaped like coiling scorpion with deep blue in color and Kubum monastery has a 35m-high chorten (stupa) with its white layers trimmed with decorative stripes and its crown-like golden dome.

Stay overnight in Shigatse

Before spending about 4 hours driving back to Lhasa from Shigatse, we will visit the largest Monastery in west Tibet-the Tashilunpo monastery, as the last but famous historic sites for your Tibet tour. Tashilunpo monastery is one of the six great Gelukpa institutions and was founded in 1447 by a disciple of Tsongkapa, containing the world's largest gilded copper image (26m high) of future god Jampa. Drive along the Friend-ship Highway back to Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa

Transfer to the airport or train station. The service ends.