16 Days London Guangzhou Lhasa Namtso Xian Beijing Tour by Train

There is one direct flight leaving daily from London to Guangzhou and the overall travel time is around 12 hours. Please pack your luggage well and get to the airport on the day of flying. (The direct international flight from London to Guangzhou suggests to be booked by yourself.)

Stay overnight on the plane.

After our clients arrive in Guangzhou Airport, the guide will be greeting you and later get you transferred to your hotel. You can have a good rest and explore around nearby streets.

After dinner, we will head to enjoy the spectacular night view of Guangzhou City from Canton Tower, a must-visit for first-timers to Guangzhou. Canton Tower is the second highest tower in the world. And it features the world’s highest bubble tram and longest spiral staircase, and jaw-dropping Sky Drop. The sky drop made it in the Guinness Book of World Records as the highest thrill ride in the world. Do bring your camera for the sunning panoramic night view of the Guangzhou City.

Stay overnight in Guangzhou.

Chimelong Safari Park is the perfect place for family with kids to have fun in entire day. You can see a huge group of flamingos, swans, elephants and giraffes, and many more animals. They are mostly out in the open, not penned up.Animals seemed very happy and well taken care of. Trolley ride through the open enclosures was great. Walking through the park is an all-day event.

At night, all of us will enjoy the world-class performance by Chimelong International Circus. You will definitely be blown away by non-stop mesmerizing entertainment. From jaw dropping stunts to the shows of the adorable animals, it’s worth every penny spent on it.

Stay overnight in Guangzhou.

In the morning, we will board the Guangzhou-Lhasa train and begin to enjoy the long ride. The Train Z264 departs at 11:45 and the entire ride covers 4980km, the longest train route for Qinghai-Tibet Railway. And it takes about 53:00 hours to reach Lhasa.

Insider Tips: Do get prepared such as small snacks or fruits, books, music to kill time. Throughout the entire train journey, you will witness the most diverse topography and city scenes of mainland China.

Stay overnight in the train.

The second day of the long ride, the train will pass Xian to Xining, which is the beginning of the highlights of Tibet Train journey.

Stay overnight in the train.

A full day window sightseeing along Qinghai-Tibet Railway, you will see land of snows, desert, immense grassland, ice mountain, beautiful lakes which will fairly entertaining.

Shortly after your arrival in Lhasa in the late afternoon of third day, you will be warmly received by your tour guide who would say TashiDelek, which means wishing you all the best and transferred to your reserved hotel in Lhasa. You can have a good rest to acclimatize the high altitude.

Insider Tips: To avoid acute altitude sickness, it’s highly advisable to have a good rest at your hotel. And never rush to tour attractions yourself inside the Lhasa city. Drink much water and eat vegetable. Meanwhile, it’s recommended not to have showers for the first couples of days in Lhasa to minimize the chance of catching cold.

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. Inside you can see the statue of Buddha Sakyamuni at the age of twelve. Outside, you can see pilgrims making prostrating in front of Jokhang Temple. Around the temple is Barkhor Street, where you can do kora (a religious circle of a building or mountain) with pilgrims and locals, and explore the old market. Besides, we can taste Tibetan tea with locals in tea house.

Optional:
With time permitting, you may go with tour guide to visit Tibetan handicraft art or Tibetan Traditional Medicine center. You can upgrade your service to enjoy Tibetan Culture Show in the evening (fr. 60USD)

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

In the morning, you are going to visit Drepung Monastery which is one of the “great three” Gelug monasteries of Tibet, founded in 1416 by Jamyang choge, one of the Tsongkhapa’s main disciples. You can visit the biggest monastery kitchen inside the monastery and enjoy Buddhist Sculpture Carving workshop near Drepung.

In the afternoon, you will visit Sera Monastery which is another one of the “great three” Gelug monasteries of Tibet. The hot attraction is the monks debate at around 3 - 5 in the afternoon. In addition, you can tour the Tibetan religious scripture printing house. Inside the monastery, you can see three sand Mandalas and colorful Rock Painting of Buddha.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

In the morning, drive from Lhasa to Lake Namtso, one of the four holy lakes of Tibet and also the highest saline lake in the world. On the way, you can see snow-capped Nyenchen Thanglha Mountain Ranges and lots of nomads and their tent with grazing yak and sheep densely-populated on the flourishing grassland (in summer). Besides, you can enjoy the view of the Sky-Road Railway with snow mountain background; while standing at the famous Lagenla Pass(5190m), you can view the stunning vista of holy Namtso Lake.

Then we can enjoy our time doing a leisurely trek around Tashi Dor Island and along the lakeshore. Drive back to Damxung. (For environment protection, the Lakeshore guesthouses were close by the government.)

Stay overnight in Damxung.

After breakfast, we will first visit Chimelong Nunnery (Phyirmil Lung Nunnery). Roam over the peaceful small nunnery and get an idea of different Buddhist studies in Tibet, you may also spot a sky burial site (Tibet funeral site) in the distance.

Then, we can go to Tsurphu Monastery, the seat of the Karmapa branch of the Kagyupa order of Tibetan Buddhism.  Here, you can learn more about the ‘Black Hats’, the Karma Kagyupa school of Tibetan Buddhism. In the summertime (June to September), we can also go for a ‘Linka outing’ (Tibetan-style picnic) in the small village at the foot of the hill of Tsurphu Monastery.

Finally, we will drive back to Lhasa.

Stay overnight in Lhasa.

Today’s Cultural Tips: Sky burial is a funeral practice commonly seen in Tibet. The corpse will be disposed of and later devoured by vultures. In Tibetan Buddhism, sky burial is believed to represent their wishes to go to heaven. Only family members of the dead can attend the funeral.

The guide will transfer you to the airport and help you board the plane bound for Xian. After around 3 hours’ flight, you will land in Xian. The local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotels. And the rest of the day is for you to have a rest.

Stay overnight in Xian.

The day tour in Xian is impressive too. The Emperor’s Terracotta Army is also one of the eight wonders in the world. These terracotta warriors and horses are the size of a real army, and were buried alongside the Emperor in a vast underground palace.

In the archeological site of Banpo Village, built more than 6,000 year ago, you will see how the resident matriarchal tribe used to survive in the Neolithic age.

Stay overnight in Xian.

In the morning, we will first pay a visit to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Shaanxi History Museum. As a landmark of Xian, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda was built for storing Buddhist sutras in AD 652, and is seven-layered with a height of 64.5 meters.

Located to the northwest of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum is China’s first large-scale national museum. There are more than 370,000 pieces of cultural relics collected in the museum, ranging from simple stone tools of ancient humans to various kinds of objects in social life before 1840.

After the tour, you will be transferred to the station to take the high speed train to Beijing. Upon arrival, your guide will meet you and take you to your hotel in downtown area.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

Today is guided tour to Forbidden City and Summer Palace which are the traditional must-see places in Beijing. The Forbidden City is the best preserved imperial palace in China and the largest ancient palatial structure in the world. The splendid architecture of the Forbidden City represents the essence and culmination of traditional Chinese architectural accomplishment.

The Summer Palace is the largest royal garden in the world built in Qing Dynasty. The grandeur and beauty of the Palace is overwhelming and is sure to impress anyone.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

The Great Wall tour proves that China was one of the strongest countries in its history. Stretching thousands of kilometers, the Great Wall protected the ancient Chinese against the invasion of the enemy from its north side for more than 1000 years; the Great Wall was listed as one of the world's eight wonders. Mutianyu Great Wall, featured “graceful”, enjoy the best quality among all Wall sections, 80km north-east of Beijing with 22 ancient watchtowers, about one every kilometer. (Cable car is optional if you do not want to walk)

Then you will visit the Ming Tombs, the burial site of the emperor Zhuli, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty who ruled for 22 years until his death in 1424.

Stay overnight in Beijing.

In the morning, you will first visit the historic Temple of Heavens, which is the largest city square in the world and the spiritual heart of China, and then move on to the famous Hutongs, the traditional courtyard residence in narrows alleys in Beijing. It is a great place to know the folk culture and old quarters of Beijing city.

After that, the guide will transfer you to the airport and help you get on board.There arefour direct flights leaving daily from Beijing to London and the overall travel time is around 11 hours. Hope you have a nice trip home and look forward to traveling with you again! (The direct international flight from Beijing to London suggests to be booked by yourself.)