Ganden Samye Trek

Trip Facts:
Tour Code: BATE TIB12
Tour name: Ganden Samye Trek
Entry / Exit: Fly in / Drive out
Grade: Easy to Strenuous
Max Elevation: 5200m/17056ft16076ft
Accommodation: Hotel/Camp/Guesthouse
Meal: Full board during Camping & BB in cities
Transport: Flight & Private vehicle
Tour Days: 13
Total Days: 17 

Highlights: 

• One hour Trans-Himalaya flight and breath taking aerial view of Everest and other highest peaks.
• Visit of Potala Palace, Sera Monastery, Drepung monastery, Jokhang.
• Pelkhor and Choden in Gyantse, Tashilumphu in Shigatse.
• Ganden trek.

Trip summary:

This trek gives you a real taste of Tibetan highland adventure and an insight into Tibetan Buddhism. Interspersed with excursions to ancient monasteries, this trek is also recommended for the admirer of Tibetan theology. Trekking in Tibet offers you an altogether different experience. As you hike along the rugged Tibetan terrain, you will be greeted with sights so different and new: from the arid Tibetan topography that resembles a lunar landscape to the ancient villages with their colorful prayer flags and magnificent monasteries. As you traverse along the 80km trekking trail that skirts barley fields and nomadic pastureland, you get an opportunity to observe Tibetan rural lifestyle at close quarters and experience the real Tibet. The tour begins with a comprehensive trip briefing in Kathmandu followed by a sensational trans Himalayan flight to Lhasa that passes over Mt. Everest and many highest peaks of the world (if you join the tour in Kathmandu). This is the only flight fly over Mt. Everest and other highest peaks. In case you wish to start the tour in Lhasa arriving from anywhere in mainland China or taking a new train from Beijing you will be briefed about the tour by your Tibetan Guide.

Upon your arrival in Lhasa, you will be taken on a sightseeing tour to Lhasa visiting major Palaces and monasteries. During the trek you will be supported by an expert and dedicated trekking crew. With them you cross two high passes in the Tsotup Chu Valley, Shug La (5250m) and Chitu La (5100m). You will also get to explore the many monasteries that lie along the trekking trail. The chief highlight of this trek is the trekking trail which connects the two important monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism, Ganden and Samye. Ganden Monastery, which lies 45 km east of Lhasa, is the first monastery of the Gelukpa sect. Built by Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelukpa order, the monastery is renowned as one of the biggest and most important Gelukpa monasteries in Tibet. The Samye monastery with its gleaming facade is reached by crossing the Tsangpo River.  Founded in 779 AD by Trisong Detsen, the monastery has a collection of pagodas and temples. Excursions to the Tandruk Monastery (which holds wonderful specimen of Tibetan art) and the Yambulakhang castle (the home of the Yarlung Kings) are also included in your itinerary. 

After the Trek another interesting journey by luxury 4WD Land Cruiser begins, you drive through high passes over 5000m, Tibetan desert, sand dune, beautiful turquoise lake, ancient cities and towns including breathtaking view of highest mountain ranges Mt. Everest and other peak to your left until you cross the trans-Himalaya and reached totally new landscape of Nepal border. You will be received my BATE representative and transferred to Kathmandu.