Road to Everest (Tibet)
Everest itself rises directly above you at base camp, 8,848 metres of it, rather than a photograph, past a palace that housed fourteen generations of Dalai Lamas before the last one went into exile – twelve nights across the roof of the world.
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Road to Everest (Tibet)
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12 nights through China
Twelve nights from Lhasa to Everest Base Camp and back, guided, across central Tibet on a Royal Enfield Himalayan.
Lhasa sits at 3,656 metres and the first days are given to acclimatisation, with the Jokhang temple, the most sacred in Tibetan Buddhism, and a ride out to Ganden monastery to get used to the air.
The Potala Palace follows, begun in 1645 and the residence of the Dalai Lamas until 1959, thirteen storeys of it stacked up a hill above the city. Yangbachen comes next, then Shigatse over the Shogu La and Dongu La, with Tashi Lhunpo, founded in 1447 and the seat of the Panchen Lamas, and Shegar over the Gyatso La at 5,228 metres on the Friendship Highway. Rongbuk and Everest Base Camp follow, with the north face directly above the tented settlement, then Tingri with Cho Oyu in view, and Saga over the Lalung La and Thong La, both above five thousand metres.
The bike hire is included; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking, as are the Tibet permits, which the operator arranges and which cannot be obtained independently. Altitude is the serious matter here: almost the whole route sits above four thousand metres and anyone with a heart or lung condition should take medical advice before booking. May to October is the season. Thirteen days with the acclimatisation built in is the right length for this, and base camp at the end of it is the reason people book.
Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
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12 days, from £3,624pp