Top things to see in Tibet on your First Trip

In this travel guide, I highlight some of the most exciting things to see and to do in Tibet on your first trip.

In my previous travel guide, I explained when and how to organize a trip to Tibet and some of the challenges you’ll undoubtedly face while exploring this fantastic region.

To summarize, the months from April to October are the best; you’ll need a local travel guide (it’s impossible to visit Tibet independently), and generally speaking, foreigners have many more restrictions than Chinese people.

Despite these challenges, I still believe Tibet is worth visiting. Its millenary culture and incredible landscapes will surely take your breath away. If you are looking for a more unusual Tibet itinerary, don’t miss this article.

One of the first things you’ll have to decide is which tour to choose. When contacting a tour agency (if you are looking for a reliable agency, send me a DM on Instagram), they’ll provide a list of different tours, ranging from a short 3/4-night trip to Lhasa to several weeks of trekking around the Tibetan plateau. On my first trip, I opted for a standard 6-night tour of the main highlights of Tibet, adding 1 night in Lhasa to adjust to the high elevation.

If this is your first time in Tibet, the best option is probably one of the standard tours that includes Lhasa, Shigatse, and Namco Lake.

These are some of the things you’ll explore if you pick the 6-day tour.

Day one and two: Lhasa

As soon as you arrive in Lhasa, your tour guide will welcome you, and usually, you’ll have the first day for yourself. It’s a good idea to take it easy and get some good sleep since Lhasa lies at an elevation of 3600 meters. Most likely, you’ll have a headache for the first few days. Another good suggestion is to avoid eating too much for dinner since this can cause other issues and make adjusting to the high elevation difficult.

On your second day, you’ll start the tour. The highlight of the day will undoubtedly be the Potala Palace.

Potala Palace

Initially built in 641 AD and listed as a World Heritage site in 1994, the Potala Palace is the most sacred place for Tibetan people. It covers an area of 36 million square meters, and you’ll see only a small part of it. The palace is divided into two parts: the white palace, which used to be the political part of the building, and the red palace, which used to be the religious part of the building. Today, only the Red Palace is open and is technically considered a museum.

The tickets must be booked well in advance, and the visit can last only one hour. The tour guide will book it for you. The Potala Palace is one of the places you cannot visit without a tour guide (in Lhasa, you can actually walk around without a guide). Photography is forbidden inside the palace, and, as I mentioned in the previous article, foreigners are not allowed to use drones in all of Tibet.

Canggu Temple

The Canggu Temple, also known as Tsamkhung Nunnery, is one of the few active nunneries in the old town of Lhasa and holds great cultural and spiritual importance. Founded during the 15th century, the temple follows the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and serves as both a place of worship and a residence for dozens of nuns who dedicate their lives to prayer and study.

Barkhor Street

Barkhor Street is the heart and the historical center of Lhasa. It’s where local Buddhists and pilgrims practice religious circumambulation to erase their sins. You are supposed to walk only clockwise, and if you see someone walking in the opposite direction, even if they are dressed like locals, they are Chinese (Han) tourists: don’t be like them. Don’t forget to take a break in one of the several teahouses with a rooftop to have a great view of the street.

Even though there are checkpoints to enter the Barkhor and technically you should be accompanied by a guide, there are no issues if you decide to go there on your own.

Jokhang Monastery

The Jokhang Monastery is considered the most sacred and important temple in Tibetan Buddhism. Founded in the 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo, it houses a revered statue of the Sakyamuni Buddha brought to Tibet by one of the king’s wives. The monastery’s architecture is a striking blend of Indian, Nepali, and Tibetan styles, reflecting centuries of cultural exchange. You’ll see pilgrims from across Tibet come to prostrate themselves along the Barkhor Circuit surrounding the temple.

Day three: Yamdrok Lake – Karola Glacier – Shigatse

You’ll spend most of the day travelling by car, driving along some epic mountain gorges and high plateaus. If you spot an interesting place, tell your guide to stop for a few minutes. I’m glad I did because we found some cute Pika in one of the locations. They are becoming increasingly rare to find in the Tibetan Plateau. A few kilometers away, we also found a herd of Blue Sheep.

Blue Sheep, also known as Bharal in other parts of the Himalayas, are the major prey of the Snow Leopard, as I witnessed on a previous trip to the Tibetan Plateau.

The first official stop will probably be in one of the lookouts along the road, which have nothing interesting to see and are a tourist trap.

You’ll be surrounded by people asking you to pay some money to take pictures with several Tibetan Mastiffs, baby goats, and White Yaks parked there.

Yamdrok Lake

Yamdrok Lake, also known as Yamdrok Yumtso, is one of Tibet’s most beautiful lakes and is considered sacred by the local Tibetan people. Located about 90 kilometers southwest of Lhasa, the lake stretches over 72 kilometers in length and sits at an altitude of roughly 4,441 meters above sea level. The lake is fed by glacial streams and is surrounded by vast grasslands where nomadic herders graze yaks.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that the lake is the transformation of a goddess and that its waters have protective powers over the region. Pilgrims often stop along its shores to offer prayers and make circumambulations, and the lake features prominently in local folklore and religious practices.

Karola Glacier

The Karola Glacier, also known as Karo La Glacier, is located along the road from Lhasa to Shigatze, at an altitude of around 5,200 meters, and it’s backed by the southern slope of Naiqin Kangsang Peak (7,191 meters), one of the four highest peaks in Tibet. Beyond its beauty, the Karola Glacier is an essential source of water for the surrounding valleys, feeding rivers that sustain local communities and their livestock.

There’s a viewpoint right along the road that will allow you to take some amazing pictures of the glacier, if it’s not covered with clouds, as it often happens.

Day four: Shigatse Tashilhunpo Monastery – Nimu – Mountain Donggula – Yampachen Grassland in northern Tibet – Damxung County

Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet after Lhasa, is an important cultural and historical hub in the region. Shigatse has long been a center for Tibetan Buddhism, most notably as the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy after the Dalai Lama.

It has more Tibetan people than Han (Chinese People), so it’s culturally more preserved. It’s also way less developed than Lhasa, and although it still looks like many other Chinese cities in some of its areas, you’ll truly feel like you are in Tibet.

Shigatse also serves as a strategic starting point for exploring the western plateau, including remote valleys, high-altitude lakes, and nearby Himalayan peaks.

I recommend photographing the sunrise on the mountain behind Tashilhunpo Monastery, where you can enjoy an incredible panoramic view of the city with Shigatse Dzong (Little Potala Palace) as the backdrop.

The imposing Shigatse Dzong was built in the 17th century as a smaller prototype of Lhasa’s Potala Palace. It was destroyed in 1961, following the 1959 Tibetan uprising, and later rebuilt in 2007 on the same site, albeit on a smaller scale.

Tashilumpo Monastery

Tashilumpo Monastery was founded in 1447 CE by Gedun Drub, a disciple of the famous Buddhist philosopher Je Tsongkhapa, who was later named the First Dalai Lama. Donations from local nobles financed the construction.

It’s the seat of the Panchen Lama, the second most important Tibetan Leader after the Dalai Lama. To understand the local culture a bit better, it’s essential to explain the difference between the two Lamas.

The First Dalai Lama gained the title in 1391, whereas the First Panchen Lama gained his title in 1385. They were both disciples of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.

According to the Tibetan Buddhist belief, Panchen and Dalai Lama have already been very close long before they were humans: Dalai Lama is considered to be the incarnation of Guanyin/Avalokiteśvara, while Panchen Lama is the incarnation of Amitābha.

Historically, in Tibet, the Dalai Lama had more political power as the leader of both the regime and the religion. The influence of Panchen was more or less limited to the Shigatse area. But there were cases where the power of Panchen surpassed that of the Dalai Lama. Regardless, in the eyes of the Qing and the Republic of China governments, they both had the same level of religious status (as most high-ranking monks in Tibetan Buddhism). Traditionally, the younger one between the two shall become the disciple of the older one. Exceptions only apply if both are too young or if they have serious conflicts with each other.

The Panchen Lama bears part of the responsibility of the monk-regent for finding the incarnation of the Dalai Lama and vice versa.

Pilgrims circumambulate the monastery on the lingkhor (sacred path) outside the walls. Although two-thirds of the buildings were destroyed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, they were mainly the residences of the 4,000 monks. The monastery itself was not as extensively damaged as most other religious structures in Tibet because it was the seat of the Panchen Lama, who remained in Chinese-controlled territory.

According to Wikipedia, however, in 1966, Red Guards led a crowd to break statues, burn scriptures, open the stupas containing the relics of the 5th to 9th Panchen Lamas, and throw them in the river. Some remains, though, were saved by locals, and in 1985, Choekyi Gyaltsen, the 10th Panchen Lama, began the construction of a new stupa to house them and honour his predecessors. It was finally consecrated on 22 January 1989, just six days before he died aged fifty-one at Tashi Lhunpo.

After this history lesson, it is time to move on and head for Damxung County, where you’ll spend the night. But before that, you’ll pass through some amazing places.

Yampachen Grassland

One is the Yampachen Grassland, where you’ll see herds of Yaks and incredible prairie views with snow-capped mountains in the background.

Remember to occasionally stop to take pictures and listen to the incredible absence of human sound. You’ll also see some scattered villages, which will make you wonder how people have survived for so long at an elevation of more than 4000 meters.

In the late afternoon, you’ll arrive in Damxung, a small town built around a train station with surprisingly heavy traffic. This place is used as a base for visiting Lake Namco the following day.

Day five: Namco Lake, then back to Lhasa

On day five, you’ll drive from Damxung to Namco Lake (also called Namtso Lake), probably the most beautiful place in Tibet. It’s the highest saltwater lake in the world and the largest lake in Tibet. It covers an area of 1920 square kilometers and is the second-largest saltwater lake in China (Qinghai Lake is the largest one).

Unfortunately, when you first arrive in the main area, you’ll probably be a bit disappointed since it feels more like an amusement park than one of the most sacred places for Tibetan people. There is a massive building with hundreds of buses waiting for tourists. You’ll have to take one of the buses that will drive you to a small peninsula on the lake.

Don’t get me wrong, the lake is still worth a visit, but don’t expect it to be the remotest place on earth. Luckily, there were no tourists when I went there, but I was told it could be very crowded and that I might have to queue for an hour or so to get on the bus.

Namtso has five uninhabited islands of reasonable size. At the end of winter, pilgrims used to walk over the lake’s frozen surface, carrying their food with them and using the island as a spiritual retreat. They spent the summer there, unable to return to shore until the water froze again the following winter.

When you arrive on the peninsula, you can hike a small hill where you’ll have a panoramic view of the lake, and you’ll probably avoid most of the crowds, who’ll stay on the banks of the lake taking pictures with the White Yaks.

After Namco, you’ll return to Lhasa and visit Jokhang Temple if you haven’t yet done so. I recommend you visit the temple earlier, during your second day, because you’ll be pretty tired, especially after hiking in Namco. Also, if you spend quite a lot of time in the lake, you won’t have much left for the temple.

If you choose the shorter tour, this is it. If you pick the longer tour, you’ll probably also visit Everest Base Camp and Nyingchi. Remember that Nyingchi is famous for the peach blossoms, but they only happen around April. I’m not sure if it’s worth visiting during the rest of the year.

Final Thoughts

Tibet is one of the most mysterious regions on earth, thanks to its long history of isolation and inaccessibility to foreigners. For decades, travel to the region was heavily restricted, and only a few explorers and scholars were able to glimpse its remote high-altitude landscapes and unique culture. This isolation helped preserve Tibet’s traditional way of life, from its monasteries and rituals to its nomadic communities, creating an aura of mystery that still surrounds the region today.

The truth is that some places, like Lhasa, have become quite developed, and they are suffering from over-tourism as well, while some other areas (such as the ones mentioned in this article) are still very authentic.

The main question when considering visiting Tibet is whether you want to have the freedom to stop and explore whichever place you might want to see or not. If that’s your priority, then you might consider this remote corner between Qinghai and Western Sichuan, which has some of the best-preserved Tibetan areas in all of China, and you’ll also have the freedom to explore any place you like. If your priority is visiting the most sacred places of the Tibetan people, then the Tibet Autonomous Region is the right choice.

As I always recommend, get a VPN or an eSIM and travel insurance before leaving for China.

In this article, I explain how to get the Tibet Travel Permit. If you want to explore other Tibetan areas, check out my Western Sichuan Travel Guide.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. Here are some other pictures I took in Tibet. Here is my travel guide to China, and here are some of the most interesting things to see in northern Yunnan, close to Tibet. Here you can find my Nepal travel guide.