Go to Shanghai airport on your own, then fly to Lhasa.

After your arrival, you will be greeted by your Lhasa local guide, who will then take you to Lhasa. The drive will take approximately 1.5 hours (100km). On the way, you will be greeted by the Nie Tang Buddha – a Buddha image engraved in the face of the mountain. Rest and get acclimatized in the hotel. Your local guide will suggest a restaurant option and shopping destination for the rest of the day.

Today's activities end.

After breakfast, your local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to the Potala Palace, a structure of massive proportions. Its towering image will appear again on various occasions throughout your trip, but your first sight of the Potala will truly be an awe-inspiring moment. It takes at least a good 2 hours to visit all the palace's rooms, halls, and chapels.

After a Chinese lunch at a local restaurant, proceed to Jokhang Temple. Bustling with worshippers and redolent with mystery, the temple is an unrivalled experience.

The quadrangle of streets surrounding the Jokhang is the Barkhor – Lhasa's most interesting pilgrimage circuit. This area of the Old Town is both the spiritual heart of Lhasa and the main commercial district for Tibetans.

Return to the hotel. Your local guide will suggest a restaurant option and shopping destination for the rest of the day.

Today's activities end.

After breakfast, your local guide will pick you up at the hotel and accompany you to Lake Yamdroktso (4,441m), one of Tibet's three holy lakes, located 110km outside Lhasa. In the fresh morning air, you will already be on the way to this lake, driving down a winding and bumpy mountain road. After about 3.5 hours of driving, you will then climb over the snowy pass of Kambala (5030m) and see the dazzling Yamdroktso lying just several hundred meters down the road. In clear weather the water is a fabulous shade of deep turquoise. Far in the distance is the imposing peak of Mt. Nojin Kangtsang (7,191m).

Next proceed to Sera Monastery, nestled at the foot of Wu Du Hill in the northern suburbs of Lhasa. It got its name from the sera flowers (wild rose) that grow wild on the hill. The monastery was built under the supervision of Zongkaba's disciple Xiajia Yixi. Among other treasures enshrined in the monastery, visitors will find 16 Arharts carved out of sandalwood from the Ming Dynasty Emperor, over 10,000 golden copper Buddhist statues, and the holy prayer scripture ganzhuer written in cinnabar.

Return to the hotel. Your local guide will suggest a restaurant option and shopping destination for the rest of the day.

Today's activities end.

Your local guide will take you to Lhasa airport for your departure flight to Shanghai.

The tour ends.