8 Days Beijing Tibet Train Tour

Welcome to the capital city of China! After your arrival at the Beijing airport or train station, your local tour guide will greet you and escort you by private vehicle to your downtown Beijing hotel. After we help you check in at your hotel, you will be free to rest up from your long trip or begin exploring the city on your own.

Accommodation: Overnight in Beijing

After breakfast, you can begin exploring the historical essence of Beijing with a quick visit to Tian’anmen Square – the largest city plaza in the world. On the north side of the square you’ll see Tian’anmen Gate, atop which Chairman Mao announced the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Upon entrance into Tian’anmen Square itself you will see one of the world’s five most important imperial palaces – The Forbidden City, a massive palace complex containing more than 9,000 rooms where 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties lived and ruled over China. Inside the palace we will pass through many doorways to admire the magnificent and very well preserved buildings that are decorated with the yellow glazed roof tiles that were reserved solely for imperial use, as well as white marble floors and numerous splendid and colorful paintings.

After exploring the very core of Beijing and China, we’ll take you outside of the city, driving about 70 kilometers over 90 minutes to see one of the great wonders of the world – the Great Wall of China. We will take you to the less crowded section of the Great Wall at Mutianyu, which is a well-preserved and less crowded section of the Wall that was built during the Ming Dynasty. We will take you on the cable car to reach the foot of the Great Wall and then hike along the most beautiful and scenic part of Mutianyu. It’s an incredible feeling to actually be walking along the famous Great Wall of China, climbing up through numerous watch towers and seeing the Wall stretch out like a dragon across the low mountain ridges. After a couple hours of hiking, you can get back down from the Great Wall by cable car. (Note for Mutianyu: if you would prefer more hiking, you can hike up or down to or from the Great Wall, with the hike taking about 40 minutes to climb up the steps. Please let your travel consultant know which would work best for you.)

After visiting the historic Great Wall, we will take you back to your hotel.

Accommodation: Overnight in Beijing

After breakfast at your hotel, we will take you to visit the charming Beihai Park where you can see the ancient White Pagoda and the Nine-Dragon Screen. After visiting the park, we will explore some of Beijing’s famous hutongs, which are ancient alleyways of traditional architecture that originated during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.) Many local Beijingers still live in the traditional manner in these ancient hutongs, and during the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912 A.D.) many members of the royal family resided there. You can wander around leisurely through these narrow alleyways to get a feel for old Beijing, or travel around by rickshaw to see even more. Before leaving the hutongs, we will have a traditional lunch of Chinese dumplings in the home of a local family to complete the hutong experience. If you like, you can even learn how to cook this delicious Beijing specialty by yourself.

After your hutong lunch experience, we will move on to a masterpiece of Chinese architecture, the iconic Temple of Heaven, where for centuries the ancient Chinese emperors prayed for a good harvest nationwide every year. Today the outer areas of the Temple of Heaven are a public park where the locals gather to practice Tai Chi, fly kites, play mah jong and chat, while the inner area of the temple is a historic site for visitors to learn about Chinese history and culture.

Then in the evening we will escort you to the Beijing West Railway Station and help you board your home for the next 48 hours - the Beijing to Lhasa train No. 21. This train departs at 20:00

Accommodation: Overnight on the train

The 3753-kilometer railway between Beijing and Lhasa takes you all the way from northeast China to the most southwesterly province of Tibet on the Tibetan Plateau, with 1100 kilometers of the railway running across the world’s highest altitude railway, the Qinghai – Tibet Railway. Enroute, while enjoying the train travel, you will see varying landscapes as you pass across this vast country on a journey that few travelers will ever experience.

Accommodation: Overnight on the train

Today will begin as you awaken around Golmud, Qinghai Province, headed on towards your destination of Lhasa through some spectacular scenery. The highest point of your train journey will reach 5,072 meters above sea level with snow-capped mountains all around you as you get closer to Lhasa.

You will arrive in Lhasa around 15:40 at the Lhasa train station, where your local tour guide and driver will meet you to transfer you by private vehicle to your Lhasa hotel. You will have the rest of the day free to acclimatize to the high altitude of Lhasa and relax from your long train journey.

Tips for High Altitude Acclimatization:
1) Go for a leisurely walk in the fresh high altitude air, but avoid any strenuous activity after your arrival.
2) It's better to avoid taking a bath to avoid catching a cold.
3) Drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, and eat some fresh fruit.
4) Get plenty of rest.

Accommodation: Overnight in Lhasa

After breakfast at the hotel, we will visit the incredible Potala Palace – the highest palace in the world. As we climb to the entrance gate, you will have a spectacular view over all of Lhasa. After exploring the numerous interesting chapels and learning about the traditional culture and history of the palace and the city, we will move on to the spiritually significant Jokhang Temple, one of the most important temples in Tibetan Buddhism. To see the “real” Lhasa, we’ll stroll through Barkhor Street with its thriving local market where you can pick up some local Tibetan, Nepalese and Indian handicrafts and souvenirs.

Accommodation: Overnight in Lhasa

Today features visits to 2 of the most important monasteries in Tibetan Buddhism – the Drepung and Sera Monasteries. Drepung Monastery is located on the hillside west of Lhasa – at one time the world’s largest monastery with about 10,000 monks living there. A pleasant walk up the hill leads to the solemn ambience inside the monastery’s many halls and chapels. After Drepung, we will move on to the Sera Monastery. The main highlight of the Sera Monastery is watching the crowd of monks debating inside the shady courtyard behind the main temple. Every day except Sunday, hundreds of red-robed monks assemble in small groups and practice their debating skills – a very impressive sight to behold, as the monks are very animated in their debates about the various attributes of Buddhist scriptures.

Accommodation: Lhasa Economic / Comfortable Hotel (Twin Sharing)

Today you will have free time until your tour guide escorts you to the Lhasa train station or airport for your departing train or flight from Lhasa. This will end your tour services in Tibet.

Accommodation: None