Lhasa to Kathmandu Overland Group Tour

The Lhasa to Kathmandu Overland Group Tour departs from April to early November, when Tibet admits foreign travellers, the Kathmandu–Lhasa flight runs several days a week, and the Gyirong ridge and Gyatso La are reliably open. Tibet closes to foreigners from late February through most of March each year, and from mid-November the passes can shut for days after snow, so we run no winter dates.

April, May and October give the clearest Everest views from the Gawula pass and the Rongbuk guesthouse door, with nights below freezing at base camp. June to early September is warmer along the road but brings monsoon cloud on the Nepal side and afternoon haze at Everest, and the Trishuli road below Syabrubesi is at its roughest in August after landslides. Saga Dawa, in May or June by the lunar calendar, fills the Barkhor and Tashilhunpo with pilgrims; ask us for the date before you choose a departure.

This is graded 2, moderate, and the grading is about hours in a vehicle and one high night, not walking. The longest walk is the Potala and Barkhor day at around five kilometres on cobbles and stairs; the base camp viewpoint is a flat 30-minute stroll. Total driving from Lhasa to Kathmandu is about 1,100 km over four days, with the Rongbuk-to-Gyirong day the longest at eight to nine hours.

Altitude is handled better in this direction than the reverse. Three nights at 3,650 m come before any climb, Shigatse at 3,840 m is a small step, and the single night at 4,980 m at Rongbuk is followed by a 2,300 m descent to Gyirong. Most people feel a headache at Rongbuk and sleep poorly; almost everyone is fine by Gyirong.

The guide sets the pace, runs oximeter checks at every gain, and can keep a traveller in the vehicle at a pass or hold them at Shigatse while the group continues to Rongbuk and collects them on the way back west. Fitness needed: 400 stairs slowly at the Potala. Anyone with heart or lung conditions should ask a doctor first.

A shared-group format fixes the dates, the vehicle pace and twin-share rooms, and on this route it also fixes one night in a monastery guesthouse with shared rooms and outside toilets. There is no upgrade at Rongbuk. A traveller who cannot manage that night can stay in Shigatse for two nights and rejoin the group at Old Tingri on the descent day; ask us when booking and we price the hotel and the transfer.

Vegetarians eat well in Lhasa, Gyantse and Shigatse: vegetable momos, thenthuk noodle soup, tsampa and Sichuan tofu dishes. Between Shigatse and Gyirong the choice is thin, mostly noodles and egg-fried rice, so vegans and anyone gluten-free should carry two days of their own snacks. Jain meals need a day's notice and are only realistic in Kathmandu and Lhasa.

Mobility: the vehicle is a step-in minibus or 4WD with no lift. The Potala's 400 steps, the Kumbum's ladders and the Rongbuk guesthouse have no level access. This tour is not suitable for wheelchair users; a private trip can drop the Kumbum and Rongbuk and stay lower.

The itinerary is built so that the highest night comes late and once. Two nights at 1,400 m, three at 3,650 m, one at 3,840 m, then the single night at 4,980 m before dropping to 2,700 m. Our Lhasa guide runs pulse-oximeter checks on the arrival afternoon, each Lhasa morning, and twice at Rongbuk. A traveller reading low or showing worsening headache, vomiting or breathlessness is not taken higher; the guide can hold someone at Shigatse or turn the vehicle back from Rongbuk towards Tingri, and that decision is final.

The vehicle carries an oxygen cylinder from Lhasa to the border. There is no hospital between Shigatse and Gyirong, and evacuation from Rongbuk begins with a road descent, so your insurance must cover medical care in China and helicopter or air evacuation to at least 5,300 m; we check the certificate at the Kathmandu briefing.

Drink bottled or boiled water only, eat where the guide eats, and see your doctor four weeks before travel about acetazolamide if you have had altitude trouble before.

Everything sacred on this route is passed clockwise: the Barkhor, the Drepung prayer-wheel corridor, the Tashilhunpo kora, the Rongbuk chortens. Hats off inside chapels, shoulders and knees covered, never step over a seated monk or point your feet at an altar. At the Kumbum the ladders are steep and pilgrims have priority; let them pass.

Photography inside chapels is forbidden or charged; the guide tells you which at each door. At the highway checkpoints and at the Gyirong port, cameras stay in bags and nobody photographs uniforms, vehicles or buildings. Photograph pilgrims prostrating from a distance and only after a nod.

Politics stays out of every conversation with the guide, the drivers and the Tibetans you meet; a careless question can cost a licensed guide his permit. Images of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan-flag stickers are illegal in China and are found in the exit bag scan.

A group of twelve fills a Rongbuk dining room. Order together, let the guide handle it, and tip the guide and driver as a pooled group at the border, since they turn back there.

Your passport needs six months' validity beyond the tour end and three blank pages: this tour takes two Nepal visa stamps and the Tibet entry and exit stamps. Nepal issues a tourist visa on arrival at Kathmandu airport, and again at Rasuwagadhi when you walk back in from Tibet; bring photos and US dollars for both.

Entering Tibet from Nepal does not use an individual Chinese visa. Our Kathmandu desk first obtains a Tibet Travel Permit from the Tibet Tourism Bureau, which takes up to 20 working days, so we need a clear passport scan and your details 30 days before departure, and adds an Alien Travel Permit for the Shigatse and Everest region. The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu then issues a Tibet group visa on one sheet listing every traveller; it requires the original passport and normally holds it for three working days, which sets the four-working-day passport deadline at our desk before the Lhasa flight. The group enters by air and exits at Gyirong together, exactly as listed on the sheet. An existing Chinese visa is not used for this entry; tell us if you hold one, because the embassy can cancel it.

The tour ends the morning after you reach Kathmandu, so book international flights from the day after that. We arrange every permit.