Tibet Nepal and Bhutan Cultural Tour
16 Days
Per Person
Overview
This is an inspiring cultural tour that leads you to three Himalayan kingdoms of Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan in a single package. This trio tour is one of best tours which leads you through an adventurous trip over these nations that exhibits the unique culture, natural wonders, spiritual and environmental diversities. This tour completes within 16 days and be your best journey traveling to the Himalayan countries at a time.
First, we will be sightseeing Tibet by visiting the splendid Potala Palace, Norbulingka, Tibetan museums and explore the Namtso Lake. This lake is the highest salt water lake surrounded by beautiful Himalayan mountains. At Lhasa, we will be visiting several monasteries like Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery, Jokhang Temple and last but not least, we wander around Barkhor Bazaar and end our tour in Tibet.
Next, we take an airstrip to Kathmandu for visiting several heritage sites like the Durbar Square, Swayambhunath temple, the Pashupatinath temple, and the Boudhanath stupa. We then drive to Bhaktapur - an alluring city which offers lots of local products. We will be sightseeing the Bhaktapur city and then drive to Changu Narayan temple which is one of the oldest temples of Kathmandu. Our drive would be to Nagarkot, near the village of Bhaktapur to get the splendid Himalayan views and if you wish to see the sunset and sunrise, we can also extend a day here.
Our next tour will be in Bhutan taking a scenic airstrip to Paro where we will be visiting memorial chorten, zoo, nunnery temple, heritage museums and Tashi Dzong. Next, we drive to Punakha to visit Chimilhangkahang temple, Punakha Dzong and the oldest temple Kichulhangkhang. We also make a hike to the most famous monastery of Bhutan i.e. Taktsang monastery which has a legend that the spiritual guru Rimpoche mediated in this cave riding in the back of a tiger. Hence, it is also recognized as Tiger Nest Monastery. It is located on the high cliff at 3180 meters. Finally, our trip to these Himalayan country comes to an end and we depart to our destination.
This tour can be done all year round according to your vacation schedule. As we are only touring, there is no such exact period and trekking to high hills is easily achievable. If you want to inquire more about this trip, please feel free to email or contact us.
Below we enlist our day to day route for this tour:
Detail Itinerary
Day 01: Arrival in Beijing (44m/144ft)
As you arrive at the airport of Beijing our representative will welcome you and take you to the hotel and then after checking into the hotel you can relax and freshen up. We will be spending our night at Beijing.
Day 02: Beijing sightseeing
Beijing has a prosperous variety of fine preserved cultural and regal relics. We will be touring Tiananmen Square which is a widespread open-area of central Beijing. We will then walking to the Forbidden City and explore the Forbidden City. After that we will be visiting the summer palace built in 1749- 1764 and it is also the grand imperial ground in china with the intricate Qing style pavilion, bridge, walkway. We will spend our night in Beijing.
Day 03: Fly to Lhasa (3,650m/11,972ft)
As you arrive at the Lhasa our representative of the Accent Himalaya will pick you up from the airport and drive you to the hotel. Today we will not start our tour as today we will take plenty of rest and adapt the altitude. We will spend our night at Lhasa.
Day 04: Lhasa sightseeing: Potala Palace, Norbulingka Palace and Tibet Museum: 5-6 hours
Today after the breakfast we will be visiting the two most prominent palaces which are Potala palace and the Norbulingka palace. Potala palace was constructed in the 17th century where one gets the spectacular view of the Lhasa city and this palace was earlier the residence of his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Norbulingka is the summer palace of Tibetan spiritual master Dalai Lama. After that we will be visiting the Tibetan traditional hospital center. We will spend our night at Lhasa.
Day 05: A day excursion to Namtso Lake: 8 hours
After having our breakfast we will be driving to Namtso which will take almost 4 hours and here we will be visiting the Namtso Lake which is situated 240 kilometers to the North West of Lhasa. This lake is one of the world highest salt lakes where we will be acclimatizing at this lake. The lake is blue in color with the surrounding with the ranges of Himalayas. We will spend some time in this lake and then we will drive to Lhasa. We will be spending our night at Lhasa.
Day 06: Lhasa sightseeing: Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery, Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Bazaar: 5-6 hours
After having the breakfast we will be visiting the Drepung monastery which was earlier the sheltered to more than 10,000 monks but now there has been fairly a declination ensuing in hardly -any hundreds and this monastery were constructed in the 14th century. After that we will be visiting the Sera monastery with the golden roof with white washed walls. Next we will be visiting the sacred temple named Jokhang temple. After that we will wander the Barkhor market and at this market there are many open stalls, pilgrims crowds as this market is the nerve center of Lhasa. We will be spending our night at Lhasa.
Day 07: Fly to Kathmandu (1,300m/4,264 ft.)
Today we will leave the Lhasa and head to the Lhasa airport and take a scenic flight to Kathmandu and reach at the Kathmandu airport our representative of the Accent Himalaya will pick us from the airport and take us to the hotel. You can take rest for awhile and in the evening the Accent Himalaya team will be hosting a dinner in fine Nepali restaurants which serve you the authentic Nepali cuisine. We will spend our night in Kathmandu.
Day 08: Sightseeing in Kathmandu: Kathmandu Durbar Square, Pashupatinath Temple, Swayambhunath and Bauddhanath
Today after having our breakfast we will be sightseeing the Kathmandu city by exploring the famous heritage sites which are Kathmandu durbar square- one of the ancient palaces with a fine architecture where the earlier male king reign over this country from 12th -18th century. Next we will be visiting the Swwambhunath temple even known as monkey temple, next will be the Pashupatinath temple one of the prime Hindu temples which are located on the bank of Bagmati river. It is also the cremations sites of Hindus. Lastly we will be visiting the Boudhanath stupa which is the biggest stupa in south Asia. We will be spending our night at Kathmandu.
Day 09: Sightseeing: Thimi, Bhaktapur, Changu Narayan and Nagarkot
Early morning we will head to Time which is 10 kilometers far from Kathmandu and this place is popular for wooden masks, handmade cotton clothes and other local made handicraft products. After that we will be exploring Bhaktapur city- an ancient city and at this city we will be visiting some of the landmarks of Bhaktapur which are a golden gate, Nyota-pole temple, water spouts and even we will taste the local food of Bhaktapur. Next we will be visiting the Changu Narayan temple- one of the ancient temple in Kathmandu which is built in the pagodas style. After that we will head to Nagarkot and enjoy the sunset view with the amazing view of the Himalayas.
Day 10: Fly to Paro, drive to Thimphu (2,320m/7,610ft): 1 hour
As during your flight to Bhutan we will be enjoying the splendid view of the Himalayas as well as the sacred peaks mount Chomohari and the Jichu drake peak. Reaching the airport our representative from Accent Himalaya team will greet you and take you to the hotel. As if our flight reaches earlier then we can visit some of the landmarks of Thimpu but if not we can visit it as tomorrow. We will spend our night at Thimpu.
Day 11: Sightseeing in Thimphu
Today early morning we will be visiting memorial Chorten which was constructed in the memory for the late third king who controls from 1952 to 1972. After that we will be exploring the nunnery temple, visit the mini zoo and observe the national animal of Bhutan named Takin and other landmarks like traditional medicine center, painting school, museum, traditional paper factory and the Tashicho Dzong. Most of the landmarks are closed during the weekends on Saturday and Sunday as if we reach the Thimpu during the weekends instead of that we will be exploring the weekend market. We will spend our night in Thimpu.
Day 12: Thimphu to Punakha (1,250m/4,100 ft): 2 - 3 hours
Today once again we will be visiting the memorial Chorten and explore in depth and after having the lunch we will drive through Dochu la Pass at 3,100 meters. And from the pass we will drive downhill passing through the dense fir, rhododendron and hemlock forests. After that we will be passing rice fields alongside the river bank and finally we will reach Punakha.
Day 13: Sightseeing in Punakha
After the breakfast we will start sightseeing the Punakha where we will visit the Punakha Dzong which was constructed in 1637- 38 and it is one of the second ancient and the largest Dzong of Bhutan. After that we will be visiting the Chimi Lhangkhang temple. After a few walk we will be visiting the khamsum Yuelley Namgyal Chorten which was constructed by the queen for the country peace. We will spend our night at Punakha.
Day 14: Drive from Punakha to Paro (2,250m/7,382ft): 4 hours
Today after the breakfast we will start our drive and head to the paro valley. Reaching the paro we will be visiting the Ringpung dzong fort made from the heap of jewels. After that we will be visiting the Kichu Lhakhang temple one of the ancient temples of Bhutan and next we will be visiting the Drugyal Dzong. We will spend our night at paro.
Day 15: Hike to Tiger’s Nest Monastery
Today 4-5 hours we will be hiking to the Taktsang monastery also known as Tiger nest monastery. This monastery is the prominent monastery of Bhutan which is located at 3180 meters and it is in saying that the earlier the spiritual master of Buddhism Guru Rimpoche had flown on the back of the tiger back to meditate into this cave which is now called as Taktsang monastery. We will be having our lunch at the restaurant which is situated at the high above in the midway to the mountain. After exploring the monastery we will retrace back down to the valley. We will spend our night in paro.
Day 16: Final departure
Today the journey finally comes to an end and our Accent Himalaya team will drop you at the airport three hours earlier than your flight schedule.
