Tibet Tours & Trips

I did this tour because my spouse could not cope with high altitude and the need to walk up hundreds of steps up for the religious and historical buildings. Fortunately, or unfortunately, some of the other participants pulled out of the Nepal leg, so effectively I had a private tour of Nepal. The hotel was an older traditional hotel. The rooms are spacious but some of the bathroom fittings were showing their age. The breakfast buffet is a nice spread of bothe western, Indian and Nepali dishes. The Kathmandu city tour was ok. Due to my not being Hindu, I was not allowed to see one of the very old temples, Pashupathinath but I saw 2 Buddhist temples, the large Boudhanath stupa and the hilltop Swayambhunath stupas. We also saw “Kumari” a young girl with important religious connotations for Hindus, at least Nepali Hindus. Many of the buildings in Durbar Square, damaged in an earthquake some years ago, have been repaired, some still not. Many of these wooden buildings are hundreds of years old. There is also a small museum of the Nepali royal family in Durbar square. There are also numerous small and large Hindu temples, statues and other similar religious sites in “old” Kathmandu. I also went on the cable car to Chandagiri Hills for panoramic views of Kathmandu valley. I then went to Pokhara by road and I would not recommend travelling to Pokhara by road. It is a very slow and long ride on terrible roads. Although there are a few nice views from the bus, they do not stop at these places for photographs. Pokhara is a nice little city, surviving almost exclusively on tourism. Because of overcast skies, I chose not to go to see the sunrise on the first day but did a few other things. There is a nice lake with a temple but as Pokhara weather is quite fickle, I chose not to go boating on it. There is an ancient cave with apparently a naturally formed Shiva Lingam. It is therefore an important pilgrimage site for Hindus from Nepal and India as well as for tourists. It is crowded, slippery and very dangerous because there is a lot of water there from a waterfall and a river. Interesting site but quite challenging as there are many slippery stone steps. There are 2 other religious sites but these are relatively new and more for tourism than for pilgrimage. Both of them are up on the hills and quite a bit of walking is required. There is a relatively new giant Shiva statue on top of a hill and another hill has a relatively new Buddhist stupa. I then flew back to Kathmandu rather than travelling by bus, it is a long ride. Next day I met up with a group of people mostly from Europe, on our trip to Tibet. We were squished together in a minibus for many hours on dreadful roads in Nepal until about half way through we were split into two 4 wheel drive cars which made it a lot more comfortable. Getting through Chinese immigration in Tibet is very time consuming and your luggage as well as phones are checked quite thoroughly. We were warned about certain things we were not supposed to say, do or discuss in Tibet. The roads on the Tibetan side are much better and we had a more comfortable tourist van. We had fantastic views of the terrain ranging from majestic mountains, valleys and even deserts. There are many police checks on the Tibetan side of the border. We stayed 2 nights in small Tibetan cities and then had a fantastic view of Mount Everest , walking to Mt Everest Base Camp at 5200 metres. It was a sight to behold. We continued to Lhasa and had great views of Potala Palace during the day and at night. Climbing Potala palace is a bit of a challenge but there thousands of people doing it and the place is crowded at least during the day. We also visited other Buddhist monasteries and temples in Lhasa, very ancient and very sacred to Buddhists. After spending 2 very full days in Lhasa, we headed back to Kathmandu by road. All in all a very interesting, informative and successful trip both scenically, culturally and spiritually. Will remember for a long time.

Our Tibet tour was packed with authentic culturally rich experiences. Our guide Pinto was outstanding, he went above and beyond the scope of his responsibilities in every way possible. He was friendly, genuine, entertaining, and extremely knowledgeable. He possesses a deep passion for his culture and religion, and shares his knowledge in a clear and interesting manner. Pinto fielded our endless questions with enthusiasm, and never made us feel like we were bothering him. We were always given options about meals and the scheduled experiences and how much time we wanted. At meals in restaurants, Pinto translated menus for us or negotiated special dietary requests on our behalf. He also went as far as serving us beverages and food, when the restaurant staff were busy, before sitting down to his own meal. While shopping, Pinto translated for us and helped negotiate fair prices. Each of our questions or requests was received warmly by Pinto. Pinto also provided information about other itineraries or opportunities available from his company, when we asked about future visits to Tibet. Pinto was amazing and we would request him again, if we return to Tibet.

The guide Kunchok was very good. The hotel in Lhase was terrible. Front desk ladies service very unpleasant. The hotel has no air conditioning and I was arranged a room at the south side which was a boiler room. I woke up twice sweating during the night sleep and in the moring with bleexing nose. Complaint but was declined. Had to request the guide to deal the situation and finally received a change room at the north side which was cooler. Very unpleasant experience and first impression was minus towards this hotel in Lhasa.