Most treks in Tibet do not require technical climbing skills. What they do require is time, proper acclimatisation and a realistic idea of how far you will walk each day. This page puts the main routes on one map and compares their distances, trekking days and high points.
Tibet Trekking Map: Quick Facts
Quick Tibet Trekking Map Facts
The difficulty notes describe what a route feels like rather than a mountaineering grade.
Where the Major Treks Are on the Tibet Map
Tibet’s trekking routes are not gathered in one part of the plateau. They follow the monastery valleys outside Lhasa, the corridor toward Everest, the far western plateau and the northern ranges.
Major Tibet Treks at a Glance
The table compares the routes most foreign visitors can arrange, rather than every trail on the plateau.
| Trek | Region | Distance | Typical days | Highest point | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ganden to Samye | Lhasa / Shannan | About 80 km | 4–5 | About 5,250 m | Moderate |
| Tsurphu to Yangpachen | Lhasa area | About 45–60 km | 3–4 | About 5,400 m | Moderate |
| Shalu to Nartang | Shigatse area | About 30–45 km | 2–3 | About 4,550 m | Easy to moderate |
| Old Tingri to Everest Base Camp | Everest region | About 70 km | 4–5 | About 5,200 m | Moderate to hard |
| Gama Valley | Everest region | About 110 km | 8 | About 5,340 m | Hard |
| Mount Kailash kora | Ngari | 52 km | 3 | About 5,630 m | Hard |
| Lake Manasarovar kora | Ngari | Route-dependent | Route-dependent | About 4,600 m | Moderate to hard |
| Nyenchen Tanglha to Namtso | Northern Tibet | About 60 km | 3–5 | About 5,330 m | Hard |
Distances and trekking days are approximate and depend on the route, start and finish point and time of year. Checked October 2026.
The Major Treks on the Tibet Map
Each route opens with the route outline, a day-by-day breakdown of one commonly run version and the key figures, then a map and what makes it demanding.
Ganden to Samye Trek: Tibet’s Classic Monastery-to-Monastery Trek
Trekking Route: Ganden to Samye, across the Lhasa plateau
Day 1: Ganden → Yama-do
Day 2: Yama-do → Shuga La → Tsotup Chu
Day 3: Tsotup Chu → Chitu La → herders’ camp
Day 4: herders’ camp → Samye
Trekking Distance: About 80 km
Trekking Time: 4–5 days
Highest Point: Shuga La, about 5,250 m
Trekking Difficulty: Moderate
Both ends explain why this is one of Tibet’s best-known treks. Ganden was the first monastery of the Gelug school, founded by Tsongkhapa in 1409 on the ridge above the Lhasa valley. Samye, about 120 km from Lhasa by road, is regarded as the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, so the walk links the arrival of Buddhism with the founding of its last great school.
What makes it memorable is how completely the landscape changes. The Lhasa side is high and dry: open pasture and herder paths. Beyond the second pass the valleys turn green, and the last stretch runs through forest and farmland down toward Samye.
Camping is standard, with pack animals or porters normally used to carry the gear. Nothing is technically difficult, but the long days at altitude make this a serious trek. It also fits neatly into a Lhasa itinerary, since the start is an hour east of the city and Samye is reached by road.
Tsurphu to Yangpachen Trek: A High Plateau Trek Near Lhasa
Trekking Route: Tsurphu to Yangpachen, north of Lhasa
Day 1: Tsurphu → Leten
Day 2: Leten → Lasar La → Bartso
Day 3: Bartso → Yangpachen
Trekking Distance: About 45–60 km
Trekking Time: 3–4 days
Highest Point: Lasar La, about 5,400 m
Trekking Difficulty: Moderate
Tsurphu is the traditional seat of the Karmapa lineage and sits near 4,500 m, so the trek starts high and stays high. That is what makes it unusual for a route this close to Lhasa: there is no long transfer to the trailhead. The exact distance depends on where the party finishes.
This is open high-plateau terrain: high valleys, grazing yaks and the black yak-hair tents of the herders, with the Nyenchen Tanglha range in view through the second day. There is little of the forest and gorge that the eastern valleys offer, but there is also nowhere on the route where the plateau feels far away.
Nights are normally spent camping, though some itineraries use a herder’s house. The finish is Yangpachen, where the geothermal area and the road arrive in the same place, so the trek ends with hot springs and a short drive rather than a long walk out.
Shalu to Nartang Trek: A Short Cultural Trek in the Shigatse Area
Trekking Route: Shalu to Nartang, outside Shigatse
Day 1: Shalu → Showa La → Upper Lungsang
Day 2: Upper Lungsang → Ngor Monastery → Nartang
Trekking Distance: About 30–45 km, depending on the route
Trekking Time: 2–3 days
Highest Point: Char La, about 4,550 m
Trekking Difficulty: Easy to moderate
The shortest route on this page links Shalu Monastery with Nartang, both close to Shigatse city. The walking stays near 4,000 m for most of the route, and the main climb is Char La at about 4,550 m. It has the lowest high point of the routes here, but it still climbs above 4,500 m and should not be treated as a low-altitude walk.
What it offers instead is the working countryside of the Shigatse valley: farming villages, dry side valleys, dusty tracks and the turnoff to Ngor Monastery. Nothing here is wilderness, and that is the point.
It was a trade and scholarship route between the monasteries, and it still reads that way. Nartang, once one of the great printing houses of Tibetan Buddhism, makes a fitting finish for a walk that was always about books as much as walking. Both ends sit near a city, so no long transfer is needed.
Old Tingri to Everest Base Camp Trek: The Classic North-Side Everest Trek
Trekking Route: Old Tingri south to the north side of Everest
Day 1: Old Tingri → Lungthang
Day 2: Lungthang → Lamna La → Zhaxizong
Day 3: Zhaxizong → Zommug
Day 4: Zommug → Rongbuk → Everest Base Camp
Trekking Distance: About 70 km
Trekking Time: 4–5 days
Highest Point: About 5,200 m
Trekking Difficulty: Moderate to hard
The trail runs south from Old Tingri to the north-side base camp, following Rongbuk valley past Rongbuk Monastery at about 4,980 m. The days are long and the altitude is serious from the start, but nothing on the route is technical. Old Tingri itself is a small town at about 4,300 m, and for most travellers it is a single night on the way south.
Most travellers cover this ground by vehicle inside the 8-day Lhasa Everest Base Camp tour, which is the difference worth understanding before choosing. Walking in buys days of Himalayan views and a gentler climb: the drive crosses the pass and reaches camp the same day, while the trek spreads that gain out over several days.
It also means camping at altitude with no shortcut home, and treating weather as part of the plan rather than as a delay. The reward is the north face of Everest at the end of a route you walked into yourself.
Gama Valley Trek: A Remote Everest Wilderness Route
Trekking Route: Youpa to Lhundupling, east of the Everest massif
Day 1: Youpa → Showo-tso
Day 2: Showo-tso → Showo La → Dolshang
Day 3: Dolshang → Tangsung
Day 4: Tangsung → Paltang
Day 5: Paltang → Everest east face → Paltang
Day 6: Paltang → Tangsung
Day 7: Tangsung → Tsosho-rim
Day 8: Tsosho-rim → Nangma La → Lhundupling
Trekking Distance: About 110 km
Trekking Time: About 8 days
Highest Point: Nangma La, about 5,340 m
Trekking Difficulty: Hard
East of the Everest massif, the Gama Valley is a remote forested Himalayan valley, and it is the route here with the widest spread between valley floor and high point. The high walking is on the eastern side of the massif, at viewpoints facing Everest, Lhotse and Makalu.
The valley floor sits far lower than the passes above it, so the walk moves through several bands of landscape on the same route: old-growth forest and meadows on the way up, moraine and glacier terrain near the head of the valley, then forest again on the descent. Few treks in Tibet pack that much change into one walk.
This is wilderness walking, camping every night with the gear carried by pack animals or local support. It is also one of the least predictable routes here: the valley sits in a border-area county, access and document requirements can change, and operators need advance notice.
Mount Kailash Kora Trek: The Three-Day Pilgrimage Around the Sacred Mountain
Trekking Route: Three days clockwise from Darchen
Day 1: Darchen → Dirapuk
Day 2: Dirapuk → Dolma La → Zutulpuk
Day 3: Zutulpuk → Darchen
Trekking Distance: 52 km
Trekking Time: 3 days
Highest Point: Dolma La, about 5,630 m
Trekking Difficulty: Hard
The kora is the most fixed of these routes: the standard three-day circuit clockwise from Darchen, with the nights near Dirapuk at about 5,210 m and Zutulpuk at about 4,790 m.
Its difficulty is mainly altitude rather than terrain. The first day is a long valley walk out of Darchen at about 4,575 m; the pass day is steep on both sides and the descent beyond it is long. Most itineraries place it in the second half of a western Tibet trip, after many days at altitude.
The path is a pilgrimage route first, and walking it means sharing the trail with people for whom this is not a trek but a lifetime’s intention. Nights are in tents or simple guesthouses, and the middle day decides how the kora feels.
Typical itineraries run from roughly May to early October, though the exact window depends on road, weather and access. The 13-day Lhasa EBC Kailash Manasarovar tour includes the three-day circuit, and the Mount Kailash map covers the mountain in more detail.
Lake Manasarovar Kora Trek: A Different Kind of High-Altitude Walk
Trekking Route: Clockwise around the lake from Chiu Monastery
Day 1: Chiu Monastery → Langbona → Hor Qu
Day 2: Hor Qu → Seralung Monastery
Day 3: Seralung → Trugo Monastery
Day 4: Trugo → Gossul → Chiu Monastery
Trekking Distance: Route-dependent, commonly 90–110 km for the full walk
Trekking Time: 3–4 days for the full walk
Highest Point: About 4,600 m
Trekking Difficulty: Moderate to hard
Circumambulating Lake Manasarovar is a separate undertaking from the Kailash kora, even though the two sit beside each other. The lake lies at about 4,590 m, and the full walk moves from one monastery camp to the next.
Exact figures vary because itineraries use different starting points and sections of shoreline, or cover part of the eastern half by vehicle. The terrain is generally less steep than the Kailash kora, but the walking is exposed and the altitude never lets up, which makes it a sustained effort rather than an easy one.
The setting does a lot of the work. Manasarovar sits beside the darker water of Rakshas Tal, with Mount Kailash standing north of both, and the monasteries on the shore give the circuit a rhythm that a plain lakeside walk would not have. Decide first whether you want a full walking kora or an afternoon on the shore. The Tibet lakes map places the lake in the wider west.
Nyenchen Tanglha to Namtso Trek: A High-Altitude Trek Across the Northern Plateau
Trekking Route: Damxung north over the range to Tashi Dor
Day 1: Damxung → herders’ camp
Day 2: herders’ camp → Kyang La → basin
Day 3: basin → Namtso shore → Tashi Dor
Trekking Distance: About 60 km
Trekking Time: 3–5 days
Highest Point: Kyang La, about 5,330 m
Trekking Difficulty: Hard
Most parties take three days, some four or five, and the middle day carries the pass.
What sets this route apart is the emptiness. There are no villages on the crossing and no road under your feet, only glacial valleys, open grassland, herder camps and stream crossings that run high with summer melt.
Most people meet Namtso from the highway, arriving at an overlook and leaving again the same afternoon. Walking in from the north is a different introduction: the lake appears slowly beyond the last ridge, with the Nyenchen Tanglha crest behind you and the shore at 4,718 m still ahead.
Remote sections are normally supported by pack animals or a support vehicle, and nights are in tents. It is also the route where the paperwork needs the most checking: requirements for Namtso are settled per itinerary, so your operator should confirm them before the trek is finalised.
Tibet Trekking Difficulty: What Actually Makes a Trek Hard?
Two routes of similar length can feel completely different. Four things largely determine how demanding a trek turns out to be.
Altitude Is Usually the Main Challenge
Lhasa sits at about 3,650 m, so you start higher than most trekking routes elsewhere finish. Many trails here stay above 4,000 m and the major passes rise beyond 5,000 m. Walking at that height takes real effort, and time spent acclimatising matters more than being fit at sea level.
Distance and Daily Elevation Gain
Total distance hides the shape of a trek. A route spread over three days is a different proposition from the same distance over five, and the climbing matters more than the mileage. Descents count too, especially the drops to Samye.
Weather and Trail Conditions
Snow, wind and rain can change the same route from one month to the next. High passes hold snow first, so a crossing that is straightforward in October can be much harder after an early autumn storm.
Remoteness and Camping
On the multi-day routes there is no hotel to fall back on. Shelter may be a tent or monastery lodging, and on some stretches there is no vehicle access at all. That distance from towns and medical help is what turns an ordinary day of walking into a serious one.
When Is the Best Time to Trek in Tibet?
There is no single best month for trekking in Tibet, because the routes sit at different altitudes. Spring and autumn generally give the most workable conditions on the high routes, though nights stay cold and snow is possible on any pass above 5,000 m. Autumn tends to be the more settled of the two, while spring can still bring strong winds.
Summer opens the lower, wetter valleys, including the forested routes in the east, but the monsoon also brings rain and cloud that can hide the peaks. Winter makes most high multi-day treks impractical, though individual valleys and lakes can still be visited.
Important:
The best season depends on your route, altitude and pass conditions rather than Tibet as a whole. Check conditions for your route and dates before booking.
Practical Notes Before Trekking in Tibet
Acclimatization
Landing in Lhasa is not the same as being acclimatised for a 5,000 m trek. Build in two or three nights in the city, keep the first days light and put the highest passes late. Walk slower than feels natural, and treat a headache that does not settle as a signal to stop. Our Tibet altitude map shows how the towns and passes on these routes compare.
Permits and Route Access
Foreign passport holders need a Tibet Travel Permit arranged through an authorised operator, and trekking here normally happens on a guided itinerary.
Requirements beyond that depend on the area rather than on one national rule. The regular Everest route and the Samye area are covered by the June 2025 adjustment and need no separate Alien’s Travel Permit, while Ngari, including Kailash, still requires one plus a Military Area Entry Permit. Border-area treks such as the Gama Valley can involve further documents, and everything else is confirmed case by case. Confirm the full set for your trail and dates with our Tibet travel permit guide.
Camping and Support
Assume a tent on anything longer than a short cultural walk. Gear travels with the group: tent, sleeping system, cooking kit, food and fuel, carried by pack animals or vehicle.
Food and Water
Water sources change from valley to valley, and above the villages you may drink from streams, so carry a filter or purification tablets. Food on remote routes is simple: rice, noodles, tsampa, vegetables and hot tea at camp, so bring your own high-calorie snacks.
What to Pack
- Broken-in walking boots with ankle support
- Warm layers and an insulated jacket for camps and passes
- Waterproof and windproof shell
- Sun hat, sunglasses, high-factor sunscreen, lip balm, gloves and a warm hat
- Headlamp and spare batteries
- Trekking poles, useful on both the climbs and the long descents
- Personal medication and a basic first-aid kit
- Sleeping bag rated for the temperatures you expect
Frequently Asked Questions
Tibet Trekking Map FAQ
What are the main trekking routes in Tibet?
Near Lhasa: Ganden to Samye and Tsurphu to Yangpachen. Shigatse and Everest: Shalu to Nartang, Old Tingri to Everest Base Camp and the Gama Valley. Ngari: the Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar koras. The north: the crossing from Damxung to Namtso.
What is the easiest trek in Tibet?
There is no single easiest route. It depends on altitude, daily distance and trail conditions. The shorter cultural walks, such as Shalu to Nartang, still reach high altitude and need acclimatisation.
Is trekking in Tibet difficult?
Altitude is the main difficulty, followed by distance, weather, remoteness and camping. None of the routes here are technical climbs, but walking for hours above 4,000 m is demanding at any fitness level.
Can beginners trek in Tibet?
It depends on the route. A short valley walk near Shigatse and a remote route with high passes are different undertakings. If you are new to altitude, start short and treat any trek with a pass above 5,000 m as a significant step up.
What is the highest point on the major Tibet treks?
Dolma La on the Mount Kailash kora, at roughly 5,630 m. Two others come close: Lasar La at about 5,400 m and Kyang La at about 5,330 m. A route’s high point is not the same as the highest place you sleep.
Can I trek to Everest Base Camp from the Tibet side?
Yes. A dedicated walking route runs from Old Tingri to the north-side base camp, about 70 km over four to five days, crossing Lamna La at about 5,150 m and finishing at about 5,200 m. It is very different from the vehicle route most tours use to reach the same area.
Can I trek around Mount Kailash?
Yes. The traditional kora runs 52 km clockwise from Darchen and is generally done in three days. It opens seasonally, roughly May to early October, and needs permits arranged in advance.
Do I need permits for trekking in Tibet?
Yes. Foreign passport holders need a Tibet Travel Permit arranged through an authorised operator. Additional documents depend on the route: Ngari, including Kailash, needs an Alien’s Travel Permit plus a Military Area Entry Permit, while border-area routes can involve further documents. Check the current rules for your route and dates.
