Tibet Trekking Map: Major Treks, Distances and Difficulty

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. Trekking access changes with the seasons and with protected-area rules, so each route below carries its own access status and check date rather than a single blanket answer. The page sits inside our wider Tibet map hub, which links every map page on the site.

Tibet Trekking Map: Quick Facts

Sources: Access details reflect the position at our October 2026 check and draw on the Tibet Tourism Bureau and Public Security Bureau permit framework, including the 4 June 2025 adjustment that exempted the Nyingchi, Shigatse, Shannan and G318 routes from the Alien’s Travel Permit, and the 12 March 2026 notice from the Tingri County management office of the Mount Everest National Nature Reserve. Trekking access changes with the season, with protected-area management and with border-area policy; reconfirm with your licensed operator before booking. Checked October 2026.

The difficulty notes describe what a route feels like rather than a mountaineering grade. Access status is a separate layer again: a route can be walkable in terrain terms and still be closed on paper. Every route section below therefore ends with an access line giving its current position and the date we checked it.

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. The final column is the one to read first: it records whether a route is currently operable, and the date we last checked.

Distances and trekking days are approximate and depend on the route, start and finish point and time of year. Access status reflects the position at our October 2026 check, not a standing guarantee. 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.

Access status: Currently operable as a guided trek, with a Tibet Travel Permit arranged through a licensed operator. The Samye area has been exempt from the separate Alien’s Travel Permit since the June 2025 adjustment, and trekking here normally happens on a guided itinerary. Requirements are settled per itinerary, so confirm the document set for your dates. Checked October 2026.

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.

Access status: Currently operable as a guided trek. This route sits within the Lhasa area, and Namtso-style regional restrictions do not apply here; the practical requirement is the standard Tibet Travel Permit plus a licensed guide, with details confirmed per itinerary. Checked October 2026.

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.

Access status: Currently operable and the least demanding of the routes here. Shigatse Prefecture, including Gyantse and the Everest corridor, has been exempt from the separate Alien’s Travel Permit since the June 2025 adjustment, so the standard Tibet Travel Permit and a licensed guide are the practical requirement. Checked October 2026.

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. The road legs of that approach are set out in the Lhasa to Everest Base Camp map.

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.

Access status: Currently operable as a guided trek, and the Everest Base Camp area remains open to visitors. Shigatse Prefecture has been exempt from the separate Alien’s Travel Permit since the June 2025 adjustment. Note that this concerns the north-side base camp area; the separate east-slope route below is a different matter entirely. Checked October 2026.

Gama Valley Trek: Closed to Trekking Since March 2026

Gama Valley, on the eastern slope of the Everest massif, is one of the routes most often asked about, and the answer changed in 2026. On 12 March 2026 the Tingri County management office of the Mount Everest National Nature Reserve issued a notice prohibiting entry to the reserve’s core zone by anyone, and prohibiting any unit or individual from running tourism, hiking, mountaineering, exploration, tenting or camp-based tourist operations in the buffer zone. The Gama Valley lies within that core zone, and the office stated that the hiking activity there will be permanently closed. The notice follows the revised Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Nature Reserves, which took effect on 15 March 2026, and came after the October 2025 blizzard in which a large number of trekkers were trapped on the east slope.

What this means for planning is direct: this is no longer a route to build an itinerary around, and any operator still listing it as bookable should be asked to explain. The north-side base camp described in the section above is not part of this closure.

The valley itself remains worth understanding on the map, because it explains why the closure is significant. It gathered the widest spread of landscape on this page, from old-growth forest on the valley floor to moraine and glacier terrain near the head, and it offered viewpoints toward Everest, Lhotse and Makalu at once. It also sits in a border-area county, which is part of why access to it was always the least predictable thing about it.

Access status: Closed to trekking. Permanently closed to hiking and camp-based tourism under the 12 March 2026 notice from the Tingri County management office of the Mount Everest National Nature Reserve, issued under the revised Regulations on Nature Reserves effective 15 March 2026. Checked October 2026.

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.

Access status: Operable in season. This is the one route here that still requires the full document set: a Tibet Travel Permit plus an Alien’s Travel Permit for the Ngari Prefecture and a Military Area Entry Permit, all arranged through a licensed operator, with the military permit needing the longest lead time. The seasonal window is roughly May to early October and shifts with road, weather and access. Checked October 2026.

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.

Access status: Operable in season, on the same document set as the Kailash kora: the Tibet Travel Permit plus the Alien’s Travel Permit and Military Area Entry Permit that Ngari Prefecture requires. The lake sits within the same seasonal window, so the two koras are normally planned together. Checked October 2026.

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.

Access status: Operable as a guided trek, but the least settled of the open routes here. Namtso sits in Damxung County within the Lhasa municipal area, so the Alien’s Travel Permit does not apply, yet access requirements for the lake and its northern approaches are decided per itinerary rather than by one standing rule. Confirm before the trek is finalised. Checked October 2026.

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. The Tibet altitude map shows how the towns and passes on these routes compare.

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. The altitude profile of a trek matters more than its distance, and the Tibet terrain map shows what the ground these routes cross actually looks like.

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, and they changed in 2025. Under the adjustment that took effect on 4 June 2025, several regular routes no longer require the separate Alien’s Travel Permit: the Nyingchi area, the Shigatse area including Everest Base Camp and Gyirong, the Shannan area including Samye, and the classic G318 Sichuan–Tibet Highway. The Ngari Prefecture, including Kailash and Manasarovar, still requires an Alien’s Travel Permit plus a Military Area Entry Permit. Namtso, in the Lhasa municipal area, does not fall under the Alien’s Travel Permit rules, but its requirements are settled per itinerary. One thing sits above all of this: a protected-area closure can end a route regardless of documents, which is exactly what happened to the Gama Valley in March 2026. 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