Day 1 Chengdu Arrival

Transfer via: TBA – your arrangement

Activities for today: Airport to hotel transfer

Welcome to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province and hometown of giant pandas. Upon arrival at the airport,you will be met and transferred to the hotel.

Day 2 Chengdu/Rilong

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Shangli Old Town

After breakfast at your hotel, drive to Ya'an via Shangli Old Town, an important post on the ancient Tea and Horse Road. Then passing the Fengtongzhai Natural Reserve, home to the giant pandas. After crossing the over 4,100 m Mount Jiajinshan Pass, descending down to Dawei and head eastwards to Rilong, a small town located in the heart of the Mount Siguniang. Mount Siguniang consists of four pyramid-like granite peaks standing side-by-side. The peaks look from afar like four beautiful girls, and Siguniang means "four girls" in Chinese, hence the name.

Day 3 Rilong

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Changping Valley

The four peaks of the Mount Siguniang rise at 6,250m, 5,355m, 5,276m and 5,025m above sea level respectively. We'll spend the whole day hiking on the wooden trail in the beautiful Changping Valley (15km round trip, easy). If weather permits, we can see the four peaks from the mouth of Changping Valley.

Day 4 Rilong/Danba

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Tibetan villages

Today we'll drive westwards along the Xiaojinchuan River and the Dadu River Danba County. Danba is named as "the Treasure House for Thousands of Stone Towers" and mainly inhabited by Gyarong Tibetans. The Gyarong's territory includes the upper and middle reach of the Mingjiang River and the upper reach of Dadu River in the Jinchuan Region of Sichuan Province. The houses of Gyarong Tibetans are flat stockade rock houses with moon and sun patterns painted in white on the walls. The stone towers were used both as castles for defeating enemies and residences. The Gyrongs once practiced the Tibetan Bon religion. In the middle of 18th century, the Qing Dynasty's Emperor Qianlong led a military campaigns against Gyarongs during the Jinchuan War, after which he forced the local people to abandon Bon religion in favor of the Yellow sect of Buddhism. We will visit some Tibetan villages with it's typical stone towers in Danba.

Day 5 Danba/Tawu/Luhuo

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Mount Haizi, Huiyuan Temple

Today we'll enjoy a spectacular drive through the beautiful Donggu River Valley. Once leaving the valley, we'll climb up to the Tibetan high plateau and have a view of the Mt. Zhara Lhatse (Mount Haizi) with the height of 5,580m. Before driving into Bamei Town, we will visit the Huiyuan Temple (Garthar Chorte Monastery) of the Yellow Sect, which is associated with three Dalai Lamas, the 7th Dalai Lama should stay at one chamber of the monastery over 7 years in the 18th century, the 11th Dalai Lama was born here, and the present 14th Dalai Lama had been staying here for 3 days in 1954. Later, drive along the Zhequ River to reach Luhuo County.

Day 6 Luhuo/Ganzi

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Shouling Temple

In the morning visit the Shouling Temple (Drango Gompa in Tibetan), initially built in 1650. Then drive to Ganzi (Garzê) County by passing over the 3,950m high Pass Latseka (Luo-guo Liang Zi). In summer, we'll enjoy a lovely view of grazing yaks and nomad's tent on the grassland. In the afternoon arrival in Ganzi, located at the riverside of Yalong River with the background of snowcapped Chola Mountains.

Day 7 Ganzi/Manigange

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Garzê Monastery, Kabulung Gomba Monastery

In the morning visit the Garzê Monastery (Garzê Temple) of the Yellow Sec of Tibetan Buddhism, which was built in 1642. On the roof of the monastery you will get a breathtaking view of the Yalong River Valley and the Chola Mountain Ranges as the backdrop. We will also pay a visit to the Nyingmapa's famous monastery Kabulung Gomba on the way to Manigange (Manigango). In the afternoon arrive at Manigange, a beautiful small Tibetan town located at the junction of two major highways.

Day 8 Manigange/Ganzi

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Chola Mountains and glaciers, Yilhun Lhatso Lake

After breakfast, we head northwestwards to a 4,500-meter-high mountain pass, where we will enjoy a spectacular view of the Chola Mountains and glaciers. You will see the Tibetan women milk their yaks near their black yak-hair tents in the morning pasture. In the afternoon, proceed to Yilhun Lhatso Lake (Xinluhai Lake), which is one of the most famous and beautiful lakes in the Kham region. It sits just west of the Manigange. The lake sits next to the Chola Mountains which rise to over 6,100 m. The lake itself sits at about 4,100 m. Yilhun Lhatso Lake is an excellent place to enjoy hiking . Unlike most lakes on the plateau, there are actually a few trees around Yilhun Lhatso. We will take a short hiking along this beautiful lake.

Day 9 Ganzi/Xinlong/Litang

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Yalong Valley, Riba Nunnery

Drive along the Yalong River to Xinlong (Nyarong) County, once a military stronghold led by Gongbulangji, nicknamed Buluman ("The One-Eyed") who conquered most of part of Kham in 19th Century, today we still find some ruined watchtowers in the Yalong Valley. En route we visit a small Buddhist Riba Nunnery. After leaving the valley, we climb up to the high elevation grassland again and head to Litang, which is boasted as the highest town in the world (around 4,000 m).

Day 10 Litang

Activities for today: Local market in Litang, Gandan Tubchen Chokhorling Monastery

Explore this traditional Tibetan town by visiting the bustling market and the Gandan Tubchen Chokhorling Monastery (Litang Temple) of the Yellow Sect,originally built in 1580 by the 3rd Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyamtso. Litang is also the birthplace of several famous Tibetans including the 7th and 10th Dalai Lamas.

Day 11 Litang/Daocheng/Riwa

Activities for today: Gongalongjiling Monastery

Drive to Riwa Township (Shangri-la Township) of Daocheng County. On the car, you will see the grandiose view of the high plateau with many beautiful alpine lakes and the moraines that were created in the ancient glacial movements. En route, we will visit the Gongalongjiling Monastery, which houses a golden Maitreya statue bestowed by the 5th Dalai Lama. In the afternoon arrival in Riwa, which is located 35 km north of Yading.

Day 12 Riwa/Yading/Riwa

Activities for today: Yading Nature Reserve

Drive to explore Yading Nature Reserve. The reserve covers an area of 1,344 square kilometers and has an average elevation of well over 4,000 meters.Inside the Yading Nature Reserve are the 3 holy mountains of Chenresig, rising to 6,032 meters, Chana Dorje, rising to 6000 and Jampelyang rising to 5,958 meters. These 3 snowcapped peaks sit in a triangle formation with forested valleys, clear rivers, glacier-fed lakes and abundant wildlife between them. The Tibetan name for Yading is "Nyiden", which means "facing the sun". The local Tibetan name for the area around the 3 holy mountains is "Rigsum Gonpo". In Tibetan, the names of the mountains mean "Wisdom" (Jampelyang), "Power" (Chana Dorje) and "Compassion" (Chenresig). This region was designated as a nature reserve in the late 1990's. We will take some trekking inside the Park. (Longlongba-Chonggu Monastery 3,770 m-4,000 m,3 km; Chonggu Monastery-Luorongba,4,000 m-4,180 m,6 km). Afterwards we drive back to Riwa.

Day 13 Riwa/Xiangcheng

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Bangpu Temple

In the morning we will take a spectacular drive through the Chitu River Valley, which is filled with colorful Azalea in bloom in the summer. Near Sumdui, we will visit the old Bangpu Temple（or Benpo Monastery）of the Kagypa built in the 11th century. Then cross over a 4,500 m-high mountain pass and arrival in Xiangcheng County in the afternoon.

Day 14 Xiangcheng/Shangri-la

Transfer via: private vehicle

Activities for today: Drive to Shangri-la

Today, we'll head southwards along the Suoqu River to Shangri-la (once called as Zhongdian) County of Yunnan Province. We'll cross two snow mountain passes, one is over 4,100 m in height, and the other is 3,900 m.

Day 15 Shangri-la/Exit

Transfer via: TBA – your arrangement

Activities for today: Hotel to airport transfer

Today, you can end your trip with a transfer to Shangri-la Airport, or continue your China trip from Shangri-la with the help of our travel consultants.