Nyingchi travel to Tibet tips
In this Tibet road trip article, we are going to share some important Nyingchi travel tips and give you a detailed information of how to make a 4 Day Lhasa Nyingchi Shannan self-driving loop tour.
Day 1: Lhasa-Darksum lake-Nyingchi, 2900mts/482km/6 hours drive. Meilin International hotel
After around 9.Am, we gathered In front of the intercontinental hotel in Lhasa, started our first day destination of 4 Day Lhasa Nyingchi Shannan self-driving loop tour and we drove through one of the most beautiful highways in Tibet and pass by Medro Gongkar county where the Ganden monastery is located and Rutok hot spring.
On the way, we enjoyed a great view of the autumn scenery of yellow tree leaves, yellow grasslands, beautiful Tibetan houses and different kinds of cattle and sheep were being grazed on the fields. Before Passing Barla mountain pass tunnel, we also saw a beautiful view of the snow capped mountain and Yak on the pasture land just next to the snow mountain. Today’s most important scenic spot is the Darksum lake which is recognized as one of the best 5***** scenic spots in China. The driving distance from Lhasa to Darksum lake is around 4 hours drive. Here we are also going to give you about Nyingchi travel tips whether you had a greater time if you could drive into the scenic spot with your cars instead of the scenic spot buses with other travelers.
From Lhasa until we reached a village called Bahe, it is a high way and from Bahe village, we had to leave the high way and joined a countryside road to Darksum lake at the distance of around 39Km. Eventhough the road was narrow, the road condition is very good.
In general, all the vehicles have to be stopped at the entry gate of the Darksum lake scenic spot and all the passengers had to take the scenic spot public bus to the Darksum lake at the distance of around 7Km with other travelers but when you traveled with us for our 4 Day Lhasa Nyingchi Shannan Self-driving loop tour, we requested Nyingchi Tourism Bureau to allow all our travelers that they could directly drive the vehicles to the Darksum lake without changing the scenic spot buses which is a special gift and surprise to all our participants. Everybody felt that they were taken care of in a special way and indeed enjoyed this different, special, and unique self-driving trip with us so it always better to find a right Nyingchi travel tips through a right local Tibetan travel company.
Another special and surprised gift to our customers is that we arranged our picnic lunch at a very unique and quit place at the shore of Darksum lake where other tour groups could not reach. As soon as all the vehicles arrived at this beautiful place, our staff immediately took out the equipment of outdoors including table, chairs, cups and all the packed meals. We also prepared hot water, sweet and butter tea and offered them a great hot picnic lunch. Everybody indeed enjoyed the picnic lunch at this beautiful lake shore and all the members, especially the self-drivers asked us to take group photos in order to keep this beautiful memory by taking photos and videos.
Since we were taking this trip during China National Holiday, the weather is extremely nice and the water of the lake is so blue and green that you could not express yourself how beautiful this Darksum lake was. The island in Darksum lake where the most sacred temple of Guru Rinpoche is located, there were many Tibetan pilgrims and they were visiting the main temple of Guru Rinpoche, offering money, incense, flowers and white scarf and praying for the sake of all sentient beings. It was a great time to walk around the temple in the island as you could really see the most beautiful viewpoints of the Darksum lake and the snow-capped mountain which is located surrounding the Darksum lake.
After we finished the sightseeing around the temple in the island, all the self-driving members gathered at the parking area and drove back to Bahe village. From Bahe village, we took the Lhasa to Nyingchi highway which took us one hour and fifty minutes’ drive. The scenery was still very beautiful and the mountains on both sides of the highway became greener and greener and finally you could see there was densely forest around Nyingchi prefecture so Nyingchi is totally a different landscape place comparing to other prefectures in Tibet and Nyingchi is called the eastern forest region of Tibet as most parts of Tibet are more plateau and desert. We stayed in Meilin international hotel which is a four-star hotel and the hotel is located in the center of Nyingchi city.
For this first day of our 4 Day Lhasa Nyingchi Shannan Loop tour, we would like to give a couple of Nyingchi travel tips. Firstly, if you are a bigger group, it is better to drive earlier from Lhasa in the morning. Secondly, you must find a right travel agent who can give you some special service such as you can directly drive to the Darksum lake instead of changing vehicles at the Darksum lake scenic spot, instead of eating in the same crowdy restaurant, your company would rather arrange a nice and quit place to enjoy the picnic lunch. Thirdly, Choose the right hotel with a good and safe parking area as it is very important to park your cars safely.
Day 2：Nyingchi-Serkyim La pass-Lulang international forest village, 3700mts/70km/1hrs 50 minutes-Lulang-Milin Hilton, 3600mts/113km/2 hrs 25 minutes
After breakfast, by around 8.30 in the morning, we started our second day of Lhasa-Nyingchi-Shannan loop tour. Began from our hotel to Lulang forest village, the road condition is very good but always had better to drive slowly as the road was quite narrow and there were quite many trucks and cars. The scenery on the way was full of forest on the both side and a couple of Tibetan village. After around one hour and twenty minutes, we reached Serkyim la pass at the elevation of 4728mts above sea level. To give a good Nyingchi travel tips of visiting Namcha Barwa, we recommend you to start the trip early in the morning from Nyingchi city so that you could see the mountain very clearly.
All the members of our group were very lucky because when we arrived on the top of the pass, the weather was extremely nice and the view of the Namcha Barwa snow mountain was tremendously beautiful and clear. We saw the entire view of the snow mountain and saw that hundreds of people were taking photos of the mountain as everybody knew that usually it is very rare to get a chance to see Namcha Barwa snow mountain in such a beautiful and clear weather.
After having a great time on the top of the pass, we drove down to Lulang forest village. Once all our members arrive in the Lulang international forest village, we started riding horses in the beautiful green grassland and played Kongpo Tibetan traditional arrow shooting game which was very interesting. Another very important thing that we experienced was that we had the most famous Chicken hot pot with different kinds of dishes. Chicken hotpot is the most delicious and authentic meal of Lulang International forest village. To give a good Nyingchi travel tips is that it is always better to choose the head quarter of the hotpot restaurant in Lunang as it provided the most clean and tasty hotpot there.
After lunch, we drove back to Nyingchi through Serkyim La pass and continued driving to Milin county along the Niyang river and the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The distance from Lulang forest region to Hilton hotel in Nyingchi is around 120km. The road condition from Nyingchi Bayi to the hotel is very good. It is a highway drive and the scenery was very beautiful.
The Hilton hotel was located in a very beautiful and quit place in Miling county in Nyingchi. The hotel was a great resort where you could take meditation, or taking a walk in the forest or swimming or exercising in the gym. We had a nice afternoon, relaxing, swimming and having a good dinner. We had a Buffet dinner in the hotel and it was quite good but the dinner was pretty expensive so if you were considering on your budget, you could also do order in the Chinese styled restaurant. To give a good Nyingchi travel tips, it is better to avoid the cities and stay in a quite place like Hilton hotel in Miling county in Nyingchi which is a little far away from the county seat.
Day 3：Hilton hotel-Miling county-Kyimdong village, 136km, 2hrs 30 minutes drive-Gagong waterfall gorge, 55km/-Nang county,3550mts/ 60km, 45 minutes drive
We had breakfast by around 9.00 in the morning and started our self-driving journey from Hilton hotel to Nang county. The road condition is very good and the scenery was beautiful and unique. We were driving along the Yarlung Tsangpo river and on the way, we stopped in a village called Kyimdong village which is the junction to go to Yumai village which is a bordered village between India and Tibet China and the direct road to go to Nang county. At Kyimdong village, we visited a small factory of Tibetan traditional paper where they produced Tibetan traditional paper. Kyimdomg was the village where it used to produce all the traditional paper including the Tibetan currency note in the olden days. The paper was made of different local tree leaves and the paper was very unique and environmental.
According to our Nyingchi travel tips, it is better not to drive to Gyatsa or Tsetang directly from Miling county or Hilton hotel, instead you could spend a night i Nang county as there are many things to see in Nang county such as the birth place of the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Pal Choede Gon, the largest monastery in Nyingchi, the 2500 years old walnut tree, Gagong waterfall gorge, Lei tombs, Bobolang glacier etc.
After visiting Kyimdong Tibetan traditional paper producing factory, we drove to Lieshan ancient tomb, located on the southern slope of Lie mountain, about 1.5 kilometers northeast of Lie village and there are more than 180 tombs. They seemed to have longer history than Tubo Dynasty in Tibet but sadly most of the tombs were already empty.
After visiting the tombs, we drove to Gagong water fall gorge at the distance of around 55km. The scenery along the Yarlung Tsangpo river was beautiful and there were some beautiful villages too. Just before reaching Nang county at the distance of around 25km, we crossed the Yarlung Tsangpo river and drove to Gagong water fall gorge. On the way, we saw a group of monkeys, playing in the fields but since they were not very familiar to the strangers, even if we gave them fruit, they slowly ran away. However it was very interesting to see such a big group of monkeys in a very remote area.
The Gagong waterfall gorge is 150 meters long, 7-8 meters wide, and has a minimum flow of 0.8 cubic meters per second. Seeing the Gagong waterfall, you will deeply understand the peculiar beauty of “flying down three thousand feet, suspected to be the Milky Way down ” The majestic momentum of “a waterfall in the sky for a long time, the sound falls to the world”. “Flowers reflect the shore of the new forest, and the clouds open waterfall springs.” The beautiful face. We took a short break in the mountain and ate snacks and drank sweet tea while we were taking photos of this beautiful waterfall.
After enjoying a great scenery, we drove back to the main road at the distance of around 7km and continued to Nang county. Nang county was a very important place in the Tibetan history as it was the birth place of the 13th Dalai Lama and it was also the place where it used to have some historical activities more than a thousand years ago as we could see lots of tombs in Lei mountain.
With our Nyingchi travel tips, we put more information about Nang county since most of the guide books or online information, there was lack of Nang county information. It really interesting to spend one to two nights in Nang county to see beautiful natural landscape, snow mountain, glacier,, lakes, waterfall gorge, natural dense forest, historical places and the religious sites.
Day 4: Nang county- Pal Choede Monastery-Chongkang Manor-Gyatsa County-Sangri county-Tsetang city-Lhasa, 3650m/368km/7 hours drive.
After having breakfast, we set off to Pal Choede monastery, the largest monastery in entire Nyingchi region. The monastery was built in 1195 by a reincarnated Lama called Sonam Senge. The monastery is a Gelukpa monastery and there were some relics of the monastery including some of the sacred statues.
After visiting Pal Choede monastery, we continued driving to Chongkang manor which is the birth place of the 13th Dalai Lama. The manor has been renovated pretty well and we could visit some chapels, the chamber, living and sleeping rooms of the 13th Dalai Lama. You could also see the store room, kitchen, and the audience hall etc. The opposite of the Chongkang Manor is the thousand years history of the Walnut tree. One of the Walnut tree is 2500 years history and in 2012, this walnut tree used to give 2 Duns of walnuts which is history record.
After visiting those two important scenic spots, we continued our journey towards Lhasa. On the way, we had a simple lunch in a normal Chinese restaurant and continued to Lhasa via Gyatsa county, Sangri county along the Yarlung Tsangpo river. The scenery was beautiful and the villages along the way were also very beautiful. It was a great self-driving journey and all our members indeed enjoyed the trip very much and they wanted us to plan the next trip for them before we finished this trip.
With our Nyingchi travel tips of 4 Day Lhasa Nyingchi Shannan loop tour, you could find the most important and useful information of a loop tour between Lhasa and Shannan through Nyingchi city and it’s surroundings. This trip is a unique and very beautiful Tibet trip. It is even more interesting to make a self driving tour around this region.
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