Nagqu Horse Racing Festival Tour - 6 Days

Fly to the holy city of Lhasa, capital of the mystical Buddhist Kingdom of Tibet. You are greeted by tour guide at the airport and transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day will be at leisure for you to relax and adjust to the high altitude.

Tour starts from the religious Potala Palace built in the 7th century by the famous Tibetan king - Songtzen Gampo. The present one was built by the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century. It became known as the "Winter Palace" by the 1750, when the 7th Dalai Lama built the Norbulingka Park as his summer residence. After lunch, you will visit Jokhang Temple, situated in the old section of Lhasa. King Songtzen Gampo built this temple in the mid-7th century A.D. Now it is the most sacred place in Tibet. Pilgrims come here to pay homage from all over Tibet. Visit Barkhore Street in the evening.

Today we will transfer from Lhasa to Nagqu to visit the Nagqu Festival.Chachen horse race festival at Nagqu is a very typical festival in Northern Tibet. About this festival, it could be traced back to the 8th century when Gar Family was in power ruling Tibet on behalf of the Kings of Tibet Tubo dynasty. This festival always happens on August every year. Tibetan is a nationality on horse back, they treasure horses as their friends and as one of the family member, they never kill horses for meat, because they thought horses are the messengers of the God. Nagqu horse race festival is the grandest festival in northern Tibet. When the day comes, the romands people would gather in Nagqu, grandly dressed. Tents of any kind scatter across the grassland like flowers bloom. In the days, such games as horse racing, yak racing, wrestling, stone lifting, riffle/arrow shooting on horse back, and talk - show, show of the art of horse riding will be held, for romands, it is a good time to chat with each other, change goods and buy necessities. And also it is the good time for young people to know each other and fall in love.

Today's Activities: Nagqu Horse Race Festival, Our guide and driver will escort you from Nagqu to Lhasa
- Nagqu Horse Race Festival: This festival always happens on August every year.When the day comes, the romands people would gather in Nagqu, grandly dressed. Tents of any kind scatter across the grassland like flowers bloom. In the days, such games as horse racing, yak racing, wrestling, stone lifting, riffle/arrow shooting on horse back, and talk - show, show of the art of horse riding will be held.

Full day sightseeing takes you to Sera Monastery (3 hours), located in the northern suburbs of Lhasa. It is a complex of 4 structures; the Great Assembly Hall and three colleges. It was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chojey of Sakya Yeshe of Zel Gungtang (1355–1435), a disciple of Tsongkhapa. 'Sera' means wild roses and was called this because the monastery was surrounded by wild roses. One of the three main monasteries of Lhasa, it is here that the monks "famous daily debates" take place.
Tips: Every day (except Mondays) at 15:00, there is a debate about Buddhist doctrines among the monks at Sera Monastery. The debating is held in the grounds and is a necessary way of learning sutras and scriptures. Visitors can watch the debate, but it is advised to keep quiet.
Then take a visit to Drepung Monastery which is the largest of the monastery of the Gelug Sect in Tibet. After that, you will visit Norbulingka Park. In 1752, the 7th Dalai Lama built the first palace here for successive Dalai Lamas to carry out their political and religious activities during the summer season. Today Norbulingka has become a public park for picnicking, relaxing and entertainment.
Norbulingka means Jeweled Garden. It was constructed as a summer palace for the Dalai Lama and later served the whole governmental administration.

Hotel to airport Transfer (Lhasa). End this impressive tour.