Day Walks Around Lhasa

Lhasa is more walkable than it looks, and the best of it is on foot. This is not trekking and it is not mountaineering; it is a set of half-days on the edges of the city, at monasteries on the hills and on pilgrim paths that locals have used for centuries, at the pace the altitude allows. Anyone who can manage a few gentle hours at 3,650 m can do all of them, and any of them can be added to an itinerary at a day’s notice.

The walks we use most

Behind Samye, the Chimpu hermitages climb the hillside in a scatter of small retreat huts and caves — a half-day of walking with the Yarlung Tsangpo valley spread out below. Around Lhasa itself, the dawn circuit of the Barkhor is the oldest walk in the city: a slow clockwise round the Jokhang, shoulder to shoulder with pilgrims, before the shops open. At Ganden, a path climbs the ridge above the monastery for the view over the Kyichu valley. At Drak Yerpa, east of the city, the pilgrim trail winds past meditation caves cut into the cliff.

None of them is a secret and none of them needs a guide to be enjoyable — but with a guide who walks them regularly, the monasteries stop being buildings and start being places with a story, which is why most guests take at least one of these days with us.

How they work in practice

No special kit and no previous walking experience are needed: shoes, a hat and water are enough. Some of the walks sit at 4,000 m or a little above, so we keep them short and start slowly, and the vehicle is always a phone call away. Because they are half-days, they fit around the things everyone comes to Lhasa for — the Potala, the Jokhang, a monastery morning — rather than competing with them for the day.

Guests of different fitness

These are the easiest walks in Tibet to split. One group can take the path up while the other stays with the vehicle and the view, and everyone meets for lunch. That makes them the natural choice for families, for guests who are still adjusting to the altitude, and for anyone who wants to see the country on their own feet without committing to a trek.

Adding one to your trip

Tell us which day you would like it on and how much walking you want, and we will slot it in. Half a day is usually enough; a full day is possible if you would rather combine a walk with a monastery visit on the same loop.

Where these fit

Trips these walks drop into

Every private and small-group journey below passes through Lhasa, so a walking half-day can usually replace a morning of sightseeing rather than adding a night.

The city, unhurried

4 Days Lhasa Sightseeing Small Group Tour

Four days in Lhasa with the pace set for altitude — the easiest base for adding a walking half-day.

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City and lake

5 Days Lhasa City Tour with Sacred Yamdroktso Lake

Lhasa and the sacred lake, with room in the first days for the Barkhor circuit and the hills above the city.

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City and the northern lake

6 Days Lhasa Namtso Lake In-depth Tour

Lhasa first, then the plateau to Namtso — the walking days work well as acclimatisation before the drive north.

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Built to order

If walking is the point of the trip rather than an addition to it, we will draft a Lhasa-based journey built around the paths and the monasteries.

Walking days around Lhasa and the Yarlung valley

Central Tibet · private · 5–8 days

Several walking half-days woven together with the monasteries and the old towns, run at whatever pace the altitude allows.

Lhasa · Drak Yerpa · Ganden · Samye · Chimpu

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