The aircraft skimmed the jagged spine of the Himalayas, a sea of cloud billowing like silk snow beneath the wings. The instant the cabin door opens, the sharp, pristine air at Gonggar Airport tells you unmistakably: you have arrived on the Roof of the World. Don’t worry about altitude sickness—your private guide from the Tibet travel agency is already waiting with a silk khata, and your dedicated vehicle is equipped with medical-grade oxygen generators and a pulse-oximeter. A twenty-five-minute drive brings you to a five-star Lhasa hotel and its oxygen-enriched suite. Floor-to-ceiling glass frames the Potala Palace; when night falls the entire building is gilded in electric gold. All you need do is sip hot cocoa sprinkled with Himalayan rose salt and let your first night at 3,650 m slip by in luxury and safety. At dawn, when the sun washes the palace’s golden roofs, simply close your eyes and breathe—the thin air carries the scent of yak-butter tea, Tibet’s unique welcome. By choosing a professional Tibet travel agency, overseas visitors can forget the hassle of Tibet permits, high-altitude transport and cultural etiquette. From the moment you land at Gonggar, a private guide and oxygen-supplied vehicle are on standby to whisk you straight to an oxygen-enriched suite at a Lhasa 5-star Hotel, so luxury and security travel with you every step of the way.
Holy City Lhasa – VIP passage into the thousand-year-old palace walls
At dawn your Tibet travel agency provides a PhD in Tibetan studies as your personal guide. Using a fast-track entrance you step straight into the Potala Palace. In the Red Palace the love story of Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng glitters on 17th-century murals; from the White Palace roof you gaze down over the entire Lhasa valley. After lunch at a heritage restaurant, continue to the Jokhang Temple where monks have reserved a yak-butter lamp just for you. While they chant in low voices you offer your silent wish, locking a cultural shock deep in your heart. At dusk check in to the St. Regis Lhasa Resort – a former noble manor – where antique thangkas hang beside Hermès amenities, and tradition shakes hands with fashion.
Potala Palace panoramic view at dawn
Nyingchi – luxe wilderness at low altitude
Follow the Nyang River eastward and drop to 2,900 m, the “Jiangnan of Tibet”. Your Tibet travel agency has privately reserved the entire wine cellar of the Gongbu Manor Castle Hotel. Here you savour the Michelin-plate-recommended “Lulang stone-pot chicken”, slow-cooked over river boulders. As night falls Mt. Namcha Barwa – China’s most beautiful peak – peeks through the clouds. The hotel terrace is set with telescopes and steaming mulled wine; wrapped in a cashmere blanket you watch the Milky Way pour across the sky – the lowest, yet most romantic starlit dinner in Tibet.
Night view of Mount Namcha Barwa
Yamdrok Lake – the world’s highest private yacht
At dawn we crest the Gambala Pass and Yamdrok Lake appears 4,441 m below us like an emerald set in granite. Your Tibet travel agency holds the only yacht licence on the lake; a French-imported catamaran waits at the pier. Inside, constant-pressure oxygen keeps you comfortable; on deck a Tibetan high-tea is served – barley muffins, yak-yoghurt and chilled champagne. Prayer flags flutter, the wind scatters silver across the water, and you raise your glass to the snow peaks. For a heartbeat the world falls silent.
Shigatse – first-class rail & Tashilhunpo Monastery
Board the “Tang-Zhu Ancient Road” luxury train, its suites lined with thangka brocade and private showers. A butler appointed by your Tibet travel agency serves English afternoon tea as the Yarlung Tsangpo gorge scrolls past the window. In Shigatse you enter Tashilhunpo, seat of the Panchen Lamas. Standing 26 m tall, the gilded Maitreya Buddha glows in the candle-light; you are admitted to the reliquary chapel normally closed to the public, feeling the solemn compassion of Tibetan Buddhism.
Everest Base Camp – 5,200 m polar pod
Today’s crescendo is Everest. Latest-model Land Cruisers, a portable hyperbaric chamber and a travelling physician escort you to 5,200 m. At Rongbuk Monastery your “polar pod suite” awaits – not a tent but a glass-domed luxury shelter with恒温climate control, en-suite bathroom and personal oxygen concentrator. Night falls; the Milky Way spills over the summit of the world while you lie in a king-size bed counting shooting stars through the skylight – the most opulent star-gazing on Earth.
Lhasa leisure – thangka painting & incense workshop
Back in Lhasa the pace slows. A state-recognised master invited by your Tibet travel agency teaches you to sketch the eyes of White Tara on cotton; you take home a one-of-a-kind thangka. Later, in a 150-year-old incense shop off Barkhor Street, you hand-roll sticks from medicinal herbs, packing the scent of the snow-land in your luggage. At dusk the St. Regis chef fires up a terrace BBQ; Himalayan rock-salt steaks sizzle as you watch the Potala Palace fade to gold – a final, flavour-filled full-stop to your journey.
Luxury promises of China Dragon Travel
- Medical safety: on-board oxygen chamber, 24 h tri-lingual doctor hotline.
- Sustainable travel: electric vehicle fleet; three spruce saplings planted for every guest.
- Cultural respect: all guides are local Tibetans trained in cultural-ethics interpretation.
- Bespoke flexibility: Everest overnight altitude can be adjusted or reached by helicopter on request, ensuring every traveller completes their “Roof of the World” wish-list in comfort.
Make the Roof of the World your private collection
On the last morning your guide drapes a white khata over your shoulder and hands you a gold-stamped certificate recording the altitudes you reached, the stars you counted and the wishes you whispered. As the plane lifts off and the Lhasa valley shrinks to a thin line on the map, you realise Tibet is no longer a distant name but a permanent coordinate in your heart.
