Chengdu to Shangri-la Driving Group Tour

Accommodation: Minshan Lhasa Grand Hotel ***

Service: Airport to Hotel Transfer (Chengdu)

Accommodation: Minshan Lhasa Grand Hotel ***

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

See Giant Pandas in Chengdu

After breakfast in the morning you will be transferred to the Panda Breeding and Research Center to see the giant pandas. Located 6 miles north of Chengdu city, the center is home to the giant pandas and red pandas. There is a panda museum where you can learn more about the giant pandas.

You will also see Chengdu’s highlights which includes Jinli Old Street and Wangjiang Park. Jinli Old Street is a traditional Sichuan style ancient street with various local arts and crafts, traditional Chinese goods and food.

Good to Know: The Panda Breeding and Research Center has a donation program which allows you take pictures with holding a panda one minute by donating RMB 2,000 Yuan (for reference only). Only 20 tourists are allowed to hold pandas a day. If you want to hold a panda, please tell your travel advisor or tour guide in advance because you must book it at least one week in advance.This program is subject to the availability of pandas on that day. Please bring enough RMB cash as payment by credit card is not accepted there.

Accommodation: Love Song Hotel ****

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Commencing the tour in Chengdu, you will travel to Ya’an. From there you will climb up to the tunnel of Mount ErLang, and then we will drive down to the Daduhe Valley to see the famous Luding Bridge. Afterward you will head up to Kangding, the gateway to Eastern Tibet-Kham.

Accommodation: local hotel

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today you will travel cross several high mountain passes, which are over 4,500m. During summer Tibetan nomads will take their yaks herding on the highland pastures to live in the black yak-hair tents. You will arrive in Litang late afternoon, the birthplace of the 7th and 10th Dalai Lama.

Accommodation: Suntime Hotel

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning you will visit the Gandan Tubchen Chokhorling Monastery of the Yellow Sect, originally built in 1580 by the 3rd Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyamtso.

Later, you will be driven to Yading National Park. Take in and enjoy the spectacular view of this mountain sanctuary, perched 4,000 meter-high plateau. It comes at a price of a journey with high altitudes, holy snow-capped mountains, lakes and temples along rugged mountain roads and across endless wind-swept plains.

Afterwards you will visit the Benpo Monastery built under a mountain cave and from there you will travel through to Chitu River Valley to Riwa where you will stay for the night.

Accommodation: Shengda Villa ***

Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive to Yading, located in southern Daocheng county. The Yading Nature Reserve covers an area of 1344 square kilometers (520 square miles) and has an average elevation of well over 4000 meters.Inside the Yading Nature Reserve are the 3 holy mountains of Chenresig, rising to 6032 meters, Chana Dorje and Jampelyang, which both rise to 5958 meters. These 3 snow-capped 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.

Afterwards we drive back to Riwa.

Accommodation:Xiangcheng Hotel

Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning you will visit the Gongalongjiling Monastery near Riwa. This houses the Golden Maitreya statue bestowed by the 5th Dalai Lama. From there, you cross over a 4,500m high mountain pass and arrive in Xiangcheng (Chaktsen) in the afternoon.

Accommodation: Holy Palace ****

Meals:Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Following the Suoqu River you will head southwards and cross over 4100m high big snow mountain passe and 3900m high small snow mountain pass to reach Zhongdian (or Shangrila).

Accommodation: Holy Palace ****
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After your fresh breakfast, you will visit theSongzanlin Lamasery, the largest Tibetan Buddhist lamasery in Yunnan Province. It represents the Tibetan culture, housing Buddhist statues and many precious cultural treasures.

Later you will visit Pudacuo National Park which has an average altitude of 3,500 meters and retains a well-preserved ecosystem within the virgin forests. The must-see scenery in this park includes Lake Bita and Lake Shudu. "Bita" means "a place with a dense oak forest" in the Tibetan language and "Bitahai" means a quiet lake.