5 Days Luxury Tibetan Nomadic Camping Retreat at Norden Camp
Idyllic Vacation Beyond Words
Idyllic Vacation Beyond Words
"Welcome to Norden! A place between worlds, a place where Nomadic tradition dances with contemporary culture, ancient past evolves into a mindful future and a raw wilderness awakens the peaceful spirit, and a place where the journey begins upon arrival."
This is the sincere greeting from the Norden Camp’s founders - a Tibetan nomad Yidam and his Tibetan-American wife Dechen who are aiming to share the unknown splendors of Tibetan nomadic life with the outside world. So they founded Norden Camp, a wonderful nomadic-styled, luxury glamping camp.
Located on the winter pasture on the Sangke Grassland at 3,200 meters in altitude in Gansu Province, Norden Camp offers not only priceless natural luxuries like fresh air, Himalayan fed river water, vast grassland, rising snow peaks, but also back-to-earth camping experience with all the services, food and comfort more traditionally associated with 5-star luxury resorts. It also provides a rare opportunity to experience the authentic culture of Tibetan community. Only the lucky travelers have the rare opportunity to stay several nights at Norden Camp, as it is only operated in May~October and rooms are limited. You'd better book ASAP!
Day 1 Lanzhou - Norden Camp Arrival (D)
Lanzhou airport/train station pick up then transfer to Norden Camp
Today is free for you to take a flight or train to Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu Province. Upon arriving at Lanzhou airport or train station, you will be welcomed by our local staff, then transfer to Norden Camp by a private car. Norden Camp is located about 250 km away from Lanzhou city. It usually takes about 4~5 hours to get to Norden Camp. The rest time after arrival is free for you to relax.
Lanzhou arrival idea: you can easily find domestic flights from Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzheng, Chengdu, etc. to Lanzhou. Lanzhou can also be reached by high speed trains from Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, etc.
Tsepa Tent Home (accommodate 4 people)
Day 2 Sangke Grassland Visual Feast and Horse Riding (B, L, D)
Today's highlight: Sangke Grassland, Horse Riding, Lungta Cooperative Visiting
Wake up to the gurgling sounds of the river and birds singing at the camp. Your restaurant is already ready to serve your breakfast. You will be impressed by the milk which is rich in nutritional value and reduced lactose content, produced by local yaks who graze in areas teeming with medical plants.
Today you are going to explore Sangke Grassland’s natural landscape and enjoy some nomadic experiences. You will be provided rare opportunities to ride a Tibetan horse on the grassland and enjoy the breathtaking views of the surrounding hills, mountains and vegetation, also join local nomads from the Lungta Cooperative, and experience their daily lives by herding and riding yaks, and sharing traditional Tibetan dishes. The rest time is free for you to relax and have fun around the camp.
Lunch and dinners are provided at the camp.
Day 3 Tibetan Labrang Monastery Visiting (B, L, D)
Today's highlight: Labrang Monastery
Enjoy your breakfast at the camp. The rest time before lunch is free for you to have fun. After lunch, you will be taken to visit Labrang Monastery, one of the most influential Tibetan monasteries in the world. It is also famous for having the most complete Tibetan Buddhism teaching system in China. The monastery is large in scale and magnificent in architecture style, enshrining a lot of huge Buddha statues and various exquisite sculptures, murals and magical instruments. Its pilgrimage corridor has over 2000 prayer wheels, as the longest of its kind in the world. In the southwest corner of Labrang Monastery, there is an ancient wooden bridge. Walking crosses the bridge and walking up to the hill, you can enjoy a panoramic view of Labrang Monastery and surrounding.
After the monastery visit, get back to your camp to have dinner and rest.
Day 4 Free Day (B, L, D)
Relax on your own or join activities you are interested in
You may need some personal time to explore things you are interested in or just want to lay down to enjoy the peaceful time here. So we won’t arrange any programs today. There are many experiences that Norden Camp offer, such as sauna, picnic, Norlha visiting (watching weaving, sewing, felting, product development and the outlet areas), etc.
Day 5 Departure (B, L)
Send you to Lanzhou airport/train station
Farewell to the Norden Camp holiday! You will be escorted to Lanzhou to catch your flight/train back home or to the next destination. Looking forward to seeing you again in Norden Camp in the future.
1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one double-bed room or tent.
2. This price is subject to change according your traveling season, group size, hotel class, room type, change of activities in your itinerary and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate. If you want a lower price, you can get more people to join you.
3. This price is only valid to March 31, 2026.
4. Reference exchange rate of USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final quote is based on current exchange rate. It may change according to the currency fluctuation, while the RMB quotation will be remained the same.
Hello Juliet,
We had an excellent trip and our tour guide and driver were exceptional. Beijing was beautiful and historical and everyone we met were happy and very friendly.
Thank you very much!
Martino
Hi Rita,
The best experience ever!!!! I fell in love.
I received your lovely card and cute gifts, thank you so much.
Done it! As always it’s my pleasure to hire your company services, see you in the next adventure.
Emmy
Hi Rita,
Please kindly see the feedback below.
We are a family of 7. This private tour package definitely met our expectations! Both tour guides (Chengdu- MAY & Chongqing-DAVID) provided us a very good service, both friendly and very flexible despite the change in our tour schedules. They were also very responsible and ensured our safety, meals and transports were well taken care of, especially since we have elderly and kids in our group. Both tour guides are very fluent in English too so it is very convenient for some of the non-chinese speakers in our group.
We will look for the same tour agent again in our next trip to China!
Best Regards,
Victoria
Hi Shirley,
Thanks for the tour, and the itinerary that you planned for us was very comprehensive and detailed. We enjoyed it very much. The tour guide was also very friendly and experienced. He followed your itinerary closely and brought us to all the sites and explained in detail. He also recommended and brought us to enjoy some of the local cuisines during lunch.
Overall, we are impressed by the excellent service, reliability and quality that yourself, the tour guide and the driver has provided us. We would like to visit China again and we will not hesitate to engage your services again. Thank you!
Regards
Chun How
Hi Shirley,
I'm writing to provide some feedback on our recent Xian and Beijing trip that you put together for us.
We travel a lot, in the past year to Japan, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Africa, China, and finally this Xian/Beijing trip. I bring this up to highlight that we deal with a lot of travel professionals. You are easily the best travel professional we have dealt with through all of those trips. My wife, who happens to be Chinese asked me to make sure to keep your contact information for future China trips, with the intention of replacing the China based agent her brother usually uses for our trips.
Please let your manager know that we would probably not have used your company if not for you. Bamboo Travel is new to us and in a foreign country, so we had doubts as to what to expect. Your service was excellent from start to finish which really gave us confidence in your company. We had a little bit of an unusual itinerary and some constraints related to our other China travel prior to this tour. You were able to work through all of our issues with fast responses to our questions.
You also went what I would say was above and beyond expectations. The final example of that is a friend in the US was shipping some things to our hotel in Beijing for me to bring home to her. I contacted you to confirm the hotel name before they shipped the items, expecting I would then have to figure out the shipping details. Your reply not only confirmed the hotel, but you provided the shipping info in both English and Chinese, which saved me the hassle of trying to figure which address to use. Not a huge thing, but it's those small things that add up to a big difference in customer experience.
Thanks again for everything!
Xian:
Our guide was Waldner and we liked him from the start. We were just coming off another tour with another company which had maybe the best tour leader we've ever had. Even though we were always comparing Waldner measured up well. He was great at explaining the history of places we visited as well as answering our cultural questions. The restaurants/food were very good. He and the driver also modified the itinerary somewhat to optimize the driving based on our arrival and departure times and locations. We liked the hotel in Xian. The car (van) was very comfortable. Waldner also helped arrange tickets for a night show for us.
Beijing:
Pickup was great; even though we got in late the guide that picked us up was there and actually met us at the track. Cindy was our guide and we really liked her also. She is very knowledgeable and willing to answer (a lot of) questions. This was my 3rd time in Beijing and it was amazing what a difference having a good guide made. Cindy and the driver also modified the itinerary to optimize the driving. She also helped us book tickets to two shows, one of which was not on your list of optional items (Lao She tea house). Cindy was concerned about us ordering a cab so she stayed at the show to make sure we got back to our hotel ok. The restaurants/food were very good. The hotel was good but not great; for example we had hot water issues every day, and when I went to pick up a package that was shipped to me they just left me to dig through a pretty large pile of packages all addressed in Chinese.
To wrap up, I would rate the overall experience of looking for a trip, picking a company, and traveling 9.5 out of 10. Shirley, your service was 10 out of 10.
See you next trip!
Terry
excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...
"Highest Standards of Quality and Honesty" is the core value of each specialized team at China Discovery.
Eveyone in our company is working hard for only one goal, which is to ensure the highest level of service, luxury, and attention to detail from the minute you begin planning your trip, to the day you return home.
Our travel consultants are professional, experienced and responsible, helping you from the very beginning to the end of your China trip!
After sending us an inquiry, one of our travel consultants will get back to you within 0.5~23.5 hrs. In the next few days, he/she will be working closely with you to formulate a customized tour plan, as well as providing professional suggestions based on your travel interests, time, and budget.
Beside, he/she will keep in contact with you during your entire tour in China, continually checking if everything is going well as planned.
We're working at Chengdu Bamboo International Tours, local based in Chengdu.
Our local guide in every destination is not only very friendly, enthusiastic but also very informative and knowledgeable.
Once you arrive in the destination, the patient and punctual guides will pick you up and take you to get under skin of the city at your own pace. By in-depth discovery and explanation, they’ll show you more about the history, culture, customs and authentic local life. Throughout the journey, they're not only expert guides who take care of all the details but also fellow travelers who are dedicated to help you explore in comfort and style.
Our guides are passionate about what they do, and it shows all the way!
Using our private transfer service makes you comfortable, relaxed and worry free all the way!
Our private service includes licensed drivers with many years’ driving experience and air-conditioned, non-smoking, clean and well-maintained cars/vans. Drivers are local, polite, friendly and helpful, taking you to your tourist sites, hotels, airport/train stations in safety. All kinds of vehicle are offered, and yours depends on the size of your group. Usually, we offer sedan cars, SUVs, business vans (MPV) and different types of buses, all with extra space for your luggage.
Our private transfer service guarantees you the highest comfort!
In each destination, you’ll enjoy a comfortable stay in a great location!
The hotels we choose are based on star rating, great locations, well-equipped facilities, cozy bed, high quality service and guests’ feedbacks. Choices are a lot ranging from luxury 5 star, comfortable 4 star to budget 3 star. You could decide where to stay to best suit for your budget and likes. Generally, the hotels have both Western and Chinese breakfast with a wide choices.
If you have already got an ideal hotel, please feel free to tell our travel consultants and they'll book the hotel for you.
Have good sleep in our well-selected hotels in all the destinations of China.
We can satisfy all the dietary requirements no matter you want Chinese local food, western food, vegetarian food or muslin food.
The restaurants we will take you for lunch or dinner are all designated tourist restaurants approved by local tourist administration bureau. They have very good sanitary conditions and the food is prepared fresh and clean.
There will be some meals excluded in your itinerary as you like, and your private guide will be delighted to give you some suggestions and take you to the local restaurants to taste like Beijing Roast Duck, Xian Dumpling Dinner, Sichuan Hotpot, etc., if you are interested in local food tasting.
All the dining options will satisfy your stomach!
Tsepa Tent Home (accommodate 4 people)
Duplicate Tsepa Tent (accommodate 2 people)
Shing Cabi Home (accommodate 4 people)
Horse-back journey on Sangke Grassland
Local Tibetan and their yaks
Family reading time at Norden Camp
Labrang Monastery is one of the most influential Tibetan monasteries
Buddhism debating in Labrang Monastery
Enjoy leisure time at Norden Camp
Milk is one of the specialties of Norden Camp's kitchen
Delicious Momo in Norden Camp
Norden Camp is located in Xiahe County, Gansu Province. The nearest airport is Xiahe Airport which only operates a few flights from Chengdu, Xian, Yinchuan, etc. One can take a flight or train to Lanzhou city(can be reached from all major cities in China) first, then drive to Norden Camp. We will send a private driver to escort you.
There are 13 tents and cabins in total including Tsepa Tents, Tsepa Tents Suite, Tsepa Tents Home, Shing Cabin Suite, Shing Cabin Suite, etc. All accommodations, including tents, have wooden floors and comfortable, quality bedding and private bathrooms. Please specify your preferred room types in your inquiry.
Your hotel fee includes breakfasts, lunches and dinners at the camp. All meals are cooked with local fresh ingredients with an exceptional mix of Tibetan and European cuisine. Chefs are well-trained.
Norden Camp is only open between May and October. May is comfortably warm with temperatures of 12-16°C. Wildflowers cover the landscape in June, July and August when days range from 15-25°C. Fall arrives in September with temperatures of 6-12°C. October’s crisp, clear 10°C days give way to considerably cooler nights.
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