Mount Kailash - Holy Center of Four Religions

Beautiful Natural Scenery in Mount Kailash

Breathing the most rarefied air in the most azure sky, and certainly you can also savor the most spectacular landscape. Towering Kailash Mount always make people feel awestruck at the first sight. The transparent glaciers hanging on the soaring mountain present various colors in different seasons. Many rivers like the Ganges River, Indus, Yarlung Zangbo River etc. originates from Mount Kailash, and the melt snow disembogues into sacred Lake Manasarovar. As a result, enough streams in Mount Kailash flowing to the distance just like a devout pilgrim adds some tender feeling to this magnificent mountain. As the sun rises and shines on the crystal surface, Kailash became more touching in a golden pyramid shape. In conclusion, a picture made by splendid snow-mountain, amazing glacier and comely prairie together with the symphony of bubbling stream and rolling stones will give you a great pleasure.

Featured Activities

Pay a Pilgrimage to Mount Kailash

Every year, thousands of followers of different religions come to Mount Kailash to make a pilgrimage from different corners of the world, following a tradition dating back to thousands of years ago. For pilgrims of several religions, a visit to the sacred mountain is a long-cherished dream though the dream is difficult to reach. In order to realize their dream, some people have to start off one year ahead, then cross inhospitable regions, climb over the Himalayas, and finally reach to Mount Kailash. Despite experiencing innumerable trials and hardships, the pilgrims believe that the pilgrimage brings supreme honor and purifies their minds.

Mount Kailash Kora Trekking

Mount Kailash koral trekking tour is one of the most formidable treks. The average altitude of this trekking in Tibet is nearly 5,000 meters, so it is very a great challenge and requires strong perseverance and strong body. It is a rigid test of both the mind and spirit. But simple accommodation and food are available on the trail, so trekkers can enjoy the trek to their heart’s content. It is believed that circumambulating around Mount Kailash one time could wipe off the evil, ten times could help to escape from Hellfire, and one hundred times will lead to Buddhahood. The path for pilgrimage is made in a clockwise direction by Hindus and Buddhists. As for the followers of the Jain and Bönpo religions, circumambulation around the mountain is in an opposite direction. The path around Mount Kailash is about 52 km long and can be made to one day, two days or three days according to physical condition.

Route and Distance: Darchen — 7 km — Sershong — 2.6 km — Chuku Monastery — 5.8 km-Indian Tea House — 4.2 km — hishapangma Guesthouse — 5.8 km — Dromala — 2.6 km — the Third Prostration Point — 5.4 km — Rounding Mountain Eastern Tea House — 4.5 km — Zutulpuk Monastery — 6.2 km-Rdaongsdod Teahouse — 4 km — Darchen

One Day’s Route

Some pilgrims believe that the entire kora should be made in a single day but it never to be an easy task. This tour is made for those who are familiar with the route and little disturbed by the bumpy terrain, altitude sickness and harsh conditions faced in the process.

Darchen(5:00)- Dirapuk Monastery - Dromala(16:00) – darchen(22:00)

Two Days’ Route

Two Days’ Rout is suitable for the pilgrims in good shape and never suffering from altitude sickness.

Day1: Darchen (9:00) – Dirapuk Monastery (15:00)

Day 2: Dirapuk Monastery (8:00) – Dromala (12:00) – the first tea tent (13:00) –Zutrupuk Gompa (16:00) – Darchen (17:00)

Three Days’ Route

This route is most suggested because pilgrims have enough time to adapt to the adverse climates. With abundant time to rest and enjoy the amazing scenery, you will have a more delightful tour.

Day 1: Darchen – Dirapuk Monastery (22 km)

In the first day, your journey starts from Darchen, ends in in Dira-puk Monastery where accommodation and food are both available. After one hour’s later, you will climb to the top of one hill in which you can see colorful sutra streamer. Then you will go up and downs with Lhachu River which leads you to Dirapuk Monastery.

Day 2: Dirapuk Monastery – Zutrupuk Gompa (22 km)

In that day, you will climb to Dromala which enjoys highest evaluation (5630m) of the route. So slow your step and replenish enough energy to protect you from altitude sick. Zutrupuk Gompa is your last destination today where you can stay overnight.

Day 3: Zutrupuk Gompa – Darchen

In third day, you have to cover 4 km for about 5 hours and finally back to Darchen. You will meet with two tents where food is for sale and hot water is available.

>> 13 Days Valuable Tibet Mt. Kailash Kora Adventure Tour
>> 15 Days Tibet Everest Plus Mt. Kailash Pilgrimage Group Tour

Other Top Tibet Tour Packages

- 4 Days Lhasa Essence Tour
- 8 Days Lhasa Mount Everest Tour
- 8 Days Tibet Classic Tour from Kathmandu
- 8 Days Lhasa to Kathmandu Overland Tour via EBC

Saga Dawa Festival is a traditional Tibetan Festival associated with the birthday and enlightenment of Shakyamuni. It always occurs in the full-moon day (15th day almost) of April in Tibetan Calendar. During the whole month, the disciplines will pray, pilgrimage around the monasteries, kora around sacred mountain or abstain from meat, Saga Dawa Festival is also the popular day to make a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. Many Buddhist followers will flock to Darchen and join the splendid ritual. After that, they start kora, bending down, kneeling, prostrating at full-length and making a mark with their fingers, showing their reverent belief to a full degree.

The unconquerable lake - Lake Manasarovar (Manas Sarovar), located in the south of Mount Kailash, is one of the Three Sacred Lakes and regarded as the Mother of Sacred Lake. As the largest lake at the highest altitude in the world, Lake Manasarovar is holy, blissful and worth at least a visit in one's lifetime. It enjoys the maximum clarity among the great amounts of freshwater lakes. The Bonpo refer it as the most holy and pure lake. An old saying goes like that the Lake Manasarovar could wipe off all the annoyance and evil, so there are a lot pilgrims coming here to taking a washing in every spring and summer. On your way to Mount Kailash, you will meet Lake Manasarovar, so combining Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash to have a sacred journey is top recommended

By Flight

There are several flights in one week from Lhasa to Ngari Gunsa Airport which is located in Shiquanhe Village. If you want to start from Nepal, you can take a flight from Katmandu to Lhasa for about 1.5 hours.

By Driving

The most popular way for foreign tourists to arrive at Mt. Kailash is travel from Lhasa, so that you can have enough time not only to acclimitize the high altitude but also enjoy the amazing view such as Yamdrok Lake, Palcho Monastery, Mount Everest, etc. Starting from Lhasa, via Shigatse, Mount Everest, Saga, and the whole journey goes a distance more than 1,220km and takes about 13~17 days to finish the Kailash tour.

Before 2016, many visitors came to Tibet from the Nepal border, but since the big 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Nepal on April 25 in 2015, the road from Nepal to Tibet has been damaged and the Zhangmu gate has been closed without exact time for reopening. To get the updated information about the transportation from Nepal to Mount Everest, please contact our contact our Travel Consultant!

Yaks and Yaks Walker

There are Yaks and Horses available to transfer your stuff at a high cost in one-time and you can hire walker to carry paid per day. Yaks and Yaks Walkers are included in tour of China Discovery.

Travel with ChinaDiscovery

If you want to get rid of hustle of public transportation and troublesome navigation, you can book a private tour package which covers sightseeing, dining and transfer from us. Our knowledgeable local tour guide and skilled driver will escort you to Mount Kailash with speed and convenience, and take care of all the details. You just need to focus on sightseeing.