Eastern Tibet

The Hengduan Mountains of eastern Tibet under Chamdo's administration, the essential passage for entering Tibet along the Sichuan–Tibet and Yunnan–Tibet highways, where the Tea Horse Road and Khampa culture meet.

The Eastern Tibet region corresponds to the whole of Chamdo City in Tibet. It lies in the Hengduan Mountains, where the Jinsha, Lancang (Mekong) and Nu (Salween) rivers run side by side, and it is the gateway for the southern and northern Sichuan–Tibet routes and the Yunnan–Tibet route into Tibet. An exception to the boundaries: although Ranwu Lake and the Midui Glacier are on the southern Sichuan–Tibet route, and Ranwu Lake belongs to Baxoi County in Chamdo, by tourism convention they are grouped under Southeastern Tibet and not counted in this region. The main highlights include the Champa Ling Monastery and the Karuo site in urban Chamdo, the thousand-year-old salt fields at Yanjing in Markam, built along the Lancang River, with a rare Catholic church in a Tibetan area, and, in Baxoi, the Nujiang 72 Bends on Mount Yela, as well as the Riwoche Tsuglhakhang in Riwoche County and Zizhu Monastery in Dengqen. The classic trip is a self-drive along National Highway 318: from Batang in Sichuan cross the Jinsha River into Markam, then via Zogang and Baxoi toward Nyingchi. Or take the Yunnan–Tibet route north from Deqen in Yunnan, joining the Sichuan–Tibet route at Markam. You can also take the northern route, National Highway 317, via Jomda, Chamdo and Riwoche. Passing through this region alone takes three to four days, and a detour to urban Chamdo and its monasteries adds two more. The air gateway is Chamdo Bamda Airport, at very high altitude, where takeoffs and landings are often affected by weather. The region has many high mountain passes and deep gorges. In the rainy season beware of landslides and traffic controls, and in winter the passes are covered in snow and ice, so leave plenty of flexible time and guard against altitude sickness.

Destinations

Itineraries