14 nights from £2549
Key VJV Features
• VJV Special Event • VJV Sightseeing Programme • Most Meals Included • Upgraded Flight Option • Walking Content: 3 • Group Size: 6 – 25
The opening of a rail link into Tibet from China is an incredible feat of engineering traversing at high altitudes the most inhospitable terrain, where some areas remain permanently frozen. With a length of 2,000 kilometres and over 5,000 metres at its highest point, it is the world’s longest and highest plateau railway comprising 681 bridges, 1,966 culverts and 11 tunnels.
The rail journey starts from Xian, running parallel to the south trail of the ancient Silk Road to Xining. Pass salt lakes and the legendary Kunlun Mountains and Jade Peak, reaching the areas of the source of China’s great rivers. The train crosses over Mount Wudaoliang to a green land of enormous lakes that is Kekexili, a protected region with many wild animals including the Tibetan antelope. At 5,072 metres view Mount Tanggula, then cross into Tibet. Tibet has always exerted a fascination on visitors from the West – partly by its isolation and partly by there being no divide between the religious and secular in its unique past.
In Lhasa, the 1,000-room 7th-century Potala Palace is one of the architectural wonders of the world, with 13 levels of red, white and gold while the Jokhang temple is Tibet’s most holy place and the spiritual centre with golden canopies, gilded Banners of Victory and the large gold Wheel of Law.
VJV Special Event - Chinese Entertainment
This includes a Peking Opera performance, Peking Duck dinner, City Wall ceremony in Xian, rickshaw ride to view the illuminated Potala Palace and Sichuan Opera.
