We created Festivals of Tibet as a bow to our beginnings 28 years ago in a crowded North Face tent up at 16,500 feet in the shadow of Everest. We started out as InnerAsia, grew steadily, branched out to just about every corner of the seven continents, changed our name to Geographic Expeditions, grew lots more, and never wavered in our dedication to introducing people to this heart-expanding, beleaguered, stalwart place. We offer two versions of Festivals of Tibet. Both editions take us to the Yarlung Valley, Tibet’s “Valley of the Kings,” where the Tibetan nation arose (and where its oldest temple, Samye, has been lovingly restored after being largely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution), and to a couple of days in Lhasa. And both give us some comfortable, well-supported backcountry camping (see Hiking in Central Tibet for more on the areas we’ll be camping in), allowing us to wake in the still, crisp morning, step outside our tent, and bask in the realization of what for many of us has been a lifelong dream.

Ganden, host of an exceptional annual festival, is one of Tibet’s three most important monasteries (Drepung and Sera, near Lhasa, are the other two), called the “Three Pillars” of the Tibetan state. The farthest from the capital, Ganden is beautifully set on a high hillside (take another look at Hiking in Central Tibet). The festival we’ll take part in is dedicated to Tsongkhapa, the early-15th-century founder of the Gelug school of Vajrayana Buddhism, to which the Dalai Lama belongs. Thousands of pilgrims from all over Tibet, dressed in their regional finery, gather at Ganden, expectantly awaiting the unveiling of a huge appliquéd thangka that depicts the Buddha. A procession of monks begins the festivities. Then the 200-foot-wide, 150-foot-long thangka is slowly draped over one of the main assembly hall’s outer whitewashed walls (inside, a smaller but equally revered thangka will be displayed). The unveiling is accompanied by glorious clanging and various fire offerings and ceremonies throughout the monastery complex.

Days 1 & 2: USA to Beijing • Day 3: fly to Tibet, drive to Tsedang • Day 4: explore the Yarlung Valley • Day 5: Tsedang to Lhasa • Days 6 & 7: Lhasa • Day 8: Ganden festival, drive to Drigung Valley, camp • Day 9: Drigung to Reting Monastery, camp • Day 10: Reting to Lake Namtso, camp • Day 11: Namtso to Jomo Gangtse, camp • Day 12: Jomo Gangtse to Gyantse via Shigatse • Day 13: Gyantse • Day 14: Gyantse to Lhasa via Yamdrok Tso • Day 15: fly to Beijing • Day 16: return to USA.

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