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Voykit pocket guide · China
Hepu
Half-day stop on the Ganden–Samye trek, not a destination on its own. Walk in from Ganden (3 h), camp or stay in a villager's tent, then continue the 4-day trek to Samye.
Hepu is a tiny farming village (about 100 people) east of Lhasa, used almost exclusively as the first overnight stop on the 4-day Ganden–Samye trek. There are no shops, hotels or restaurants — you sleep in a yak-hair tent or a villager's home, eat tsampa and drink butter tea, and hire guides and yaks for the trail ahead.
- Country
- China
- Best months
- May–Jun, Sep–Oct
- Avoid
- Jul–Aug (rain), Nov–Mar (snow on passes)
- Stay
- 1 night
Checked 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change; anything marked (check) is not confirmed.
Essentials
- Currency
- CNY
- Money
- Alipay and WeChat Pay accept Visa, Mastercard, JCB and Amex cards; single payments over ¥200 carry a fee of about 3% on a foreign card (smaller ones are free), and per-payment and yearly caps apply — check the app. Keep a second way to pay.
- Daily spend
- Budget ¥100–200 (guide/yak hire, tea, tent fee) (estimate; check)
- SIM and data
- A roaming eSIM from outside China routes traffic through its home network, so Google, WhatsApp and Instagram work without a VPN — the simplest setup.
- Emergency
- Police 110 · Fire 119 · Ambulance 120
- Plugs
- Types A, C, I · 220 V · 50 Hz · Many sockets take flat two-pin (A), round two-pin (C) and angled three-pin (I) plugs; UK plugs need an adapter.
- Tipping
- Restaurants: No tip; upmarket hotels add 10–15% service.; Taxis and DiDi: No tip.; Tour guides and drivers: Expected on organised tours: about ¥100–200 a day for a guide, ¥50–100 for a driver.; Hotel porters: Not expected; ¥10–20 in luxury hotels.
- Water
- Not for drinking from the tap; bottled water ¥2–5, and kettles and free bottles in hotel rooms. Restaurants serve hot water or tea.
- Toilets
- Public toilets are frequent and free; squat toilets outside hotels and malls. Carry tissues — many have no paper.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Cup of butter tea | ¥5–10 |
| Bowl of tsampa | ¥10–20 |
| Guide per day | ¥200–400 |
| Yak hire per day | ¥150–300 |
Desk estimates, checked 2026-09; check locally.
Get in
By air
- LXA · Lhasa Gonggar
- About 2 h by road to Ganden monastery, then 3 h walk to Hepu
Typical fares
- Lhasa → Ganden (taxi or minibus)
- about ¥200–300, 1.5 h (check)
- Ganden → Hepu (walk)
- 3 h, free
Show 7 more sections and the pocket cardHideGet around, See and do, Sleep, Phrase card, Etiquette, safety and scams, One and two days, Sources, Pocket card
Get around
Walking only. The village is a cluster of homes; trails connect to the trek route. Yaks can be rented for carrying gear.
See and do
Known for
- Ganden–Samye trek
- Yak-hair tent camping
- Tibetan village hospitality
Day trips
| Where | How | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Ganden Monastery | Walk 3 h west on the trail | 3 h |
| Samye Monastery | Trek 4 days east via Hepu, Yama Do and Chimpu | 4 days |
| Lhasa | Walk back to Ganden (3 h), then taxi or bus to Lhasa (1.5 h) | About 5 h |
Sleep
- Village homes and yak-hair tents
- No formal hotels. Villagers offer floor space in tents or homes; bring a sleeping bag.
Phrase card
| English | Say or show |
|---|---|
| Hello | ཚེ་རིང་tshe ring |
| Thank you | ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེthuk je che |
| How much? | གོང་ཚད་ག་ཚོད་ཡོདkong tshé ga tshö yö |
| Tea, please | ཇ་གནང་རོགསja nang roks |
| Where is the trail? | ལམ་ཁ་གང་ན་ཡོདlam kha gang na yö |
Etiquette, safety and scams
Etiquette
- Greeting: Handshake and a nod; use surnames with a title; avoid: Hugs and cheek kisses
- Face: Disagree privately and indirectly; avoid: Correcting or embarrassing someone in front of others
- Gifts: Give with two hands; expect the gift to be refused once or twice and opened later; avoid: Clocks, umbrellas, white flowers, sets of four
- Business cards: Present and receive with both hands, read it, keep it on the table; avoid: Writing on it or pocketing it at once
- Queues and crowds: Hold your ground politely in scrums at buses and lifts; avoid: Taking pushing personally
- Temples: Walk clockwise around Tibetan stupas and prayer wheels; remove hats; avoid: Touching statues or photographing where signs forbid
- Politics: Listen; follow your host's lead; avoid: Raising Tibet, Taiwan, Xinjiang, 1989 or the party leadership
- Numbers and colour: Red and 8 are lucky; red envelopes carry money gifts; avoid: Writing names in red; the number 4
Scams and watch-outs
- No electricity or mobile signal in most of the village — charge devices in Lhasa.
- Altitude: Hepu is about 4,200 m. Acclimatise in Lhasa (3,650 m) for at least 2 days before trekking.
- Bring all food and water; villagers may offer tea and snacks but there is no shop.
- Hire a guide in Hepu for the trek to Samye — the trail is unmarked in places.
Altitude sickness is the main risk. No medical facilities in Hepu — the nearest clinic is in Ganden or Lhasa. Trek with a guide and carry a satellite messenger.
One and two days
No timed day plan for Hepu yet. Suggested stay: 1 night. Build a day from the list below, mornings for the big sight.
- Ganden–Samye trek
- Yak-hair tent camping
- Tibetan village hospitality
Sources
Written by Voykit; facts cross-checked against these sources, last desk check 2026-09. Prices, hours and rules change: check on the day.
- Wikivoyage: Hepu, revision 5289094 (CC BY-SA 4.0): en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?oldid=5289094
Pocket card
Cut along the border and keep it in your wallet. Show the local-script lines to a driver.
Printed from Voykit (/hepu). Written by Voykit; checked 2026-09. Estimates only: confirm prices, hours and entry rules on the day.