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Tibet on the China Travel Blog

Known as 'gra-ma in Tibetan, Zhangmu is the final stop on the Chinese side of the Friendship Highway linking the Tibet Autonomous Region with neighboring Nepal.

The small border town looks deceptively close to Nepal and Mt. Everest, but the Nepalese still call this area the "Road to Hell" due the extreme difficutly of the trek from Nepal into Tibet.

Zhangmu lies in a unique sub-tropical belt at 2,300 meters above sea level that keeps the mountains and valleys here lush and moist. The major drawback to this are the contstantly slippery steps leading up to the neighborhoods of the town perched up on the mountainside.

If you are crossing from Nepal into Tibet, you will need to be with a tour group (read up on the latest Tibet travel permit regulations). Always keep your passports and visa safe and on your person (should go without saying, but never hurts to repeat).

Zhangmu is a border town with a lot of Friendship Bridge traffic—the two countries declared the border to be a Free Trade Zone for those who live within 30km. Be especially careful with your belongings, as crowded border towns like this tend to attract black marketeers of every stripe.

Many travelers stop here for a bite to eat before contining on to Nyalam, some 30km north of Zhangmu, where the accomodations tend to be nicer and cheaper (and the air isn't filled with the cries of merchants and hawkers).

If you do end up spending the night in Zhangmu, there is only one hotel in town that serves foreigners (and have no showers. Zhangmu itself is not scenic, though the colorful spectacle of the aforementioned hawkers and traders can be entertaining for short spells. 

The surrounding area—with its high Himalayan Peaks and dripping tropical foilage—is a draw for many tourists. But anyone who comes here from Nepal is usually on the way somewhere else: Either to the Mt Everest Base Camp or north toward Gyantse and Shigatse and eventually Lhasa.