Tibet Travel FAQ

For Tibet tours, foreign travelers must have not only a standard Chinese visa but also a special travel permit which must be issued in either Lhasa, Chengdu, Kunming, Beijing, Xian or Xining. That means that a standard Chinese visa is not sufficient for Tibet tour, and individual travel for foreigners is not permitted within Tibet, in some special places, travelers must even have military permit also. Chinese visa are generally obtained from most Chinese embassies and consulates.

To obtain such permits, it is necessary to make your travel arrangements through a bona fide agency, providing details of full name, sex, nationality, date of birth, occupation, and passport number. Please note that its also impossible to obtain flights to Tibet without the Travel permit. The permits themselves specify every destination and town that you wish to visit and can not be changed once you have arrived in Tibet, therefore be certain to detail all possible destinations in your request as well as the route you wish to follow.

By air, there are several routes are available now: Beijing-Lhasa, Shanghai-Lhasa, Chengdu -Lhasa,Xi'an-Lhasa, Xining-Lhasa, Guangzhou-Lhasa, Chongqing-Lhasa, Kathmandu-Lhasa. By land, the possible routes are: Qinghai-Lhasa, Sichuan-Lhasa, Yunnan-Lhasa and Kathmandu-Lhasa. However, land transportation takes much longer time, and can be very tough, especially the Sichuan-Lhasa route.

Lhasa, Tsedang, Gyantse, Shigatse, Tingri, Zhangmu etc. are the most popular places in Tibet, for both normal and trekking itineraries. For expedition, Mt. Everest and Mt. Kailash are the most exciting and accessible areas.