Cost of Traveling to Tibet

Cost of Traveling to Tibet. One the big concern after deciding to travel to Tibet is the cost of visiting Tibet. The cost of traveling to Tibet is greatly decide by the places of visit in Tibet and duration of your stay in Tibet. But as compare to other region of China and many international tourist destinations like Thailand or Nepal.

Here are we will break down the cost of Traveling to Tibet in detail to help you figure out how much it will cost you in visiting Tibet.

Cost of Tibet Travel Permit, it is free with us

As name suggest, After Chinese Visa, Tibet Travel Permit or Tibet entry permit is most important document to visit Tibet.

Only a local Travel agency in Tibet can apply it on your behalf. Tibet Tourism Bureau is the only authority issuing this permit and it is local in Lhasa and there have no other branches anywhere.

Permit is for free with all the major travel agencies in Tibet. Yet you have to dedicate a personal solely for the permit processes. With us you will get the permit in timely at free of cost.

Please note: There are requirement of more than one permit to visit Tibet. There are additional permits like Alien’s permit, border permit to visit place like Kailash and Everest. Therefore the duration of process of getting permit depends on number of permits required for your Tibet tour itinerary. It is usually 8-9 working days to make the permit and it is recommended to finish booking Tibet tour 20 days before your arrival in Tibet.

We will guide you and make the permit as it is required for your Tibet Tour. Please read more about Tibet Travel Permit here.

Tibet Tour cost breakdown (In Tibet)

It doesn’t matter if your are on a private VIP tours or a budget group tour. The tour cost universally includes hotel accommodations, tour vehicles with driver, professional Tibetan tour guide services, ( its often recommend to tip the guide and driver at the end of tour) and your personal expenditure.

Below you will find a detail information on above mention ingredient of tour cost and some insider tip on reducing each to bring down the over all tour cost visiting Tibet.

Hotel Cost

Lhasa has all the different varieties of hotel from basic hostel to international branded five-star hotels. You will find the best hotels to suit your budget here. The price of the hotel will range from 30 USD to over 200 USD.

For affordable prices and best location, most common preference of most international travelers are fours star and three star hotels around Ancient Lhasa City. Here it usually cost about 60 USD per night.

As you travel to lease develop region like Mount Everest and Mount Kailash, hotel standard trend to reduce to more basic and humbler with fewer choices.

The cost of guest-room accommodation at Rongbuk Monastery near Everest basecamp is about 25 USD with no private toilet and bath, no breakfast. Since you are on an Adventure of the lifetime tour, it is best to grade down your expectation.

Private Vehicle Cost in Tibet

Huge chunk of portion of your tour price will goes to the Vehicle in Tibet. The price of the car is paid as per the distance cover on kilometer base. Distance to Mount Kailash from Lhasa is about 3720 kilometer, and it is 1340 kilometers to Everest.

The most basic price for the car is 3.5 RMB per kilometer for small cars and it goes all the way up to 13 RMB per kilometer for the Big 27 seater bus. The price differs from season to season. It is cheaper to visit in winter as compare to summer. The highest price of the smaller van with 5 passenger seat is about 1000 RMB per day during the high season like Chinese National Holiday in First week of October.

If you are looking to travel to Tibet in Budget, it is best to join our small group tour for best affordable as you will be sharing the Vehicle cost with other travel partners.

Entrance fees in Tibet

Entrance fees to the attractions in Tibet is include whether you are visiting Tibet in form of private tour or group tour. Most expensive entrance fees are Everest Basecamp, Kailash and Potala Palace.

Average entrance fees in Tibet is about 60 RMB to most attractions. During the winter you will a great discount on entrance fees to all the major attractions.

Meals cost in Tibet

All the Tibet tour with us includes breakfast in the hotel, we will also invite you and your dinner members for a welcome dinner upon arrival in Tibet. Besides this you will have to pay for the your lunch and dinner.

Basic meal in local Tibetan restaurant like Tibetan soup noodle, Momos, and beverage like Sweet Milk tea, Yak butter tea and Lhasa beer will cost you from 15 RMB to 30 RMB.

There are few higher-end restaurants in cities like Lhasa and Shigatse with more diverse cuisines like Nepali, Continental, Indian and Chinese. In these restaurants it will usually cost you about 30 RMB to 90 RMB per person.

There is very limited option of food as you travel outside above two mention cities. It is a good idea to buy some dried and wet fruits and other forms of food if you are particularly about what you eat. In remote area you will get a very simple dishes line rice with yak meat, egg-fried rice, soup noodles,

Tour Guide fees and tipping

The Tour guide can be depend on the kind of tours you are undertaking. If you are doing a hiking tours in a remotes region of Tibet, We will have to hire you a higher end tour guide with many years of experiences in the wilderness. These tour guide takes higher guide fees.

For other regular tours, the guide fees in not more than 75 USD or 500 RMB. But we feel the guide fee are bound to increase this year after three years of COVID lockdown. Let see how is it going this year.

Beside on Tipping the guide, it is not obliged to tip the tour guide. But Normally tourist do tip the tour guide and the driver at the end of the tour. It highly recommended by the all the travel agency as the tour guide and driver usually don’t have much work in the six month of winter.

The amount of tip is depending on your personal capabilities. To our team member at Tibet Universal Travel, the highest tip they have got was about 10000 USD to lowest at 10 USD. It is not the amount but the gesture of gratitude.

In the group tour, tour members would usually meet at the last day of the trip in hotel lobby to make a group collection for tipping the guide and driver.

Personal expenses in Tibet

The other personal expenses in Tibet depends on your itinerary and personal preference. We would recommend you keep about 500 USD for the personal expenditure. When you go to shop, it is highly recommend to bargain.

The most common personal expenditure in Tibet are purchase of souvenirs, Medicine, food, porter service specially if you are trekking around kailash.

Cost of transportation from your home to Tibet

This transportation cost is a huge chunk of your travel expensive to visit Tibet. The only option to enter into Tibet is either thought Nepal or Other big cities in China. There is a different situation of Visa and permit in both case. Read here for more info.

Cost of flights to Tibet

The only international flight available to Tibet is from Kathmandu. Yet there are plenty of daily flight from different cities in China. The cost of flight to Tibet differ a lots with your flight booking platform. Many of our clients finds it cheaper to book the flight ticket with us using local Chinese platform.

The cost of one way flight ticket from Kathmandu to Lhasa is about 283 USD and there are daily two flight in high season and a flight in low season. The cost could reach about 600 USD in the low seasons.

The more efficient and budget way to reach Tibet is to take an international flight to any major cities in China and take a local flight to Lhasa. There are plenty of daily flight to Lhasa from all the major cities. Yet we will always recommend Chengdu to make your transit for easier permit deliver.

Cost of overland to Tibet

The cost of traveling overland to Tibet from other region of China or Nepal is more than taking a flight to Tibet. Though it is hard to tell the exact amount you will to bring yet our experiences tells you will need at lease 1700 USD.

As of now you are can overland journey to Tibet via these highways, Sichuan-Tibet Highways, Qinghai Tibet highway and our favorite Xinjiang-Tibet Highway. With opening of all the international border after COVID, now you can also do epic Kathmandu Lhasa Overland tours with Mount Everest.

Cost of Train Journey to Tibet

Train journey to Tibet from other part of China is highly economical, with stunning view of remotest region of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

Many website claims its good for acclimatization. But since train is pressurize, it is not particularly good claim.

The train cost is much cheaper as compare to the flight, But there are huge difference in the train fare depending on the route and class of seat that you prefer.

Effect of Travel Season to the Tibet travel cost

To great extent the Tibet trip cost is defined by season of your visit. Starting to Last spring to entire summer is the high season of tourism in Tibet. There will be a loads of domestic and international traveler visiting Tibet.

Summer break for schools and educational institution brings additional traffic to Tibet and could lead to increase in travel cost and it is harder to get train and flight tickets at the beginning and end of the break as students are returning home.

From Second half of October to late February is consider low season and there are less tourist. Yet this only make a great time to visit Tibet. Traveling to Tibet in low season lower the price of flights, and train to Tibet. But there are huge difference in price of hotel, entrance fee to crowd less attraction and authentic local atmosphere.