Guide to arrange your trip to Tibet is a one-stop post for a complete guide from international tourist visiting Tibet. Here you will find all the required information essential for planning your trip to Tibet.
We hope it will make your travel planning more accessible and encourage many travellers to visit Tibet in the post-Covid-19 pandemic era.
Visiting Tibet is different.
For sure, Tibet offers you a unique landscape, culture and life-altering experiences in visiting. Everyone visiting Tibet returns a different spiritually elevated person.
Yet visiting Tibet comes with its hiccups. Unlike visiting elsewhere in China and any other region of the World. Tibet has its travel regulations. Those regulations are essential for preserving the futile ecological balance of plateau, generating employment for its people and its sensitive political.
Tibet Travel Regulation
The single primary point of the Tibet travel regulation is no international travelers can travel independently in Tibet. Your trip to Tibet has to be a guided tour. Hence the following requirement emerges for visiting Tibet.
Your trip to Tibet has to be arranged with a local Travel agency in Tibet. This travel agency is responsible for hiring you a tour guide, private vehicle and making Tibet Travel Permits.
Read More about the Tibet travel regulations here.
Tibet Travel Permit
Tibet Travel permit is a travel permit required by all foreign tourists for visiting Tibet. This permit is issued by the Tibet tourism development committee, formally known as the Tibet tourism bureau in Lhasa. This permit is only obtainable in Lhasa.
You cannot obtain this permit in any Chinese Embassies and Government agencies in any other China provinces. You will need this permit for entering Tibet. Hence your travel agency in Lhasa can apply it on your behalf.
Chinese Visa
The Chinese Visa required for visiting Tibet can differ on your travel route to Tibet.
You will need to get a regular Chinese Visa if you are coming to Tibet from any part of China. Suppose you are applying for the visa for the sole purpose of visiting Tibet. It is recommended not to mention Tibet as your travel destination.
Suppose you do write Tibet as your travel destination. The embassy requires you to submit the Tibet travel permit to apply for your visa. But we will get the permit only after getting the visa. So to avoid the egg first or Chicken first confusion loop. It is recommended to apply for a visa without mentioning Tibet.
Read more about the Chinese Visa from this link.
Chinese Group Visa
For those coming to Tibet from Nepal. It is mandatory to get a Chinese Group Visa from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. All your preexisting visa gets cancelled upon getting the Group Visa.
For this route, we can make the Tibet permit without your visa. Additionally, we will send the Visa invitation to the Chinese Embassy in Nepal. You have to use a local visa agent in Kathmandu to go to the embassy to apply for it. At the embassy, they will not entertain individual applicants.
Suppose you are coming to Tibet from Nepal. Please check the arrival date with Nepalese and Chinese Calander for the holidays. If you don’t, you might end up staying more days in Nepal.
Read More about the Chinese Group Visa from this link.
Finding a local Travel agency in Tibet.
The travel regulation for visiting Tibet also dictates the requirement of a local Tibetan travel agency in Tibet to arrange and organise your trip to Tibet. They are also responsible for getting your Tibet travel permit done before your arrival to Tibet and giving to step by step guide in the process of making your dream trips to Tibet into a reality, not a nightmare.
Since you are reading this post, you have already found a very experienced travel agency with a history of over two decades. Yet there are many good travel agencies in Lhasa. We would recommend checking the website of Tibet Ecotravel Collective. All the travel agency lists are native travel agencies by Tibetan tourism professionals.
If you are not talking to a travel agency listed here, you will likely be in touch with a middle man.
Read more about how to find a local travel agency in Tibet in the link.
Engagement with your Travel agency in Lhasa
It is very convenient to communicate with the Tibetan travel agency in Lhasa. The most salesperson has a perfect command of English.
Email would be the prime mode of communication with your travel agency in Tibet. If you would choose to download and use WeChat, that y would be even more convenient than relying on email. We highly recommend you in using it for making a huge difference in planning your trip to Tibet.
We want to recommend you ask them a lot of questions. Also, read a lot of posts and ask loads of questions to them, some times what seems obvious isn’t to you and vice versa. Asking them lots of questions helps peel the layers for them give you the much-required information.
Hiring a tour guide
Besides you and the travel agency, the tour guide is the third most important person on your journey to Tibet. The ethics and professionalism of the tour guide hold a very significant part in the tour’s success. The more adventurous and remote region your journey takes, the more dependent you and your group members are on the tour guide.
So it is highly recommended you have your friends recommend you are the tour guide. Once you book the travel agency tour, you can ask them to hire that particular tour guide for the journey.
Getting to Tibet
Getting to Tibet is another important point to know when arranging your trip to Tibet. There are two primary gateways to get to Tibet. One is from other regions or cities of China, and the other is traveling to Tibet from Nepal. The permit and Visa situation will differ base on your travel route to Tibet. So it is of utmost importance to know the pros and cons of choosing a particular travel route.
Travel to Tibet from other cities of China
Traveling from other cities of China to Tibet is very convenient and easy. Here you will have more transportation options. You can choose from Train, flight and overland journey to Lhasa.
Chinese Visa for traveling to Tibet from China
You can use any preexisting Chinese visa you may have on your passport to get to Lhasa for this route. If you don’t have one, you can get a Chinese tourist visa from the Chinese Embassy or consulate in your region.
When applying for a tourist visa, it is best not to mention Tibet as your travel destination. If you do, you will be asked to submit the visa invitation from the Tibet tourism bureau. With this invitation, there is a minimum requirement of four people.
With this invitation, You can only apply for a visa at the Chinese embassy, not the consulate. For this, you may end going to the capital city of your residential country.
With this invitation, you will only get a China group visa. It is a visa on a piece of paper. Here it is unrenewable, and all the group member listed has to enter and leave China at the same time from the same port.
Below we will discuss permit policy based on the mode of your transportation.
Tibet travel permit policy for taking a flight to Lhasa
There are daily flights to Lhasa from all the major cities in China. Compared to all the cities of China, Chengdu has the most number of daily flights to Lhasa.
For those how are taking flights from other parts of China, you need to have the original Tibet travel permit in your hand while boarding the flight to Lhasa.
We can either help send the permit to your hotel in any city in China or arrange for someone to deliver the permit at the Chengdu airport before you board the flight to Lhasa.
Tibet travel permit policy for taking a train to Lhasa
Traveling to Tibet has become easy after the completion of the Qinghai-Lhasa railways line. Now travelers can choose to take the train from any part of China to Lhasa.
Taking the train to Tibet is not only economical, but it also takes you through an incredible region of the plateau where you wouldn’t arrive otherwise. Many experts refused the idea of taking the train to help acclimatize Tibet’s elevation as the train compartments are pressurized.
Here you will only need to have a copy of your permit while boarding the train to Lhasa. We will send you the permit’s scan photo, and you will have to make a printout.
If you are taking the train from Chongqing to Lhasa, you will need the flight section’s original permit. We can send the permit to your hotel, or you can change the departure city to somewhere else.
Tibet travel permit policy for the overland journey to Lhasa
It is sporadic and expensive for international travelers to take an overland journey to Tibet. You can travel overland from any province of China or Nepal, and You can also bring your RV or bike to Tibet.
Yet, if you are coming overland to Tibet, we will have to send your tour guide to meet you at the Tibet autonomous region’s border. He will have the Travel permit with him.
Traveling to Tibet from Nepal
Nepal is the only international destination where you can travel directly to Tibet. It is a trendy gateway to reach Tibet. But Traveling to Tibet from Nepal comes with its own drawback.
Traveling on this route comes with a different visa and permit situation than traveling to Tibet from China. Here it is mandatory to get the Chinese Group Visa from the Chinese embassy in Nepal.
You will have to stay in Kathmandu for three business days for the visa process. The group visa comes with its fouls. Please read more about the Chinese Group Visa at the link.
We can make your Tibet travel permit only with your passport. You will have to send a copy of your passport to make the Tibet travel permit.
Conclusion of Guide to arrange your trip to Tibet
We hope this post on arranging your trip to Tibet brings you comprehensive information on traveling to Tibet when planning your trip to Tibet. Though we did try to put all the info on, we know we miss much information. That is to make this post easier to read and understandable.
Since you are reading this post, you can contact us for a step-by-step guide while booking your Tibet tour with us.
If you still have any questions about traveling to Tibet. We will be more than happy to help you with the right information. Please do write to us at losal@itibettravel.com.
About Tibet Travel & Tours
Tibet Travel & Tours is a local travel agency in Tibet that offers unique and authentic experiences to travelers from all around the world. As a leading tour operator in Tibet, we provide high-quality Tibet Travel services that are tailored to our clients’ needs and preferences.
Our team of experienced and knowledgeable professionals strives to ensure that our clients have a hassle-free and memorable trip in Tibet. We specialize in various types of tours, including cultural tours, trekking and hiking tours, and adventure tours.
Our commitment to providing exceptional service has earned us a reputation as one of the best local travel agencies in Tibet. Contact us today to plan your unforgettable trip to Tibet.
Explore Tibet with a local Tibetan Travel Agency
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Their Tibet tour packages cater to a range of interests and budgets, making it easy to plan a trip that suits your needs. Before embarking on your tibet tour, it’s essential to have the right Tibet travel information and necessary documents, including a Tibet travel permit.
The Tibet Travel Planner provided by i-Tibet travel is an excellent resource to plan your trip, including tips on what to pack, where to stay, and what to see.
For beginners, the “About Tibet” guide provided by i-Tibet travel offers a comprehensive overview of the region’s history, culture, and top attractions. So, start your Tibet travel plan here with i-Tibet travel and discover the magic of Tibet for yourself.
