Organising your Tibet Tour or journey will seems overwhelming initially. I know there are no comprehensive information available in the realm of the internet on how to travel to Tibet.
This post is for all the tour leaders, Head of the family and responsible person of larger friends group how are organising their long-awaited journey to Tibet. Here I will bring together all the information you will need to know before arranging a Tibet tour.
Thank you for choosing Tibet as your next travel destination.
Before progressing further into the topic, I would like to thank all of you for choosing Tibet as your next travel destination. Tibet, the mythical Shangri-La, has lots to offer, from the spiritual journey of Mount Kailash to the adventure to the world highest mountain the Mount Everest.
Tough it is a popular destination for travellers to visit Tibet, but the visit to Tibet is different from any other place on the earth. Here, there are some special regulations for its special status.
Tibet Travel Regulation
The first thing to know before making your plan to travel is to understand the Tibet travel Regulations. This travel regulation is only valid for travellers visiting Tibet Autonomous Region.
The main point of the regulation is that independent travel to Tibet is prohibited. Your vocation to Tibet has to be a guided tour. It must be arranged with a local Travel agency in Tibet, and this agency has to hire you a tour guide to travel with you in Tibet, Private Vehicle and arrange your Tibet travel permit.
You can not travel without the escort of your tour guide. Read more about the travel regulations to Tibet on this link.
Tibet Travel permit
Tibet travel permit is an additional travel document after your passport and visa to visit Tibet. This document is often referred to as Tibet Visa, which I believe is the wrong term.
Tibet Tourism Bureau issues this document in Lhasa. Nobody else can give this document, so you can’t get it at the Chinese Embassies or any other Chinese government organ. Hence you need to book a tour with a local travel agency in Tibet, and they will make your Tibet travel permit.
Read More about Tibet travel permit.
Travel route to Tibet
There are two major travel routes to get you to Tibet. The Chinese Visa for Visiting Tibet and Tibet’s travel permit situation will differ based on the travel route you choose. We will discuss it further on these details.
Travelling to Tibet from other parts of China
It is easier to travel to Tibet from other parts of China. There are more travel options, getting a visa and a Tibet travel permit is easier.
Chinese Visa
Unlike travelling to Tibet from Nepal, If you visit Tibet from other parts of China, you can visit with any regular Visa.
It is recommended to get the Chinese Tourist Visa without mentioning Tibet as your travel destination. If you do, you will be asked to get the Tibet travel permit before getting the visa. Tibet travel permit can be only made after getting the visa.
You might need to submit your hotel reservations and flight booking in other parts of China. For these, please contact us via email for further information.
Tibet Travel Permit
When you come to Tibet from other parts of China, you will need the Tibet permit while entering Tibet. Hence we will have to send your permit to your hotels in China, for you will have to show it at the departing airport before flying to Lhasa.
If you are travelling to Tibet on train, we will send you a copy of your permit by email. You have to print the permit to show it at the Train station.
For those coming to Tibet via overland, your tour guide will bring the permit with him as you meet him at the departing city to Tibet.
Mode to transportation from China
There are three major transportation modes available while travelling to Tibet from other parts of China.
There are flight and train to Tibet available from the major Chinese cities. Chengdu has most flights to Lhasa each day, and Xining has most train to Lhasa. Therefore Xining and Chengdu are significant gateways to Tibet.
Read More About Travelling to Tibet from other parts of China.
Travelling to Tibet from Nepal
Nepal is another gateway to Tibet, and it is the only international gateway to Tibet. Though travelling Tibet from Nepal has been very popular, yet it comes with its drawbacks. The permit and Chinese Visa situation is different. We will discuss it one by one.
Tibet Travel Permit
Unlike travelling to Tibet from other parts of China, if you are travelling to Tibet from Nepal, we will only need your passport when applying for Tibet Travel Permit.
When you arrive in Tibet, you will meet your tour guide at the checkpoint at the border. The tour guide will have your permit, and she will help with your process of Check out.
Chinese Group Visa
As for the Chinese Visa from Visiting Tibet. When visiting Tibet from Nepal, you will need to get a Chinese Group Visa from the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. Only this visa can get you entrance in Tibet.
For this Visa, First, we will have to spend your Visa invitation to a Kathmandu visa agency as they will not entertain individual applicant at the embassy. Hence you will have to hand your passport to the visa agency to get that visa. We will assign our longtime partner to take care of it.
Second, this visa process will take three business days, and you can only travel to Tibet on the fourth day.
Mode of transportation in Tibet from Nepal
There are only two modes of transportation from Kathmandu to Tibet. You can either take the flight to Lhasa or travel overland via land border port at Kyirong.
There are daily flight to Lhasa from Kathmandu. Sometimes, during the windy day, the flight would not land in Lhasa airport and continue towards in Next destinations. This is not an ideal incident to happen if you are joining a group tour.
If flying to Lhasa from Kathmandu, it is recommended to fix your visit to the Potala Palace on the third day of the tour. Get all the communication option open if such things would happen.
Otherwise, you are travel to Tibet overland via land journey. You can hire a jeep from Kathamandu to the Kyirong border. At the border, you will meet your tour guide.
Yet in summer days, part of the road washing away by the landslide is a very common occurance. Suppose such an incident happened to your journey. The only possible way to get you to Kathmandu is by helicopter ride, which is expensive.
Personal advice to Tour leaders from experience Tibet tour operator
Following are my advice to any tour leader planning or organising a tour to Tibet with the above information.
- It is best to start your journey from other parts of China. It is more accessible, and the tour is going to smoother
- If you have Nepal in the plan, keep it after Tibet. You can either take a flight or travel overland to Kathmandu.
- Thought it is infrequent occurance for the tour members to get sick due to Tibet’s high elevation. High altitude sickness is severe and could be deathly. Hence it is recommended to ask all the group member to get the health certificate from their doctor. You will need them to sign a non-laible contract if such a thing occur.
- Is it highly recommend to all the tour operator to get Medical insurance for individual travellers and as a tour operator.
- Finally, download a WeChat. A Chinese Messaging App similar to WhatsApp in the west. This app is very commonly used in China. Contact us on it and ask lots of questions before to make everything clear before risking your reputation in organising a tour to Tibet.
Conclusion on organising your Tibet tour.
Thank you for visiting our site and reading this post toward its completion.
Organising your tour to Tibet is easy and will be a smooth process with all the information mention above and an experienced travel agency like us. Yet, we do understand it might seem very intimidating and overwhelming for many first-timers.
Please do contact us for a free step by step consultation on organising your Tibet tour. You can write to us at info@lamamanitours.com.
