6 things to know before going to Tibet

1. Tibet Travel Permit All foreign travelers must obtain Tibet Travel Permit through travel agency that is entitled to apply if you plan to visit Tibet Autonomous Region. In order to get it, you need provide your tour operator scan […]

1. Tibet Travel Permit

All foreign travelers must obtain Tibet Travel Permit through travel agency that is entitled to apply if you plan to visit Tibet Autonomous Region. In order to get it, you need provide your tour operator scan of your passport,Chinese visa and flight reservation to/from Lhasa at least 20-25 days before your departure time, depends on where you are traveling in Tibet.  

This is Tibet Travel Permits, it has two pages.

• Entering from mainland China

Chinese visa should be applied in your home country 3 months before your journey. Though you can provide your visa to Tibet tour operator 20-25 days before applying your Tibet Travel Permits. But it is always better to apply China visa earliest you can as the visa process become more restricted. There are different types of visa (L type tourist visa, Z type working visa, M-type short visiting business visa.etc. you can check out here). Different type of visa need to provide additional info when we start applying for the permit, for more detailed info, please click here.

• Entering from Nepal

If you travel from Nepal, you don’t need apply for Chinese Visa in advance in your home country, Instead you need to apply a visa called Chinese Group Visa(or some called it Tibet visa, or Tibet Group Visa), which only can be obtained in the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. The most important thing for applying this is to form up a minimums 5 people group(this restriction apply end of August 2018, there was no issue of group size prior to this point), in other word, if your group has less than 5 people, you won’t be able to get it. You can form up a tour with more than 5 people, or your tour operator can try to gather more than 5 people from different places. All of the 5 people or more in your group has to entry and exit Tibet at the same time altogether as they will be only one group visa which has all the list of your names on it. In order to apply this China/Tibet Group visa,  tour operators need to apply your Tibet Travel Permits and an official Invitation Letter from Tibet. For this, a scan copy of your passport will be needed to make the Tibet Travel Permit as well as your Group Visa invitation. It takes about 20-30 days to issue these papers. Once these papers are done, you can come to Kathmandu to apply your China Group Visa any time, however, minimum of 3 working days required once you arrive Kathmandu and meet our representative before your journey to Tibet.

Please note that your itinerary must be fixed before applying Tibet Travel Permits and all the places you are visiting will be listed on the permits. You are not allowed to visit any other places outside of Lhasa without the place listed on the permits. This means if you own a Tibet Travel Permit does not means you are allowed to travel anywhere you want in Tibet. For More info, please take a look at Tibet Travel Permits . 

Invitation letter to apply for Tibet Group Visa

2. How to choose a tour operator for your journey to Tibet

There is no correct answer to it as it depends on many factors. Nevertheless, there are certain things keep in mind when you choose a travel agency and these points can make your trip more enjoyable, affordable and reliable.

• A local tour operator based in Tibet, preferably a Tibetan owned tour operators(this is a little hard to choose any many travel agencies owned by others also claims to be Tibetan), but try your best to do some homework online.
• Somehow you have to choose a non-Tibetan tour operator, then at least make sure to have a Tibetan guide for you while you are in Tibet. This is very important!!! If you have a Tibetan guide, you will get much more info about Tibetan culture, religion, custom.etc.
• Check the review of this company online. The most popular reviewing sites are: Lonely Planet Forums and Tripadvisor.
• Check Tibetan Guide books, most of guide books only list Tibet based agencies.
• Tour price, this is one of the main factor when you choose tour operator, but bottom line, do not go with the cheapest price. I recommend to ask few agencies and get an idea of price range and choose middle or above if your budget allows, but do not go to the cheapest, this is from our own years of experience and stories we heard in Tibet. There is reason why the price much cheaper than others.

Our Group is throwing Lungta / Windhorse into the air wishing for good luck

3. Acclimatize to high Altitude in Tibet

 The most important thing is to gain altitude gradually day by day. Above 2700 meters it is best to ascend no more than 500 meters in one day. In Tibet it is not always possible to follow such conservative scheme: there are simply no heights such small. Therefore, a reasonable minimum is to stay the first few days in Lhasa (3600 meters). There are hospitals there where mountain sickness can be treated, and in extreme cases, you can be quickly evacuated from the mountains to lowers cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing.etc. When ascending further than the height of Lhasa it is recommended to move reasonably slow pace, drink a lot of water, do not come outside after evening shower, eat light and stay warm.  

Not all travelers to Tibet have time to do this but the most safe way to get to Tibet is to arrive Xining before your journey to Lhasa. Xining is the capital city of Qinghai Province which is located northeastern Tibetan Plateau, traditionally call it as Amdo Tibet. Xining is an altitude of 2200m / 7217ft, stay here for at least one night and take train from Xining to Lhasa would decrease the chance of getting altitude and make you feel much better when you arrive Lhasa( Lhasa is 3650m /11975ft).  For more info about how to avoid mountain sickness, please check out How to Avoid Altitude Sickness in Tibet. If you want to see the altitude of the places you are going to visit, you can check out Tibet Altitude.

Yaks carrying luggages in an altitude of 5090m in one of our Mt. Amnye Machen Trekking Tours.

4. How do you get to Tibet

a. Getting to Tibet by train

If you ask me what is the cheapest way to go to Lhasa, I’d say taking train. You can choose following places to Lhasa by train, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xining. In peak season, it’s very hard to get direct ticket from Shanghai and Beijing, but you can stop over in Xining, which doesn’t make big difference in duration if the layover is short.

Train ticket releases online one month before, so your passport should be given to your tour operator before that. Your original passport and copy of Tibet Travel Permit are asked when you go to train station to collect it.

If you want to know where is the best place to enter by train, I’d recommend Xining as this is the start of Tibet-high way, so many trains to Lhasa go through Xining. What’s more, spending time in Xining will help you acclimatize in advance. For more info about how to book a train ticket to Tibet, please take a look at Tibet Train Tickets Info.

Train view from inside Xining to Lhasa train

b. Flights to Lhasa

There are numerous places to take flight to Lhasa, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an , Chengdu, Guangzhou and Xining etc, however, Chengdu should be the cheapest place to book flight to Lhasa among others. We will deliver your Tibet Travel Permit to your hotel in China as original permit is asked when you aboard, so it’s better to arrive your hotel one day early to make sure you have time to get the permit. For more info, please take a look at how to plan a trip to Tibet.

5. Best time to visit Tibet

The best month to go to Tibet is May, June, September and October, although it’s warm in July and August, it also rains a lot, which may cause some trouble because of rain during the trip. If you want to do a trekking tour, you should avoid rain season. If you are looking for a better view of mountains, Lakes, then visiting in Spring is more advisable.

I have to mention that there are many festival events(Grand Prayer, monks mask Cham Dance, nomad parade, and more) in Amdo Tibet in February. 

Amdo Tibet Festival – Monks spiritual ritual dance

6. Learn some basic custom and even greetings before you arrive in Tibet 

As an old saying goes: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. In Tibet, it’s also the same thing. If you respect the local customs, it will leave you an unforgettable memory. So here are several basic customs apply for all the regions of Tibet. 

• Do the kora in a clockwise direction;
• Wear decently when you visit monasteries, no short pant or slippers;
• Follow the rules when you visit monasteries, for example, no photos should be taken in some famous monasteries;
• Use your two hands to take things when Tibetans offer you things;
• Don’t pat Tibetans’ head;
• Ask permission if you want to take picture with locals in close.
• Tashidelek, like hello in English, a useful word which can make your life easier in Tibet 
• Demo like hello and goodbye in English but unlike Tashidelek, it used only in Amdo Tibet. You can say Demo when you meet or when you leave to a Tibetan from Amdo. 

After boking a tour to Tibet, you need to start prepare for your trip. We have a list of what you should bring to Tibet, please take a look at – Tibet Packing List .