Lhasa Permits and Train Tickets

UPDATED February 2008

Currently, getting train tickets from Xining to Lhasa are easy. It is still recommended that you contact our office in advance to minimize wait time.

The government currently is requiring all foreigners going to the Tibet Autonomous Region to have a short tour of Lhasa booked in order to receive a permit. This is not our policy, but the policy handed down from above. With the Olympics coming to Beijing during the summer of 2008, you can expect travel to Tibet to be full of restrictions. Tickets during the summer months (June through September) will be very difficult to get. We will make going to Lhasa as easy and inexpensive as possible.

With 5 trains a day going to Lhasa, Xining is one of the easiest places to get train tickets to Tibet in China. Here is our price list, including service charge, for train tickets going from Xining to Lhasa:

Seat ticket: Y300

Hard sleeper ticket: Y650

Soft sleeper ticket: Y950

Like other travel agencies in China, we cannot 100% guarantee we can get tickets for the train to Lhasa, but we will do our best to get them for you.

If you are interested in flying to Lhasa, we can arrange tickets. Air tickets to Lhasa are always easier to arrange than train tickets.

We can arrange permits to go to Lhasa! As stated above, all foreigners are currently required to book a tour of Lhasa in order to get a permit. The permit and tour are included in one price. Here are the prices:

Single person: Y800

2 or 3 people: Y775 per person

4 or more people: Y750 per person

This price includes a permit and a 4 day tour of Lhasa. This price does not include your transportation costs to Lhasa (see train ticket prices above), your meals or entrance tickets to monasteries or parks.

So the total price for a solo traveler to take the train from Xining to Lhasa on a hard sleeper (Y650) with a permit and tour (Y800) would be Y1450.

 

All of our customers must read and sign a contract stating that they understand that the permit issued by us is only good for travel IN THE LHASA AREA! To travel to any where outside of Lhasa, additional permits are needed. Unfortunately, we have had some customers who knew the permit was only good for the Lhasa area but decided to travel to restricted areas without any additional permits. This causes nothing but problems for our office and our partners office in Lhasa. Several of our Tibetan staff nearly lost their jobs because of this earlier this year. This is our permit agreement contract.

For more information on getting permits and train/plane tickets to Lhasa, please email us at lhasapermits@tibetanconnections.com or read through our business website. Our office is located in Xining inside the Lete Youth Hostel. Feel free to stop by our office. We always enjoy having visitors stop by and have up-to-date travel information for the greater Tibet area. Here is our address in Chinese. You can give this to a taxi driver to easily get to our office:

地址:青海省西宁市城中区国际村公寓5号楼15-18层

Comments

[Alan]

Hi there. I live in Shanghai and have a friend visiting in the summer. we plan to catch the train to Lhasa from Shanghai and fly back. Can you arrange the package? leaving shanghai between 3-6th august and coming back 10 days later? We can sort out accomodation ourselves

[Ximena Flores]

Hello,
I was wondering if you could help me and one of my friends arrange a trip to tibet from beijing and how much would it cost? it would be for about 5 days or less and would be from about april 30th to May 4th

[Losang]

Scott, Yes we can help you arrange a train ticket and permit to travel to Lhasa from Xining. As far as the tour goes, this is not our requirement. This is a requirement made by the government. If it were up to us, we would do away with the permits and the tours. For more information on permits and train tickets, please email our permit department at lhasapermits@tibetanconnections.com

Have a good day.

[Scott Malyon]

Hi there...

I wish to book a train
ticket from XINING to
LHASA with you + to
obtain a permit.

I do not require a tour
as I have friends in
Lhasa who plan to show
me Tibet.

Are you able to help me?

[Losang]

Hello, Larisa. There is no train from Urumqi to Lhasa. You will first need to go from Urumqi to Lanzhou and then to Xining in order to get to Lhasa. The train from Xining to Lhasa takes 24 hours.

Losang

[Larisa]

Good afternoon! We plan a trip to Tibet to the end of May, from Urumchi you will help to take Permit in Lhasa and area Kailash
The ticket up to Lhasa and the sanction in this area
How many days the train up to Lhasa will borrow?
Thanks

[Panu Pazo]

Hi,
I'm planning a trip to Lhasa on the 12th of March. I'd like to purchase 2 Lhasa permits and would like to know if I could collect it from Beijing or Wuhan (where I'm staying) as I would not be going to Lhasa via Xining.I'm willing to pay an extra cost for the inconvenience. Thanks and plz do let me know asap.

[Darlene]

Hi I will be arriving in China on the 24th Jan 2008 and I was intending on visiting Tibet. I already have a Chinese Visa but I haven't applied for a Tibetian permit as yet. My plan for organising where we go in China was to arrive there and then visit a local travel agent to book all flights and accomodation needed. Am I leaving it a little too late to be arranging permits at this time? Any advice will be helpful. I will be visiting a travel agent in Hong Kong. I haven't booked any tours. My stay will be for three weeks. Thank you

[Rosemarie]

Hey there, first of all, this is a great website, please keep it up.

i will be arriving Zhong Dian by 15 Oct 2007 and intended to travel by road into Lhasa.

Would it be possible at all for you to help to arrange for both the travel permits (the TTB and the Alient Permit) for me?

[Daligault Julien]

Hello

My name is Julien from France, I'm working in Hangzhou since 2 months and on the 22nd me and a friend planning to go to lhasa by train from Shanghai.
Tomorrow its the 12th so we hope we can have train ticket but still don't know if we need permits ? can you advise us about where to get this permit ?

xiexie