UPDATED AUGUST 1, 2011
The Tibet Tourism Bureau announced on July 22, 2011 that they will begin arranging permits for the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The TAR has been closed since early June, but now it is open again except for Chamdo prefecture in the far east.
Currently, all prefectures of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), including Lhasa, are closed to all foreign travelers. Permits stopped being issued last week and the reports from Lhasa indicate that permits will not start being issued again until at least July 25 of this year. Of course, officially Tibet is "open" according to most Chinese consulates, embassies and even the Tibet Tourism Bureau, but in reality it is closed with no permits being issued. If you are looking for any official news of this, you probably won't find it. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the "peaceful liberation of Tibet" and celebrations are scheduled to take place through the TAR. Foreigners are not being allowed to the region in case there are protests (or worse) during the anniversary celebrations. If you have booked a tour to Tibet between now and late July, I strongly suggest contacting your agency for a refund or moving your tour to later this summer or fall when the area reopens.
Today (August 1, 2011), the Ganzi Prefecture Public Security Bureau announced that all 18 counties of the prefecture were open again to foreign travelers. There is heavy road construction throughout the prefecture making travel very slow. The bus from Chengdu to Kangding normally takes 9 hours, but can sometimes take 11 to 13 hours. The road from Xinduqiao (65kms west of Kangding) to Litang is under heavy construction. Buses and trucks are only being allowed to travel one way each day. Odd numbered days has buses going west while even numbered days has buses going east. This will last until September 30, 2011. There is also heavy construction on the road going north of Kangding to Luhuo (Drango) county. The road is fine to Tagong and to Bamei, but from Bamei to Luhuo, the road is quite bad and under heavy construction. There is also heavy road construction on the road north of Litang to Xinlong (Nyarong). Lastly, there is also road work being done between Xiangcheng and Shangri La in northwest Yunnan province.
On July 9, 2011, the Kangding police reported to Zhilam Hostel that all 18 counties of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan is closed to foreign travelers. The only place that remains open is Kangding town. All other areas are supposedly closed, but I did not see any checkpoints on a recent trip to Litang. As of yesterday, there was a checkpoint along the way from Chengdu to Kangding and numerous checkpoints throughout western Sichuan. The Ganzi Prefecture government has said the closure will last until July 31st, 2011.
All other Tibetan regions found in Qinghai, southwest Gansu and northern Yunnan remain open, at least for now. The Amdo and Kham regions, also considered to be Tibet to the Tibetan people, make up 50% of the land mass of the Tibetan Plateau and are home to 60% of the total Tibetan population. In many regards, the Amdo and Kham regions are better places to go to experience traditional Tibetan culture. Most repeat travelers to Tibet agree that Amdo and Kham are the best regions of Tibet to travel to.
If you have any questions about traveling through the TAR or the open Tibetan regions of Amdo and Kham, feel free to email me at [email protected].
If I take the bus from Chengdu to Litang via Kangding and then continue to ShangriLa via a stop in Yading, what additional time do I have to take into account because auf the roadworks? Thanks.
Posted by: Carl | August 03, 2011 at 01:36 AM
What about the Festival in Li Tang? is it on and open to Foreigners?
Posted by: Paddy | July 31, 2011 at 10:33 AM
Thanks for the info. Any idea when the areas in Sichuan could possibly open again? Looking to travel in Western Sichuan late July to mid-August.
Posted by: Mat | July 09, 2011 at 05:48 PM
Also.....there are many backroads to take to get around the closed counties of Ganzi, Dege and Shiqu. You can easily reach Sertar taking the good road from Dzamtang (Rangtang) from the east or from a good road from Baima (Banma) from the north. Public buses do not take these routes, but you should be able to find other vehicles that you can share a ride with. To Pelyul (Baiyu) there is a decent road that heads west from Nyarong (Xinlong). There is no easy way to reach Yushu by not going through Ganzi and Shiqu counties, so that is a big pain. The only other way is to go north from Sertar into Golok prefecture and work your way through Darlay (Dari) county to Huashixia on the Xining-Yushu Highway and then go south from there. It is very possible, but will take a bit more time.
Posted by: Losang | July 01, 2011 at 02:41 PM
Xiaohouzi....I am just getting ready to write an update to this post about Tibet closures. Litang is open and there are many foreigners going in and out of there without any problems. The only counties in the Kham regions outside of the TAR that are closed are Ganzi, Dege and Shiqu (basically all of NW Ganzi prefecture). The other 15 counties of Ganzi as well as all 6 counties of Yushu and the 3 counties of Dechen remain open. It is not possible to travel by bus from Ganzi prefecture to Yushu prefecture. Bus stations are not selling tickets to foreigners for buses going to the closed counties.
Posted by: Losang | July 01, 2011 at 02:35 PM
yes, you are right Kham is not all closed, but if you can t go to Ganzi or Litang, you can t go to Dege, Baiyu, Shiqu, Serthar.... So for us foreigners, we can only go to Yushu from Xining, Deqen, and Kangding and his nearby counties.
Posted by: xiaohouzi | July 01, 2011 at 02:03 PM
Xiaohouzi....There are reports that the counties of Litang, Xinlong and Ganzi are closed. However, the other 15 counties of Ganzi/Garze prefecture, all 6 counties of Yush prefecture and all 3 counties of Diqing/Dechen prefecture remain open. So Kham as a whole (besides the closures of Kham within the TAR), remains open.
Posted by: Losang | June 26, 2011 at 12:45 PM
It is such a shame that Tibet has been closed to foreign travellers, I have to say that I travelled here myself a couple of years a go and the culture and history surrounding the place was amazing and so were the people.
Posted by: susan | June 25, 2011 at 07:19 PM
Kham is NOT open, foreigners can only go to Kangding, Danba, Tagong. Ganzi is closed these days.
Posted by: xiaohouzi | June 23, 2011 at 01:17 PM
Ethnic Chinese Hong Kong passport holders should be able to go to Tibet, but foreign residents of HK cannot go.
Posted by: Losang | June 19, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Hi, thanks for the update. May I know is the permit also close for visitors from Hong Kong ?
Posted by: Shirley | June 19, 2011 at 02:24 AM
Choofie....Since Tibet is closed by the government, which is not your fault, i would demand a full refund of the deposit. This closure is not your fault so you should not lose any money.
Losang
Posted by: Losang | June 17, 2011 at 09:36 AM
what's a fair amount of my deposit I should be prepared to loose when asking for a refund?
Posted by: Choofie | June 17, 2011 at 04:49 AM
Renu, as stated above, the Amdo and Kham regions, including Kangding, remain open.
Losang
Posted by: Losang | June 14, 2011 at 07:19 AM
Thanks a lot for this information. Is Kangding closed as well? I was thinking of visiting Kangding this weekend - but I am not too sure after reading this.
Fantastic site - the July closure means I won't be visiting Tibet this time, but your site has been bookmarked for future use ;-)
Posted by: Renu | June 13, 2011 at 09:41 PM