Lhasa Travel Answers

I think that you should look at getting out of Lhasa. Two or three days there is enough time to see the main attractions. Free and easy mode is not possible, as the Chinese government will not grant you a Tibet permit unless you are taking a group tour, i.e. with an official guide and driver,

As the above poster suggested, there is only one way of doing Lhasa (Tibet) with little variations and that is through Tour Operator. Assuming that you are not a Chinese National, you first need to have a Chinese visa. The next step would be to find an authorzied Tour Operator for Tibet Tour that suits your budget and preferences. Here, note that you can not do Tibet without a Tour Operator. The Tour Operator can also arrange for the visa but that will only add to your cost. It is recommended to obtain Chinese visa on individual basis without mentioning Tibet as your detsination. Once you have visa with yourself, it would be cheaper for you to book a trip on relatively favourable terms. After settling all the details and cost of the tour, you will send a scanned copy of your passport to the Tour Operator who will arrange the permit required for the trip. Here you will be lucky if the Tour Operator does this without adavnced deposit. After getting the permit, you will be good to go for the trip. In the meantime, you have to choose your departure city within mainland China as it would have implications on your budget and flexibility. Chengdu is one of the favourite spots among backpakcers for Tibet trip. While, Xining is the city from where the exclusive train track for Tibet starts. From mainland China to Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) there are two main transoprtation options available; by air and by train. Arranging train tickets especially for onward travel is difficult without local support as tickets can only be purchased from departure cities and sold out because of high demand days ago. However, you can take services from local facilitators - travel agents, hostels, etc - for a small fee. The return ticket can easily be arranged by your Tour Operator. One tip is to book your travel through a Lhasa based, i.e. Tibetan origin, Tour Operator. Also, keep in mind that the trip is optimum with 5-7 people because of group costs. (I have not done the trip yet, and above information is based on my research for an upcoming trip. One of the good resource is cafespinn.com) Muzzammil

You'll be able to go all the way to Everest Base Camp if you have 8D7N. No free-and-easy for Tibet Autonomous Region on the whole (which's what you're looking for), but at the end of your trip you might be able to stay on in Lhasa and explore that on your own.

I am going to be traveling to Lhasa and throughout Tibet starting from July 24th. It is an 8 day tour, and we are very interesting in meeting up with two more people, as the cost of the tour would go down. Like I mentioned it is an 8 day tour, and the company we are working with takes care of the visas and the transportation. If the dates match up please let me know if you would be interested in taking the tour with us. My email address is marakaki05@live.com