Lhasa Travel Answers

I have never heard of this company but if you have reason to be doubtful my advice would be Trust your instinct. Why not post a new question asking members who have been to Tibet ( and there are quite a few here on VT) if they can recommend a company they have used. Meanwhile browse the Tibet Travel Guide on VT and you may find some Tips there already.

Thanks Ranger49 for your response. I will continue to scout around.

Just wanted to post a warning about scams by agencies organising Tibet tours after checking out a few threads. We tried to head into Lhasa in May and organised our permits and a group tour that Beijing dictates you need to be on to get in. Checked the Lonely Planet forums and found Budget Tibet Tours, which a few travellers thought were legit. Before we left for our China/Tibet trip, Budget Tibet asked for the cost of almost the entire tour (RMB 6000 for two / US940) as a ‘deposit’ to be paid and transferred by Western Union (i.e. little protection). We refused to pay that much – thinking it was strange – so after checking online to see if anyone had been scammed and finding no evidence (the reason for this post), we paid RMB 800 / US125. When we arrived in China, we couldn’t get in touch with the agency for days then managed to Skype them with 2 days to go before we got on the train from Shanghai to Lhasa. Peter, the agent, then said that the Chinese govt had refused our permits and changed the rules to having at least 5 people of the same nationality on the same tour. When we asked for a refund of our deposit Budget Tibet Tours refused, saying that the most they would give us is US19. Plus if we wanted the transfer done by Western Union, we would have to pay the fee on their behalf as well. They said we couldn’t get our money back because these were ‘cancellation fees’. When we asked where, in all the emails/docs they had sent over, they had included a cancellation policy that said they could legally keep our money, Budget Tibet Tours didn’t reply. On top of that, now we don’t know whether Budget Tibet Tours will just change its name and keep doing the same thing to other people. So just wanted to warn all our fellow travellers out there that you’ll probably lose all your money if you book a tour to Tibet and pay upfront. Don’t do it. The tour operator might harass you to pay via Western Union or PayPal but the rules could change and you’ll lose everything. It’s easy to book in China – esp. in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. We realised we could have sorted permits, the train and the tour with 5 days notice from our hostel in Shanghai! Good luck, people. We’ll be posting around on forums so other travellers can keep their cash for Tibet, not line the pockets of corrupt tour operators.

My advice for you is to find more than one agency and comparing the price and services they can offer to you. There are some good Tibet Agencies, such as Tibet Tour - www.tibettour.com, www.windhorsetour.com and so on.