Tibet Travel Forum

Hi everyone!

I am planning to got to Lhasa with my girlfriend during the aug 2008! I have been looking to this and i dont know which is best! Going to Lhasa from whitin China or from Nepal! Actually i was thinking doing New Deli, Taj Mahal, Katmandu and Lhasa but could also consider reaching Lhasa from bejing or Shanghai.

Question is, those of you who have recently been there, how did you do and what would you recommend? Which train? Which bus? Where to get permission best? etc..

Cheer's

Easier and better to go to Lhasa from mainland China instead of Nepal, for visa reasons.
Please do a search on popular travel forums such as Lonely Planet ThornTree-->North-East Asia branch-->Tibet sub-branch: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=19&keywordid=90
Your questions are FAQs which have already been answered there.

Here are some train schedule information ,hope it can help your Lhasa trip,
T27 Beijing---Xi'an(08:48)---Lhasa(20:00 next day).
T165 Shanghai---Xi'an(10:12)---Lhasa(21:00 next day. every other day)
T265 Guangzhou---Xi'an(10:12)---Lhasa(21:00 next day.every other day)
T223 Chongqing---Xi'an(06:45)---Lhasa(17:21 next day, every other day)
if you catch the train in Xi'an, it takes you around 35hours train ride can get to Lhasa. you also can catch the train to Lhasa in Beijing ,Guangzhou,Shanghai and Chongqing,but all train to Lhasa have to pass Xi'an train station,if like this,you have to need much time on the train,so you'd better catch train in Xi'an, I helped two tourist for booking train tickets to Lhasa last week,and they came back to Xi'an from Lhasa last night ,they told me that nobody asked them to show permit,so don't care permit please.they are from Thailand.

hi,
I think what #1 said is right. Better to get Tibet from hinterland China. Then if you want to go to NEw Deli, KMT,etc. It is very easy to go to Nepal from Tibet which border with Nepal at Sino-Nepal friend Bridge at Zhangmu county. And this route guaranteed you a direct moving and without a turning back. By the way, it cost a lot of time spending on the train if you take the train from Beijing or Shanghai, so Chengdu or Xining is properly well to aclimatize the atmosphere in Tibet. Be care of the high latitude sickness. Preparing some medicine for fear. Make sure u r in health without catching a cold or sth else.
I will be there in 6th,March from Chengdu. If there are sth unclear, feel free to contact me, I will share u more info.

Cheers!

I think you meant "mainland China" and "New Delhi", not "hinterland China" and "New Deli"? :)
The amount of time for the trains going to Lhasa from Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu are actually not much different, despite the fact that Chengdu looks geographically closer to Lhasa than the other two. :) However if you go from Xining, the journey time will be shorter than if you started from Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu.
Some travellers have actually said that the train isn't the best option for acclimatisation as the train route goes through passes with altitude up to 5000m or more, higher than Lhasa which's only about 3400m IIRC. It would be better to acclimatise in Chengdu, Xining or even Golmud, instead of expecting to do so on the train journey.

hi, to the train acclimatization.

Last Augest, one of my friends went to tibet by train. When he got to Golmu, he began to threw out, and cannot bear it. So he had to get off the train and took a bus back chengdu. So I guess Chengdu is not a good place to acclimatize the rare Oxygen. I guess if one can stay up in the train without using a bottle of oxygen, he may acclimatize the environment in Lhasa.

I will recommend you travel to Tibet from Xining with Qinghai-Tibet train then overland out to Kathmandu. You can refer www.Tibet4Holiday.com for more information.