Going to Tibet

[RyanChan]

Hey All,

 

I’m hoping to go to Tibet for a couple weeks in September.  I was hoping the collective wisdom and experience of this website could give me some pointers.

I’m hoping to get a personal travel visa so I don’t have to join a tour, but I don’t have any idea on how I would start to get that.  Also, if I did have to take a tour, I was wondering if anyone knew any good local companies that do reasonably priced tours.

Any advice or input from people who have been or know anything about it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Raylene]

Hi, as far as I know it is very hard to go  by individuals as foreginer to tibet recent years, but at least you can try. I was  there during the month of Feb, its really beautiful and didnt see many weasterners. well I do know a good local tibet tour company but just forgot the name. Will updates here soon.

anyways good luck and its really worth going, i wanna visists again in future.

[Merior]

@ Raychan  Everything I have heard says that unless you are a Chinese citizen you will have to go with a registered tour-group.

[Ray]

You need to join a tour group to get the entrance permit, but once you get into Tibet you can leave them immediately (that’s what I did) and nobody is gonna chase you down or search for you. Be aware that once inside Tibet you are restricted to very few places (Lhasa, Shigatse) . Bus drivers know the places you can/can’t go and they will refuse to take you to any off-limits destinations. The situation is still tense there…..

[Charlie]

Getting into Tibet and navigating around once you’re inside there is a really difficult hassle. As Merior says you will need to go with a tour group to get a visa and as Ray says, you will be restricted on where you can go. I haven’t been to Lhasa in a few years but even when I was there it was like Tibetans were a minority in their own capital city (there’s a “Tibetan district”) and I hear that it’s even worse now.

I would consider traveling in Western Sichuan instead. It’s essentially Tibet, without all the hassle of actually being inside Tibet. The region is ethnically Tibetan, they speak Tibetan language, it used to be Tibet, etc. These areas are pretty easy to get to from Chengdu as well (Kanding, Ganza, etc).

[Ray]

If going to any Tibetan areas in Sichuan check the situation. Aba /Ganza have often been closed to foreigners in the last few years. One way of seeing parts of Tibet is to take the bus to the Nepal border. You’ll see some really isolated villages and awesome scenery. Of course, you won’t be able to get off the bus and look around, but its a great journey….

[Charlie]

Ray wrote:

If going to any Tibetan areas in Sichuan check the situation. Aba /Ganza have often been closed to foreigners in the last few years.

Really, damn, I did not realize that. I guess you can find out if it’s closed to foreigners at the bus station when you buy tickets to go there?

[Raylene]

Hi Ryanchan,

it is possible to go but might be bit sesentive. Here is the websites of the Tibet traverl websites and also has his email here. He speaks very good english and he is been in travel business for long years and he is a Tibetan, so might be bit of help.

As I saw some weasterners were in Tibet last year, so it is possible to get in.

Well I will lists below: http://www.milarepatours.com  mail id:[email protected]

 

Best wishes

[Author]

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