Tibet for the first time, and how the permits actually work
The Tibet Travel Permit is the first thing to understand about a Tibet trip, because it decides everything that comes after it: the length of the route, the price, the lead time, and the fact that you cannot simply land in Lhasa and work it out.
This article is what we send people who want to understand the system rather than just be told to trust us. It covers the paperwork in order, what the mandatory guide and vehicle mean in daily practice, and the eight things that surprise first-time visitors.
The paperwork, in the order it happens
One: the Chinese visa
Tibet is part of the People’s Republic of China and you enter the country on a Chinese visa like any other visitor. That comes first and it is a normal consular process.
The exception is entering by air or overland from Kathmandu, which works completely differently and is covered below.
Two: the Tibet Travel Permit
This is the document that makes the trip possible. Three things about it matter.
It is applied for by a licensed operator, not by you. You cannot apply for it yourself, and a foreign travel company cannot hold it either. It has to be a locally licensed Tibetan operator, which is why our Lhasa partner rather than our own offices is the entity in this chain.
It is issued against a fixed itinerary. Not against your dates or your name alone, but against a day-by-day plan with named accommodation, a named guide and a named route. This is why a Tibet itinerary cannot be casually changed on the day: the paperwork is specific to the road you said you were taking.
It has to be physically in your hands before you travel to Lhasa. The airline will check it at check-in and the railway will check it at the station. Getting that paper to you in time, wherever in China you happen to be, is one of the real jobs of an operator here, and it is why the lead time is what it is. Several weeks is normal.
Three: the permits beyond Lhasa
Anything outside Lhasa prefecture needs an additional travel permit. The border areas, which include the Everest region, need a border permit as well. These are arranged in Lhasa by your guide against the itinerary already filed, usually on your first or second day in the city while you are acclimatising.
Four: the guide and the vehicle
A licensed Tibetan guide accompanies you throughout and a driver with a permitted vehicle carries you. This is a legal requirement rather than a product we are selling. Checkpoints on the roads out of Lhasa check the permits, the passenger list and the vehicle, and there is no arrangement in which you drive yourself.
The Nepal route, which is different
Travellers coming from Kathmandu do not use an ordinary Chinese visa. A Chinese group visa is issued in Kathmandu against the booked itinerary, and it takes precedence over any Chinese visa already in your passport. That is a genuine trap for anyone combining Tibet with a longer China trip, because it can invalidate the visa you already hold.
If your route involves Nepal in either direction, tell us at the first email. See Tibet overland to Kathmandu in 21 days for what that trip looks like.
What we promise about all of it
We confirm the current requirement for your passport and your exact dates in writing before you book, and again before you fly, rather than quoting a rule from memory. Rules here change and we would rather check than assume.
Independent travel, stated plainly
There is no version of this trip where you arrive alone and improvise. No permit means no boarding pass to Lhasa. No licensed operator means no permit. No guide and vehicle means you do not pass the first checkpoint outside the city.
People ask us this in a hopeful way and we would rather answer it flatly than let them arrive at an airport and find out.
What the guide and vehicle actually mean day to day
Travellers worry that a mandatory guide means being marched around. In practice, on a private trip, it is closer to the opposite.
Your guide is Tibetan, from Lhasa or from one of the valleys, speaks the language of every place you stop, and gets you into monastery chapels and conversations that would otherwise be closed. On our trips the guide is instructed to overrule the itinerary if a traveller is unwell, without calling anyone for permission. They carry the oxygen, they know the descent routes, and they handle the checkpoints so that you barely notice them.
What you do not get is the freedom to change the route on a whim, because the permits name the road. What you do get, and what surprises people, is that the days themselves are flexible: a slower morning, a longer stop, an extra hour in a courtyard, all of that is normal.
The eight things that surprise first-time visitors
The altitude is a schedule, not a statistic. Lhasa is at about 11,995 feet (3,656 m). Two full days of doing very little come before any pass. We do not remove them on request. How many days you need explains why the arithmetic works that way.
The region can close at short notice. Permits stop being issued, existing permits can be affected, and it is usually announced with days of warning. In most recent years this has included a stretch in and around March. If your dates are closed we tell you as soon as we know and we move you or refund the land arrangements. We will not put you on a flight hoping it resolves in the air. This is the most common reason we say no to a Tibet enquiry.
Accommodation outside Lhasa is simple. Lhasa has genuinely good hotels, including restored Tibetan courtyard houses. Gyantse and Shigatse have clean, plain, warm three and four star hotels. On the Everest road it is a guesthouse or a tented camp with basic or shared rooms, thin bedding, a stove, no reliable hot water and pit toilets. We say this early because it is the thing people most need to know before they commit.
Driving days are long. Lhasa to Shigatse by way of Yamdrok Lake is six to eight hours. Shigatse to the Everest road is seven to nine. The roads are largely surfaced and in good condition. The length comes from distance, passes and checkpoints.
The sun is severe and the temperature swings. Ultraviolet at this altitude is fierce and the air is thin and dry. High-factor sunscreen, lip balm, a hat and proper sunglasses are not optional, and the sunburn people get here genuinely surprises them. A swing of 40F (22C) between midday sun and night is normal, so layers rather than one heavy coat, including a warm hat and gloves even in June.
Your phone works, because we set it up before you go. Tibet is inside mainland China and the same restrictions apply. We install and test a VPN on your phone with you at the booking stage, so your usual apps behave the way they do at home. Your travel group runs on WhatsApp exactly as it does everywhere else we operate, with your consultant here and our Lhasa team there, and we open a WeChat group alongside as a local fallback. Outside Lhasa the limiting factor is signal rather than the firewall, and we tell you which nights those are.
Payments run on the Chinese apps. Alipay or WeChat Pay with an international card linked, set up at home before you fly and tested. Foreign cards work in the better Lhasa hotels and often nowhere else, so carry cash for the road. The full explanation is in paying for things in China.
Photography has rules and they are real. Do not photograph checkpoints, military installations or personnel. Many monastery chapels either charge a fee for photography or forbid it. Drones are not permitted. Your guide will tell you where the lines are and it is worth listening the first time.
Behaving well in monasteries
Most of what you will see in Tibet is religious and in active use, with pilgrims doing something considerably more serious than sightseeing next to you.
Walk clockwise around shrines, stupas and pilgrimage circuits, which is the direction everyone else will be going. Do not point your feet at an altar or at a person. Remove hats inside chapels. Ask before photographing people, and accept a no. Do not touch statues, texts or offerings. If a chapel is full of people praying, wait rather than walk through.
None of this is difficult and all of it is noticed.
What to pack that people forget
- Sunglasses that actually block ultraviolet, and a spare pair
- Lip balm with sun protection, which you will use hourly
- A warm hat and gloves, in any month
- A down jacket if the route includes Everest, in any month
- More layers and fewer heavy items
- A headtorch, for the Everest night and for power cuts on the road
- Any medicine you rely on, in its original packaging with the prescription
- Cash in small notes
- Wet wipes, for the road, where washing facilities are limited
Who arranges what
Every Tibet itinerary we write is put together by Asaf Zamshtein, who runs our China desk, with your named Tibet specialist here and our licensed Lhasa partner, whose Tibetan guides and drivers are the people you actually travel with. Our own offices are in Japan, Vietnam, India and the Philippines. Tibet is not one of them and could not be, because only a locally licensed operator can hold the permits, and we would rather say that plainly than imply an office we do not have.
Plan this trip
Tell us your dates and we will confirm whether they are workable before we build anything, then handle every piece of paper between here and Lhasa. Free, and with no obligation.
Keep reading
- Tibet: the complete guide to planning your trip
- How many days do you need in Tibet?
- What a trip to Tibet costs
- Tibet month by month
- Classic Tibet in 8 days
- All our Tibet trips
Frequently asked questions
Can we visit Tibet without a guide?
How long does the permit take?
What do you need from us?
Can we change the itinerary once we are there?
What happens if permits are suspended for our dates?
Is Tibet safe for travellers?
Can we combine Tibet with mainland China?
Plan a trip to Tibet cannot be travelled independently, and the altitude sets the schedule All Tibet cannot be travelled independently, and the altitude sets the schedule trips
