Budget Tibet Tour FAQs

Tibet Travel Agency Warning: Currently there are few famous Tibet travel websites which rank top on google when you google “Tibet Tour” or “Tibet Travel” and actually these are not reputable and reliable. Tibet local travel agencies are lack of online promotion skills and so those few top ranking websites receives lots and lots of Tibet tour inquiries and every of their group tours to Mt. Everest base camp has no less than 12 travelers. According to the latest 2017 Tibet transport situation, Tibet travel price decrease little bit and especially for those big size Everest base camp group tours, their price of 950-1050 USD per person is sky high price (frankly those tours net cost is no more than 450 USD per person), and the group size is too big. As one long standing local Tibet travel agency and tour operator- Tibet Ctrip Travel Service (another newly branch website of TibetTravelExpert.com) is trying to arrange small size group tours of Tibet. Our average Everest group tour size is 4-6 pax per group. For more details, you are welcome to contact our Tibet travel agency now.

This is a common question that each traveler to Tibet should ask himself or herself before book a tour. Right now there are many Tibet tour websites. Normally Tibetan owned and Tibet based travel agencies have poor internet promotion skills than those few top ranking Chinese tour websites. Currently only 1 or 2 websites arranged more than 70% of the foreign travelers to Tibet each year. And the typical features of these websites included points below:

  •  They put some Tibetan people’s name on their websites as their TripAdvisor, writing blogs, answering questions, explaining client’s reviews on TripAdvisor review, frankly who knows they are Tibetan or Han Chinese or not.
  • They spend big money on google advertisement to attract more than 60% of the total Tibet tour inquiries.
  • They have the most departures for the 8 days Everest Group tours and each of their tours has 12 pax and even more but on their websites they only put the pax of Number “8”. These are downgraded Tibet travel services, eg. the Ganggyan Hotel is very basic (only good point is good location), if the group size goes to 12 pax, the net cost per person goes down sharply and travelers are raped off on prices. As insider’s point of view, those tours net cost could be as low as 450-500 USD per person at most. But each of the traveler paid more than double.
  • The travel advisors are not based in Lhasa, but in Chengdu or somewhere in Guilin, or Xi’an.
  • These websites are famous for fixed departure groups tours.

So if you really want to support a Lhasa based reliable Tibet travel agency, never choose any websites as explained above.

Well you should choose a local reliable Tibet travel agency with less or “0” google Ads spending?

The answer to this question is very simple:

  • Each small travel agencies (especially the few Tibetan owned) focused more on Tibet travel service quality and the service is very individual and personal.
  • The travel advisors are based in Lhasa, and know what is going on everyday in Tibet.
  • With the decrease of the transport cost in Tibet, 4-6 or 8 pax really small size Tibet Everest group tour is with much higher quality.
  • For private Tibet tour, normally Tibetan local travel websites sell sky high or very high prices than agency like Tibet Ctrip Travel Service or Tibet Travel Expert Service.

Why you should choose and book with Lhasa based and experienced agency who sells fairly lower prices?

  • Everyone knows that, many overseas organizers or individual Tibetan culture or food related websites also sell tours to Tibet. These prices are of course the highest because they are not based in Lhasa and they would get high commission from the sells prices to local.
  • There are only few agencies who still focus more on service quality and at the same time sell fairly lower prices. Tibet Ctrip Travel Service (another name is Tibet Travel Expert Service) is such one Lhasa based travel agency and tour operator.

Which kind of websites you should not trust when you book a Tibet tour?

  • They claim the Tibet travel permits are “FREE” but they do not offer you permits without booking a tour. It means there must be tourists traps, at least it is not honest.
  • The sites who claim the permits can be as expensive as US$200-300 USD per person. This is fake and sky high price for permits services.

Should you have any questions, please contact with our agency by email to or online Tibet tour inquiry.

Viator is world famous and has huge traveler’s internet traffic and it is a sub-company to TripAdvisor. To some points of view, it is easy and convenient to book with Viator directly. However as local Tibet tour agent and tour operator, we know the price is very sensitive to overseas clients. You know, the Viator platform takes more nearly 20% or above from their online sales price, and there is no way for a local Tibet travel agency to provide high quality services even without profit. But a funny point is, right now a few famous travel websites do sell lots of cheap Tibet tours on Viator because of their big size group tours, they can still generate huge profit, that is why we do not recommend you to book with these sites. As you may know, Tibet travel cost is already much higher than most advanced countries. You’d better try your best to find local reliable Tibet travel agency websites and find your ideal tour products you really want.

Your one-stop shop for finding the best flights from Bangkok to Lhasa. Lhasa based travel agency Tibet Travel Expert Service has more than 15 years experiences organizing Thailand travelers to Tibet. And we can help you find the cheaper airfare for flying to Tibet from BKK, Thailand. However there is no direct flight between Tibet and Thailand. The suggested flight route will be BKK-KMG-LXA, BKK-CTU-LXA, BKK-Guangzhou-Lhasa, or sometimes the airfare for flight between BKK and Kathmandu is also cheap. However the 70 mins flight between Kathmandu and Tibet is expensive. We suggest you enter Tibet via China. Please check out more information for travelling to Tibet from Bangkok,Thailand.
Travel information for Bangkok, Thailand to Lhasa
Route information
Bangkok, Thailand is 1263 miles from Lhasa
Koh Samui, Thailand – Koh Samui is the most popular connection for one stop flights between Bangkok, Thailand and Lhasa

This is a common question by Vietnamese travelers to Tibet. However there is no direct flight from Hanoi to Tibet. So you have to connect via a city in Nepal or China, like Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai or Chengdu. Read further about Vietnamese travel to Tibet.

马来西亚人西藏旅行必看

之所以标题“马来西亚人西藏旅行必看”,是因为过去几年马来西亚游客到西藏旅行,其中很多人都是通过马来西亚本地华人旅行社报团参加了很多有购物陷阱的低价旅行团。通常这类旅行团被安排入住的酒店离开拉萨市中心较远,游客在市内自由活动期间非常不方便,游客别无选择,必须使用旅行社安排的车辆,然而在如此短暂的市内旅行几天,游客很少有机会自由体验各种当地自由市场,通常这样的旅行社会把客人统一带到具有高回扣的购物店,客人也没时间和精力去货比三家,所以很多客人经常费很多时间和精力,甚至是金钱去高价购买一些旅游纪念品,这种花钱买赝品,浪费宝贵的“旅行”时间去“走马观花”式的到此一游的方式实在不值得提倡。据我们从拉萨多年观察了解到的情况,我们不希望马来西亚客人在西藏的旅行是“浅尝辄止”的方式,我们希望尊贵的马来西亚客人到西藏的旅行能够和欧美客人一样,尽可能深度去体验西藏本土独特的藏族文化习俗及生活方式,以及优美的自然风景。我们旅行社有着多年接待欧美客人的实际经验,我们期待用我们最真诚的服务,给马来西亚客人带来真正的西藏深度体验。全程无购物,无进店,无加点,无隐形消费,全程优秀藏族英文导游以及藏族驾驶员。在目前西藏旅行市场上,我们可以这样说,“80%以上的马来西亚客人的西藏旅行都是西藏以外的旅行社在操作,他们没有深度服务欧美客人的经验,完全是按照“零团费,负团费”的操作模式…..”,我们衷心希望马来西亚客人到西藏旅行不要被低价所诱惑。关于更多西藏旅行信息,请参考我们的外宾旅行线路及服务细节,欢迎给我们电子邮件:Inquiry@tibettravelexpert.com.

我司官网:www.tibetlocalguide.com, https://tibettravelexpert.comhttps://www.tibetctrip.com/

Is Taxi expensive in Lhasa, Tibet?

Like most taxi in cities in China, taxi transfer is cheap. Normally it costs just few US Dollars per transfer. And it is good for short transportation (no more than 20 km),  for transfer between Lhasa city and airport, the cheaper way is to go by airline shuttle bus.

Taxi
It is easy to hail a taxi on the street in the city. Usually, it only costs CNY10-15 to travel in town by taxi. 

Flag-down Rate for First 3km (2mi)  CNY10
Fare between 3-8km (2-5mi)  CNY2/km
Fare between 8-11km (5-7mi)  CNY1/km
Fare beyond 11km (7mi)  CNY1 per 500m (550yd)

Reference Taxi Fare:
To Drepung Monastery: around CNY 50
To Jokhang Temple: around CNY10
To Sera Monastery: around CNY30

 Pedicab
Pedicabs are unique vehicles to get around downtown. A pedicab can carry two people and generally costs RMB 4 to 7. It is a more time-consuming journey than traveling by minibus but is an interesting and popular way to see downtown area.

Bicycle
If your schedule and health permit, riding a bike is another pleasurable way to look around the city. Bikes can be rented from many hostels along Barkhor Street. Generally, the rental for an ordinary bike is RMB 2 per hour and RMB 20 per day; for a mountain bike it is RMB 3 per hour and RMB 30 per day.

2020 最新马来西亚游客到西藏旅行注意事项

受近期新冠病毒疫情影响,西藏展缓接待国内外游客,关于最早何时开始审理西藏外宾入藏许可证的确切时间还没有公布。预计2020年西藏旅行最早要等到7月才可能逐渐回升。近年来,越来越多的东南亚游客比较青睐西藏旅行目的地,特别是马来西亚游客。每年有多达上万的马来西亚籍的旅行者前来我们美丽的西藏旅行。为了更好的服务马来西亚旅客,我们密切跟进西藏的对外旅行社政策,即时对东南亚国家提供最新西藏旅游政策发布。

西藏在中国西南边陲,位于一个特殊敏感地区,鉴于民族传统、文化古迹和生态环境保护以及政治和历史原因,同时也因西藏的交通状况、旅游设施及接待能力,中国国务院规定非中国公民身份持有者,即外国旅游客人,台湾游客及海外华人(香港、澳门居民持中国特区护照或回乡证者除外),在进入西藏旅游前,必须办理由西藏自治区旅游局[Tibet Tourism Bureau-TTB]签发的“外国人入藏旅游批准函”,同时,也规定外国记者和外交官不能以旅游者身份进藏。根据国家旅游局2018年最新规定,外国旅游者,台湾游客和海外华人(香港、澳门居民持中国特区护照或回乡证者除外)在藏期间不允许自助旅游,必须有组织、有计划地组团旅游。以下是针对马来西亚游客到西藏旅行的有关证件办理流程。

马来西亚游客的西藏旅行预订建议

  • 尽量不报超低价旅行团。西藏每年有很多组织内宾(中国大陆籍游客)接待的旅行社,他们熟悉低价购物团队运作方式和购物加点操作模式,淡化旅行体验,陷阱重重,请一定要注意线路设计,小心线路中退出的自费项目。
  • 尽量不用外地普通话导游,他们不太懂西藏当地的历史,宗教和文化传统,给客人的信息不准确。
  • 尽量不参加低价拼团,如果自己一行已经有好几名成员,完全可以量身定制属于自己的线路,增加体验。
  • 小心高价,并不是当地人开的旅行社价格就低,质量就最高。现在网络发展迅速,信息不对称的情况越来越少,所以,千万记得要找性价比高,服务质量有保证的本地旅行社。

马来西亚游客的西藏旅行入藏许可函办理流程如下:

首先,您需要向我们提交您的有效因私护照和在有效期内的签证的清晰扫描件(或数码相片),我们将告知您,您所持有的证件是否可以办理入藏函;
接着,我们将根据您的喜好,制定适合您的旅游计划
最后,经您同意,我们将把您的旅游计划,连同您的申请材料一并提交到相关政府部门办理入藏函。简单的行程一般3-5个工作日可办理完成,稍复杂的行程至少需20个工作日办理完成。请尽可能早一些办理申请手续,以便就入藏旅行线路、时间、地点等有关资料得到相应确认。

我社专业品质接待欧美客人长达15年,现以最诚挚的服务热忱欢迎马来西亚客人到西藏深度旅行。我们的特色是:价格公道,藏族本民族优秀英语中文语种导游,正规旅行用车,藏族优秀驾驶员,全程无隐性消费,无进店无加点。详情,请参考我公司官方网站:https://www.tibetlocalguide.comhttps://tibettravelexpert.comhttps://www.tibetctrip.com/