Thorn Tree travel forum

1

A ticket is probably easiest to pick up in Xining. Avoid Golmud. Xi'an is also possible.
Read #74 on the FAQ for all Tibet permit info.

2

Going from Yunnan to Lhasa overland requires you to arrange everything through a travel agency which is quite expensive. If you are solo, you can fly from Zhongdian to Lhasa on your own or take the train from Chengdu, Xining or a different city.

Need more travel information for Tibet? Check these out…

The Land of Snows

Life on the Tibetan Plateau

3

OP, you should most probably head for Chengdu, Beijing, Xining or Xi'an in order to get the TTB permit done fairly easily (solo) for a reasonable price.
Cheers!

4

The travel permit for Tibet can be achieved either in Beijing , X'ian , Chengdu , Kunming or Golmud. Chengdu is the nearest place to Tibet and most travelers arrange there the necessary travel permit. Officially, you are part of a group. However, you probably won't see this group at all and it does not have to bother you at all.
I would recommend Leo's Guesthouse in Beijing to arrange the permit from since it seems to me reliable and the staff is English speaking as well.
Jim Beam's Hostel in X'ian is another reliable place where the permit can be arranged from and the staff speaks English quite well and is very helpful .
I would recommend Sim's Cozy Guesthouse in Chengdu as another place to arrange the permit from.
Don't know much about Kunming or Golmud so can't recommend anything.
Whatever place you decide to arrange the permit from, do your economical calculations in order to save money as much as you can. As far as I know, Tibet can be entered either by plane or train. Personally, I entered by plane.

5

understand that the 'permit' is just a government organized scam. essentially it is the tour. its the tour that gets the permit, not the individual(s).
with the train now happening its kind of softened the 'permit' game. seems agents will still go one with the permit ruse, but 6 weeks ago i just went to lanzhou station and bought a ticket (even holding my passport if they wanted it for some reason) and no one said anything. later i was in golmud and noticed the same thing.
in lhasa there was no mention of permits anywhere, even for getting further permits.
remember too that buses go to lhasa from chengdu, xining, lanzhou and golmud. these are notoriously easy to arrange without the 'permit', especially in golmud.
from yunnan you will need a permit if you are going up thru SE tibet as this is a restricted military zone. thats a 'real' permit like you would need anywhere in china.

6

#5...Since you know so much about the "permit", I am sure you know that the government actually only gets Y50 per person from each permit sold.

By the way, there have been plenty of people who have posted on here that have reported being checked for their permits before and during the train ride to Lhasa.

Need more travel information for Tibet? Check these out…

The Land of Snows

Life on the Tibetan Plateau