PERMIT SITUATION UPDATE

Mexnapo, we are also looking into Dreams, and I asked if anyone knew of this agency but no response yet. I just heard today that it may be impossible to find train tickets for July from Chendu to Lhasa. Anyone else having this problem?
thanks

lavancouver - this often gets reported but sometimes the reality is that since travel agencies can buy the tickets before they are available to the public, they buy them up and they resell them at higher prices. Best to check with a Chengdu based agency to see about getting these tickets.

Also it is already the middle of July which is the height of the tourist season, would you expect to be able to get tickets last minute to other high demand tourist locales? I wouldn't.

OTOH there was a report someplace that another train was being added in mid July but I don't recall from what city except that I don't think it was Xining or Chengdu.

Ruth

Even places like Sims in Chengdu tell you they cant guarantee getting train tickets. When we went it was April (not this year) and we had to wait until a couple of days after we got to Chengdu to know if we were able to go by train. As it was, they were only able to get soft sleepers on the black market. Demand far exceeded the supply so lots of people were opting to fly in and chance getting train tickets out.

Just found an old post and apparently its Xining for the new service.

I understand that there is no independent travel in Tibet, but what are the precise rules currently in Lhasa and with regard to the train? I will be traveling through Tibet and arriving into Lhasa with a group. The organized trip ends in Lhasa, at which point I will be without a guide, etc. I'd like to take the train out instead of flying. Will I be able to leave on the train by myself? If so, do I have any time at all before I have to leave Lhasa/Tibet, or will I need a guide right up until I get on the train? Last time I was there I just went to the train station in Lhasa and bought a ticket, are foreigners still allowed to do that, or do I need to get the ticket in advance or through an agency?

Ask your tour organizer for a permit which is 5 or 6 days longer valid than the permit for the organized tour. You still need a guide in Lhasa for those extra days. If you want to go around independently it is up to you to agree with the guide how to spend the days. Buying the train ticket at the city office of the railway company is no problem. Be prepared that on the day you intend to travel the tickets can be sold out. So go early to the ticket office. You may ask a travel agent or your guide to phone the ticket office, asking for available berths in the train.

Any respectable tour agency will handle getting the return ticket for you if you like.. and might even demand that you buy it to make sure you're really leaving. There also used to be some guys at the Gesar hotel near the Barkor square who'll get you tickets for a small commission (maybe 20 yuan) but I don't know if they're still able to operate. Don't go all the way to the train station to buy the ticket yourself though; it's just a big waste of your time and money.

#306. Are you entering from Nepal or from another Chinese destination??

I'll be coming from Chengdu (doing the Sichuan-Tibet highway), so no worries about the weird Nepal-Chinese visa thing. Sounds like the train is no problem too.

The train ticket is very likely to be a problem. This week people are queuing for 2 days (48hrs) to get tickets in Beijing and slightly less in Chengdu. Most smaller agencies are no longer selling itineraries with training access to Lhasa. Only the really big agencies (govt. owned) are incorporating training journeys into their itineraries as they have pre-buying bulk deals where they by up lots of 1000 tickets or more. ( a big part of the problem!)

Xining is not much better. There is absolutely no guarantee you'll get tickets as they are sold out in 20mins of them going on sale. You can get tickets from local mafia/black market people there but they are now charging insane commissions on train tickets (Y600 per ticket for hard seats, Y2000 per ticket for hard sleepers and Y4000+ per ticket for soft sleepers).

Its become such a big problem that CCTV 9 (the Inji channel) even did a featured news piece on it last night!!!

So basically forget getting training tickets into Lhasa in July/August/September and first week of October ......its a nightmare! However.....getting train tickets OUT of Lhasa is not so bad your travel agencies should have no problem confirming outgoing tickets.