Travel to Tibet around Losar

It is the truth that you can not get permit around that time.But why not make reservation in advance ?

Losar is March 5th, 2011.

For the past 3 years access to Tibet has been restricted from the last week of February to the first week of April. I have no reason to think that the Chinese will behave any differently this year and thus would NOT expect to be able to travel to Tibet during the period from the end of Feb through the first week in March. People who were in Tibet did not have to depart until the end of their permits.

If you want to be in Tibet for Losar, you would probably have to arrange to arrive in Tibet before Feb. 25 and have a permit which permitted you to stay until after March 5th. This is likely to be expensive and difficult to organize.

Ruth

Most regions of the Tibetan Plateau, including those found in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai and western Sichuan, generally close to foreign travelers in late February and reopen in early April. I expect this will be the case in 2011.

Ruth and Losang, I have seen many posts addressed this "closing to foreigners" issue during this period of time. Would you please elaborate a little bit more on why is this? Thanks.

March is a sensitive month because it is the anniversary of the Dalai Lama fleeing Tibet and is also the anniversary of major uprisings in Tibet that took place in 1959, 1989 and 2008. Because of this, most of the Tibetan Plateau closes to foreign travelers.