How to Get There?

Getting to Tibet can be either very easy or very difficult, according to the way you travel.

Get to Tibet by Air Plane

For typical tourists, the best way to get there is to take a plane. There are flights to Gongkar airport, 95km (59mi) from Lhasa, from Beijing, Chengdu(daily departure!), Chongqing, Xining, Chamdo, Xi'an, Zhongdian, and Kathmandu. Click on the following link to get the full flight timetable on a new page.

• A Full Flight Timetable in and out of Lhasa

Chengdu is a very important port to fly to Tibet from mainland of China. There are at least two flights form Chengdu to Lhasa EVERYDAY. If you want to go there from Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, you have to make a stop in Chengdu. Anyway, Chengdu is the best place to see Giant Panda Bears, and the Ancient Sanxingdui Ruins, the "terro-cotta warriors No. 2", is also in Chengdu. So an overnight stay in Chengdu is a good idea.

The flights going to Lhasa from Chengdu are all very early, and the planes are all Airbus A340, very comfortable ones. The flight itself is a great experience. When you look out of the window about 20 minutes before landing, you will see a heart-breaking beautiful view of the snow capped mountains!

On the way to Lhasa, the plane flew ever soooo closely to the snow capped mountains, so close that I could almost touched the eaks! Never have I seen so many mountain peaks at an altitude of over 7000 meters concentrated in a single location! Yes, Tibet has numerous of them! It was quite an exhilarating experience even if I only got to see it from the inside of the plane.

-- by Sharrie

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Drive to Tibet on 4 Wheel Vehicles!

For those real adventure people, drive a 4-wheel vehicle to Tibet is a better choice! It needs better physical conditions, more time, more money, and a lot of courage and determination.

You can drive to Tibet via 5 routes:

• Sichuan (Chengdu) to Lhasa : 2159 kilometers to 2407 km
• Yunnan (Kunming) to Lhasa: 2317 kilometers
• Qinghai (Xining) to Lhasa: 1947 kilometers
• Xinjiang (Yecheng) to Lhasa: 2743 kilometers
• Kathmandu to Lhasa

Among the above routes, driving from Qinghai or Kathmandu ("friendship highway") are easier. We do not suggest you drive to Tibet from the other ways except you are "professional" adventurers with all the necessary gears and backup.

If you need to rent a vehicle, you may contact a lotal tour operator in advance. But remember, you must hire a tour guide also, because according to the policy of local government, foreigners are not allowed to travel alone. We highly recommend you contact Access Tibet Tour, a local tour operator in business for many years, with good service and good price.

Further reading:

• How to get a Tibet travel permit ?
• How to book a Tibet tour?