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Peter M. Geiser


1000 Travel Tips
Koen De Boeck

TIBET
The Internet Travel Guide

Peter M. Geiser

VISA

To enter Tibet you need a valid Chinese visa. At the moment, only tour groups are officially allowed into Tibet.

When you apply for the Chinese visa, make sure you do not mention that you want to go to Tibet (state anything else, e.g. Beijing, Xian, Shanghai, Chengdu, etc.). You want to go to China, and need a valid visa to China. For addresses of Chinese embassies, see the section Embassies in the Internet Travel Guide to China.

Note: Do not go to the embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal! There have been several strong warnings that the embassy immediately cancels your valid visa as soon as they get their hands on your passport, and tells you to go to a travel agent to get a new one. The cost there is USD 300, including three of nights in an expensive tourist hotel in Lhasa. (I read that someone made it for USD 190, USD 25 visa fee and USD 100 'service fee').

Your best chances are at home or in Delhi (stating that you want to enter by land via Pakistan. Get the Pakistan visa first!), although Delhi seems not to be as good anymore. Don't try to get the visa in Nepal, the embassy just cancels your valid Chinese visa! You should be able to get a 5 or a 14 day visa through a travel agency, and then only as part of a group. It will cost you quite some money (no exact info so far) to split up from the group or to get an extension.

As for the group tour, it seems possible that two people already count as a group.

Once you are within Tibet, it is possible to extend your visa up to two times for 15 days each time. An extension costs CNY 110. It may be that visa extension may not be issued during politically sensitve events.

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