Tibet Group Tour Programs are one of our most popular Tibet travel tours and for more than 17 years, we have been exploring every corner of Tibet in a small group tour, featuring some of the fascinating destinations in Tibet. From Tibetan homestays to an overland tour to Nepal, we have the widest range of Tibet Group Tour Programs for you to choose from. And the good news is that all of them have Guaranteed Departure!

So, have you already planned your 2018 vacation? Don’t miss to get enrolled in one of our favorite Tibet Group Tour programs. They are designed to have perfect and well-planned itinerary including major highlights in Tibet like Potala Palace which has thousand years of history, Mt. Everest exploration, Kailash Kora etc. plus the flexibility, these programs are designs to let you enjoy enough spare time to go ahead with your own stuff. Tibet Shambhala Adventure is equipped with talented professional group tour guides who are not only ready to provide the best possible services but also in giving a true Tibet flavor to our clients.

Reasons to choose our Tibet Group Tour program:

1. Travelers from across the globe

From the South Pole to the North, Tibet Shambhala Adventure’s group tour programs are designed to include tourists from major English speaking countries to make it more international. It often ends up with binding a special bond with one another

2. Unique and Authentic Tibet experiences:

Our Tibet Group Tour programs are designed to bring about unique and authentic Tibet experiences. We have Tibetan Homestay group tour to give you a true Tibetan Flavor. Giving the travelers a chance to interact with local Tibetan people and also encouraging them to learn to cook Tibetan momos during their homestay.

3.Professional Tour Guide

We are possessed with most professional group tour Guide who are skilled and well trained in planning your day to day programs which needs to be carried out on daily basis. Their English is fluent and knowledge on the sightseeing are vast. You would love to listen to the stories that tour guides are sharing with you during the tour.

4.Enjoy your spare time:

You love shopping? Or would like to have a time of your own during your Tibet Tour? Our Group Tours are designed to include as plenty of time as possible to make the tour more flexible for you. You will have enough of you spare time to go ahead with you own stuff.

5.Our Group Tours are Cheap and affordable:

Our Tibet Groa budget travelers cheap and affordable. Our starting prices is just $599 however if it is a private tour with same itinerary the rate will go beyond. If you are a budget travelers, Tibet Group Tour Programs are always recommended for you.

6.Widest Range of Group Tour Itinerary to choose from; Group Tour Cum Overland Tour;

Unlike others, Tibet Shambhala Adventure introducing the widest range of Tibet Group Tour programs which not only covers the key highlights of Tibet but travelers also can enjoy a Tibet-Nepal or Nepal-Tibet Overland Tour in Group. It is a Group Tour cum overland Tour. To have more detailed information, please visit our Tibet Group Tour programs for 2018.

How to book Tibet train tour?  It surely offers an unparralled and top up your Tibet tour Experience.

For tourists, visiting Tibet  from Mainland China, if you have enough time, Tibet Shambhala Adventure  recommends you to take Tibet train tour. You can take train to Tibet from several famous cities of mainland China which we have made a detailed list of the cities and train schedules. The best way to take train to Tibet is from Xining. Xining is one of the closest cities to Tibet from mainland China and it is the capital city of Qinghai province where there are lots of Tibetans who live in Xining and the places around Xining,  known as Amdo Tibetan and they are both farmers and nomads.

Amdo in Tibetan is a region that is located in the north eastern part of Tibet and you will see a lot of monasteries, temples, nomad camps and growing barley in Amdo area like you can see here in the central Tibet. The high light of the Tibet train tour is from Xining to Lhasa because after around forty minutes train board from Xining, you will see Qinghai lake or Tso Ngonpo in Tibetan and Kokonor lake in Mongolian. It is one of the largest salt lakes in Tibet and it is the largets lake in the Qinghai Tibetan area. Next to Kokonor lake, you can see beautiful grassland, nomad camp, Kunlun mountain range, Keke Xiling no man land which has been occupied by a big group of Tibetan antelop, wild donkey, wild Yak, wolfs, blue sheep etc. Thangko la pass which is over 5000m above sea level and Siling tso which is the larget lake in the northen Tibetan area located at the altitude of over 4500m above sea level. You will pass by Damshong county which is the county seat under Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. From Damshong county to Lhasa is 200km distance. On the way, you will have a great view of Nyenchen Thangla snow nountain which is the largest snow mountain near Lhasa at the elevation of over 7000m So the landscape from Xining to Lhasa is extremely rich and it is tremendously beautiful. You can not only enjoy this unique and tremendous beauty of the landscape during your Tibet train tour but also you can slowly acclimatize to the altitude while you are crossing high mountain passes through train which can make sure that you won’t get altitude problem during your Tibet tour. .

 How comfortable the beds and seats of Qinghai Tibet train:

There are three different classes of the seats and beds that you can book for the Qinghai Tibet train tour. They have first class train ticket or known as soft sleeper. The first class is train ticket is that there are four comfortable beds in one compartment, two beds on the top and two beds are on the ground.There is alo a nice place to put your luggage and there is also small TV if you like. The scond class train tickit, known as hard sleeper. The second class ticket is that there are 6 comfortable beds in one compartment and when there are six beds in one compartment, the space of the compartment makes smaller and less comfortable than the first class tickets. It also has the same place to keep your luggage. The third one is the normal seat that there are many seats in one big hall and two seats are facing to each other and the space between the seats and tables are also not that big so we don’t recommend to take seat ticket from Xining to Lhasa as it is very difficult.

 If you can get food on the Qinghai Tibet train?

There is a pretty clean restaurant on the train and they serve all three meals during your train tour to Tibet. Usually, they serve lunch by around 13.00-14-30, Dinner by around 18.30-20.00 and 08-09.30 Beijing time. Usually, they announce lunch, dinner and breakfast time on the train both in English and Chinese so you can pay attention approximately the time that we have given to you. If you are with your Tibetan guide it is easy for you as your Tibetan guide can order food for you from the restaurant but most of the groups are coming on their own so you can go to the restaurant and choose the vegetable from the menu if you like to order by your self or you can also buy the set rice and veg dish that the waters pass by your compartment and sell the dish.. The person in charge of the restaurant speaks a little English.

We highly recommend you to buy some coffee, biscuit, fruit or even a bowl of instant noodle in Xining before you board the train because on the train, you don’t get those items. They have drinking hot water tank next to each apartment of the train and you can have hot water any time.  It is also a good idea to buy some mineral water before you board the train because the mineral water which sells on the train is quite expensive.

If you can get Oxygen on the Qinghai Tibet train?

The train itself provides oxygen in each compartment and if you are feeling very difficult symptom of having headache, vomiting, difficult to breathe, then we recommend you to use some oxygen but it is very rare to happen this kind of symptom and we don’t recommend you to use oxygen on the train when you have slightly headh ache or dizzy because this is very usual and this symptom will slowly disappeay after your couple of days stay in Tibet.

What documents and how you can book your Qinghai Tibet train ticket?

To book train tickets, you need a valid passport and China visa copy. Usually the Qinghai Tibet Rail Way company requires to book ticket for Tibet train tour in 60 days advance but this can be changed sometimes and it is very important to ask your Tibet travel agent to have the most up-to date information about the tickets. You can try to book the train tickets through the official website of China Train Company (www.huoche.com or www.ctrip.com  ) but it is tremendously difficult to get a chance to be able to catch tickets online, especially first and second class during the high and peak season as there are lots of tourist who travel to Tibet by train and at the same time, many government officials  do also travel to Tibet by train so the best is to ask your Tibet travel agent who is arranging your Tibet train tour to help you book the train tickets. There will be some service charge for booking but if you find a right Tibetan travel agent like Tibet Shambhala Adventure, they can guarantee you to get first class train ticket once you book the trip with them.

Can you board the train to Tibet without Tibet permit?

It is compulsory to have Tibet permit or known as Tibet entry permit. All the train stations in mailand China except the train station in Xining requires you to show original Tibet permit. At the train station in Xining, it is fine to board the train with a colored copy of the Tibet permit. It is very important to book your Tibet train tour in 20-30 days advance as your Tibet travel agent needs to go through a very long process for your Tibet permit application and it takes between 15-25 days by depending on what kind of Tibet trips you take. Once they finish all your Tibet permit application, the Tibet travel agent has to send your Tibet permit to the city from which you are going to take train to Tibet. Sending permit to mainland China usually takes 3-5 working days by EMS. It is very important to give your exact hotel address and contact number to your Tibet agent to deliver your Tibet permit if you spend a night in the city from which you are going to train to Tibet. It is also possible to deliver your Tibet train ticket and Tibet permit at the train station if you don’t spend a night in the city.

Although the recommended city to take train to Tibet from Mainland China is Xining however you don’t necessarily have to fly to Xining to start your Tibet Train Tour. You can also take train to Tibet from other major cities of mainland China. Currently we have the train shchedules to Tibet below;

-Beijing to Lhasa

-Shanghai to Lhasa

-Chendu to Lhasa

-Xining to Lhasa

-Xian to Lhasa

-Guangzhou-Lhasa

-Chongqing to Lhasa

-Lanzhou to Lhasa

-Hongkong to Lhasa

With hike in the no of foreign tourists making train reservation to Tibet, it resulted in lots of FAQ about train schedules, price  and how to make train reservation to Tibet. The below information can mostly answer about all the FAQ. Please note that the train ticket cost below are for reference. These can be subject to change.

.,Beijing to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Shanghai to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Chengdu to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Guangzhou to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Xining to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Chongqing to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Lanzhou to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Xi’an to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose

Golmud to Lhasa Train Book

*The Ticket cost is just for reference purpose.

Hongkong to Lhasa Train Book via Guangzhou ( Canton )

To have more information, please visit Tibet Train Tour.

A Gorgeous trip to Tibet with Tibetan Travel Agency

Tibet is a beautiful and sacred place that is located in the Himalayas with its unique traditions, culture and a lineage of history Surrounded by sprawling big mountains. Tibet is one of the amazing destinations to hook up for your next vacation. The mountains are the haven for trekkers and trekkers from around the world reach here to try their hands on the trekking trails here. If you are also the one looking for a different holiday this time, visit your nearest Tibetan travel agency and confirm the dates of booking.

The places worth a visit in Tibet are Jokhang Temple, Tibetan Monasteries, Potala Palace, and many more. As Tibet is an autonomous region, you are required to have Tibet entry permit for entering Tibet but applying for Tibet entry permits is very simple if you choose a right Tibetan travel agency who is officially registered under the China National Tourism and Tibet Tourism Bureau . Once you confirm your trip to Tibet, you need to apply for China visa to the Chinese embassy in your own country and you can use China visa for your trip to Tibet as Tibet is an Autonomous Region within China. The China visa application may take from 3-7 working days which depend on where you are from.

When you choose the right Tibetan travel agency, it is very important to know by yourself that there are thousands of websites that tell you that they are local owned Tibetan travel agencies and they can organize tours and trips to Tibet. They can also tell you that they have been operating Tibet tours for many years so in this case, it is very important to ask them to send their official license with the stamp of Tibet Tourism Bureau or China National Tourism Bureau on their own so called agent name which means the company license name holder should be the same as the name that they are holding in their website so if the name on the company license and on their website is the same, then should you feel confident and trust to do booking with this company because this company is officially registered and you can trust them.

If the company’s name does not match the same on the website and on their company license and they may say that they are the branch of another company which is on the company license, then you need to be very careful because it is hundred percent sure that they are not officially registered and they are just a website who are selling Tibet tours on line. Once you confirm the trip with them, they might either sell your confirmed tour to another agent who is officially registered and has authorization to organize Tibet tours or they might buy the permits from another company that they are sending certificate license to you so if you book your Tibet tour with these kind of websites, it is very risky to book the trip with these kind of agents as they are not sure if they can get permits or not because they are not officially authorized so there is always chance that you might not be able to travel to Tibet in the last minute if you book your Tibet trip with just a website without an officially registered Tibetan travel agency because to travel to Tibet, you always need Tibet travel permit and to make Tibet travel permit, you need a very strong officially registered Tibetan travel agent who can deal directly with Tibet Tourism Bureau’s permit department.

Tibet is a huge plateau that you can’t finish traveling to every corner of Tibet during one time visit. You won’t finish exploring Tibet even if you do ten times trip to Tibet so it means it is very important to choose the best and most experienced local Tibetan travel agency who can provide you the most popular and beautiful Tibet tours during your first time Tibet trip. You can trip to Tibet by flight or overland to Tibet from Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. You can also hook on to a railway tour, which will provide an exclusive opportunity to observe the beautiful landscape of the high Tibetan plateau and help you to acclimatized to the high altitude slowly and gradually.

You can start your Tibet journey from the city of Lhasa, which is the capital city of Tibet and one of the highlighted destinations when you travel to Tibet. Lhasa is popular to it’s rich cultural back ground which are the UNESCO World Heritage site and Drepung and Sera monasteries are the largest Tibetan monasteries. You can hike around Lhasas city and have 4-7 days trekking around Lhasa such as Ganden to Samye trekking, Langthang Dewachen to Yamdrok lake trekking, Tsurphu to Yampachen trekking etc.
The Best Time to Visit Tibet

Off late, Tibet has come up as one of the most traveled destinations in the world. As we are in the era of sustainable tourism, Tibet is also supporting the world by providing all possible amenities to the travelers. From the popular snow peaks to the warm monasteries, Tibet is worth a visit at least once in your lifetime.
The best time to visit Tibet is from April to October and the best time to climb small peak and adventure trekking is in April, May, June, September and October respectively.

Visiting Tibet in winter is also very highly recommended where you will see the most beautiful land scape of the Himalayan mountain range including Mount Everest, Jo Oyu, Shisha Pangma, Lhotse, Makalu etc as the sky is always blue and the sun is shining very brightly all the time. There are more religious events and activities are going on and more local Tibetan people are around Bharkor and Jokang. You can see hundreds of Tibetans, prostrating in front of Jokang temple, paying homage to the statue of Buddha Shakyamuni. You will get 50% discount from the normal peak season price of the land cost and 30-50% discount on the flight ticket cost.

During your Tibet tour, you can also catch the marvelous sights of snow panda, snow leopard, snow frog and mouse hares. These are the rare species of animals that can only exist in extreme cold temperatures and are not found everywhere in the world. Visit Tibet during their festivities to observe the colorful and vibrant celebrations. One of the best ways to travel to Tibet is that you can choose our Tibet Group Tour because you will get much cheaper price and if you book the trip two months in advance, you will get 5% discount.

What is Tibet Permit and Simple Guidelines how to prepare your Tibet permit?

If your passport valid for at least 6 months and you have already bucket listed Tibet as your top travel destination in 2018, you must have googled about Tibet and the related information you required to prepare for your Tibet Trip. While googling about Tibet, Tibet Travel Permit or Tibet Permit is something new to you and it is indispensable that you need to get All the details about what is Tibet Permit and the process involved in applying for Tibet Permit.

Tibet Travel Permit or Tibet Permit is a document which supports your entry into Tibet. It is issued by the Tibet Tourism Bureau. The approval on your China Visa doesn’t really mean that you can get entry into Tibet. There are only two ways getting into Tibet. One from Kathmandu and another from the mainland China. For those who are making their Tibet Trip from Mainland China, it is required to send across a copy of your visa and passport to your travel agent in Lhasa to apply for the Tibet Permit which usually takes about 15-20 business days to process.

Once it is approved, your travel agent in Lhasa will send the original Tibet permit to your temporary mailing address in China apart from the city of Xining in Qinghai province in mainland China where a colored-copy of the Tibet Permit is ok to board your train to Lhasa. Therefore as a tourist coming into Tibet from Mainland China, it is essential to note that you have to inform your travel agent in Lhasa about your flight details, whether it is a direct flight or a connecting flight because if it is a direct flight, your Tibet Permit carry the name of the city where you are flying directly into Tibet. If it is a connecting flight, your Tibet Permit should carry the name of the connecting city to Tibet and not the original city

For instance, when a tourist is coming to Tibet from mainland China by flight on the same day and if she or he is taking a connecting flight, for example from Beijing to Chengdu and from Chengdu to Lhasa on the same day, your Tibet Permit should carry the name of the connecting city i.e. Chengdu in the above example and not Beijing . The security check in Beijing airport will not ask you to show your Tibet Permit but the security check in Chengdu airport will definitely ask you to show your Tibet Permit because it is where you are entering into Tibet and that’s why it is also called Tibet Entry Permit. Same rule applies to the train journey as well.

Many tourists and unprofessional local travel agents make very often mistakes about this issue that the tourists just inform the local agents that I am coming from Beijing to Tibet but then the tourist takes a connecting flight, not a direct flight from Beijing to Lhasa or Shanghai to Lhasa. They take a connecting flight but then those of unprofessional local travel agents completely think that their tourist is coming from Beijing and they write Beijing to enter Tibet instead of Chengdu as they did not think about connecting flight so when the tourist is in Chengdu airport for a transit flight, the security check in Chengdu finds that Chengdu is not written in their permits and they stop tourist to board the flight so this part of information is very important as Tibet Shambhala Adventure as an experienced and officially registered local Tibetan owned travel agent, it is always our pleasure to share our valuable information, knowledge and experiences.

If you are making the journey to Tibet via Kathmandu, Remember to note that you don’t have to apply for the China Visa from your origin country in order to get into Tibet. You will have to send your passport copy to your local Tibetan travel agent in Lhasa and your local travel agent will apply for your visa invitation letter to the Tibet Tourism Bureau in Lhasa and once it is approved by Tibet Tourism Bureau, your local Tibetan travel agent will send the visa invitation letter to your Kathmandu representative who will assist you to apply for the China Visa which takes three working days. It is also referred as a Group Visa, given on A 4 paper, not on your visa. Therefore it is important to allow 3 business days in Kathmandu to complete your China Group Visa application and plan your itinerary accordingly. The good thing is that new business working days of Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu is from Monday till Friday where they used to work Monday, Wednesday and Friday only. If you have applied the China Group Visa on Monday, it will granted and deliver to you latest by Wednesday.

When you are coming to Tibet from Kathmandu, you are not required to have your Tibet entry and road permits with you from Kathmandu. You can board your flight from Kathmandu with your China visa to Tibet and your Tibetan tour guide at the airport will take care of all the necessary Tibet entry and road permits and help you to clear China custom.

We can apply Tibet permit for all the tourists except someone who are diplomats, journalists and government officials. People who are diplomats, journalists and government officials should go through Foreign Affairs Office of China based in Lhasa.

Tibet trek with Tibetan Yak is an essential relationship between the trekkers and Yak.
Yaks known as “Yak ‘’ in Tibetan and English and it is a very special and unique animal of Tibet. Yak can also considered as the brand of Tibet. Tibetan domesticated yak and yak raised Tibetan. There is a Tibetan proverb which says: Where there are Yaks, there are Tibetans which describes such an interdependent and inseparable relationship between Yaks and Tibetans. Animals are the most important friends of mankind, and yaks are the most important friends of Tibetans.

There are two very large wild Yak skulls that were found in Maqu county of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Region in Gansu province. After the scientist testing, it shows that the skulls fossils has over 45,000 years history which proves that the wild Yaks survived on the Tibetan plateau earlier than the humans.
Tibetan people domesticate the Yaks for their needs and it has more than 4500 years history. The wild Yaks are always bigger size and much more aggressive, angry and dangerous while the domesticated Yaks are smaller size and more loyal and friendly to the people.

For thousands of years, the Tibetan people have been living with Yaks and they used Yaks for almost everything, especially in the olden days. The Tibetans used Yaks for clothing, food, shelter, transportation, farming, war, entertainment, Medical item and religious tools so on.

Tibet trek with Tibetan Yak was very popular in the olden days that when the Tibetan people traveled from one place to another, they used Yaks for their transportation for goods and also for the older Tibetan people, they also used Yaks for riding when they could not walk for a long distant travel. Yaks as a means of transportation on Tibetan high plateau dates back to at least 2000 years ago. We can also find Yak’s pack saddle in Shangshong in Ali prefecture in the western Tibet and some of them have a thousand years of history as well.
Today, since there are more and more roads and vehicles developed, there are less and less Tibetan people who use Yaks for their transportation unless a very few Tibetan nomadic areas but the way of Yaks as using for transportation is changing and nowadays, Yaks again become very important for another type of transportation for tourists in Tibet and Tibet trek with Tibetan Yaks become very essential and inseparable relationship with travelers from all over the world and Tibetan Yak.

Tibet trek with Tibetan Yak is very unique and authentic and there are treks around Mount Everest base camp, Tibet trek from old Dingri to Everest base camp at the elevation of 4000-6500mts with Yaks and Everest base camp to Everest Advanced Base Camp, Kangshung valley trekking from the east Everest side, Mount Kailash trekking etc.
Why Yaks are very famous for the transportation in Tibet is because Yaks are said that they never get lost when they traveled from one place to another and Yaks do not have to sleep, they can travel from day till night. They can remember their geographical position very well from the starting to the starts.

For domesticated Yaks, there are two different types of Yaks, one is the male Yak and another one is the female Yak but in Tibet, we call Yaks for the male one and Dri for the female one. We don’t call Yaks for the female one. Most of the western guide books, they still did not divide this very well and many western tourists always say that I like Yak butter tea or Yak butter etc. For Tibetans, it is very strange when you say Yak butter or Yak butter tea because Yak is the male one from which you can not get milk or butter but it becomes kind of common in the touristic cities or towns in Tibet.
In the domesticated Yaks, Tibetans use male Yaks for transportation, plaughing fileds and female Yaks, known as Dri for milk and butter.

Yak meat, yak milk with high protein, low fat characteristics, is the main source of nutrition in the Tibetan high plateau and in the olden days, the Tibetan nomads, they completely live on Yak meat, Dri butter and milk as there were no vegetables in the nomadic area and people very less travelled to the longer distance like Lhasa where they grew vegetables.

Tibet trek with Tibetan Yak in the Tibetan nomadic area is something that you can not miss when you trek in Tibet. You can see how important Yaks are for Tibetan people in their daily lives.
Tibetan nomads use Yak hair or Yak wool use for weaving their big nomad tents which was their home for entire life in the olden days but nowadays, they used it only during summer time in most of the Tibetan nomadic area as they have small houses in the lower altitude place in the winter time. Yak wool made tents has a very special characters that it does not get very hot when it is very sunny and it does not get cold when it is windy as it is a wind and water proof. During the sunny day, the Yak wool tent automatically shrinks and reveals small dense holes which can give very comfortable fresh air and sun inside the tents and when it is raining, the tent itself automatically tighten to each other and blocks itself the hole and it becomes a complete water and wind proof.

Yak skin is a good leather raw materials, was made into various kinds of daily necessities. Yaks leather is used for boat to cross the river, jacket, shoes, dram etc.
Yak horn can be used for Tibetan medicine, snuff box, decoration, milking containers, religious tools, butter containers, handicrafts etc.

In the life of people on the Tibetan high plateau, yaks are everywhere. Yak known as the “Plateau treasure” Domesticated yak is honest and simple, loyal in nature, feelings of compassion, strength and courage. A Tibetan scholar wrote: “For the plateau humans, the yak is an ancestor forever, a grandparent, a brother and sister, a child, a friend and friend, a neighbor and relative ”

In the thousands of years, the Tibetan and yak get along. The yak is not only a material phenomenon and a lifestyle, but also Yak gradually enters the spiritual world and becomes a yak culture. This not only includes both historical culture, animal husbandry culture, artifact culture, funeral culture, ecological culture, but also includes the plateau Tibetan literature, art, music, dance and other aesthetic culture which also involves religious and philosophical culture.