1) do i need double entry visa to China?
2) any recomm on transport from xi an to tibet? costs?
3) how long to obtain tibet travel permit in xi an?
4) how much overall expenditure in Tibet for approx. 7days-10days trip?
Reply to this Hi Nicole,
You would need a Tourist Visa for China, the validity of which is 30 days.
You need to get a Travel Permit to visit Tibet, these are issued by Tibet Tourism Administration. For this you require a copy of your passport along with the Chinese visa. You need to apply for the travel permit at least 10 days prior to your entry date. This costs about 500 Yuan from Xian.
According to China's regulation, individual travel to Tibet is not allowed. You will have to travel in a group or join a group, a travel agent can help you with that.
Also its important to remember that when you apply for China visa, please do not mention Tibet. After you get China visa you can easily get Tibet permit. Otherwise you have to wait for Tibet permit and then you can get China visa. Of course you will face the risk of that you might be refused to come to Tibet even if you get China visa. But there will be a delay in getting the visa.
You can travel from Xian to Tibet by train. The cost for this is between 500-900 (Yuan/person), depending on the type of berth you want for the travel. It almost takes a day and a half by train. You can also fly to Tibet, the cost would almost be three times of the train fare but you would save on a lot of time.
The cost for a 7-10 day trip in Tibet would dependent on the the activities you plan while you are there. There are holy tours and adventure tours or you can just travel and visit new destinations in Tibet.
Reply to this G'day Nic,
You do not need a double ent visa as Tibet is a part of China.
regarding travelling to Tibet from Xian there is a direct flight to Lhasa...or you can go by the new train from Xining to Lhasa.
you can travel on your own...but you have to travel with a travel agent who will arrange your permit to Tibet.
and the new policy is you have to have a local guide through out your trip in Tibet.
hope this will help.
fun travel
Reply to this It is no more a hard thing to get a a Tibet entry permit.You shall provide a copy of your passport and visa with your Occupation info for the permit application. It usually takes five working days.The cost is around 7USD charged by the government department.Xi’an is also a good choice but due to the limited flight (usually one flight only and not daily) and limited tickets of pass-by trains, it is still not easy to make connection there.
If you want to know more,you can find them
here.
Reply to this Currently it is not that easy to get the permit, although the local authority has promised to begin to issue the permit on April 5th, 2009.
Reply to this It takes about 34hrs for the train trip from Tibet to Xian and the air trip is about 3 hrs. The ticket of soft sleep is about 820RMB and the air ticket is far more than twice of the train price. It depends on your own focus --budget or time. If you want to spent mote than a week in Tibet, you probably go for a long itinerary rather than just a stop of Lhasa. And you needs an Alien travel permit to enter some restricted spots besides the entry permit that is used for entering Tibet. You have to join in a tour to travel Tibet and ask your travel agent to handle all of these for you. Hope this help.
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