Tibet, a mysterious plateau region in people’s eyes, is located in the southwest of China and its capital, Lhasa, is regarded as “Pearl of Plateau” for its richness in historical, cultural and natural wealth, such as great Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple which is worshiped by Buddhist every day, and Qomolangma, the highest peak of the world. All of this makes Tibet a unique and irreplaceable tourist attraction to many China travel agency and tourists, especially for the adventurers.
However, a lot of tourists have no idea of how to plan their first trip to Tibet and I, once been there, would like to share some important issues about Tibet tourism here. Hope that would be helpful.
Purposes
First and foremost, you should ask yourself what exactly you want from Tibet. In other words, which part of Tibet you like the most and make a good schedule for that. For most of the travelers, cultural and natural sites are the focus and Tibet is just famous for that, most of which spread in Lhasa and Shigatse.
Budget
The cost on traveling Tibet mainly includes travelling expenses, accommodation and food, ticket and shopping and there are two kinds of Tibet tourism, one is joining a China tour agency and the other is self-traveling.
It is very easy to predict the total cost if joining a travel agency, the service fee charged by the agency plus your own possible cost. Please note, usually the service fee includes travelling expenses, accommodation, food, tickets, insurance and China tour guide fees. In a word, they cover all the expenses except for your own shopping cost.
There’s no standard price for self-traveling, because different people have different tendency on their tour, but it can be still calculated in advance if you takes a little more time.
Time
How many days is the most suitable for Tibet tourism? Perhaps everyone has his own answer, five days, ten days or even one month. If you don’t care about the duration or money, I suggest the following answer, which, I think, is enough and perfect to appreciate the Tibet.3 days of Lhasa, 3 days of Nyingchi and 2 days of Shigatse. If you can afford more time, it is highly recommended to take a trip to Qomolangma. It may request 4 days more.