The overland trip to Tibet is one of the best touring destinations. On this tour, you will not face much adversity. However, you must prepare the necessary documents, including visas and travel permits. So let’s get into them.
Choosing an Appropriate Vehicle
First and foremost, for the Tibet Kathmandu overland tour, you need a proper vehicle that can ride off the tour’s beaten roads. Hence, a jeep is the best option to choose from instead of a bus or a simple Sedan car. Not to mention, the Jeep ride is cheaper than the flight, saving you several hundred dollars.
Chinese Group Visa
This tour crosses into Tibet at Kyirong on day one and comes back the same way on day eight, so you enter China from Nepal — and that single fact decides which visa you need. It is a Chinese Group Visa, issued by the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu once you have booked with a licensed operator. It is not an ordinary Chinese tourist visa, and the difference is not a formality: a tourist visa bought in your own country is void on this route, and the Kathmandu consulate cancels it when the group application goes in. Please do not buy one before you come. Your passport does still need to be valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, with blank pages left in it.
We file the application for you in Kathmandu. Once you have handed over your passport and a recent photograph, the consulate takes about 3–5 working days, so you should be in Nepal at least 4–6 days before the tour begins. The visa comes back as a single sheet listing everyone in the party rather than a stamp in your passport, which is why the whole group has to enter, travel and leave Tibet together.
Permits
Alongside the group visa, every traveller needs a Tibet Travel Permit, which the Tibet Tourism Bureau issues only through a licensed operator — it cannot be applied for privately. Because this itinerary runs a long way past Lhasa, through Tingri, Shigatse and Gyantse, you also need an Alien’s Travel Permit. We arrange both, and both want roughly 20 days, so the thing that sinks a late booking is usually a permit rather than the visa. With the group visa and the permits in hand, you are all set to explore the roof of the world.