Currently, travelers can take flights to Lhasa from Kunming, Lijiang and Shangri-la in Yunnan Province.
Please note we can also customize suitable trip if you prefer flying to Tibet from other cities like Beijing, Shanghai. There are 4 non-stop flights serving between Kunming and Lhasa every day (about 3-5 hrs), scheduled from 7:30 am to 20:15 pm. Lijiang offers only a non-stop flight to Lhasa every day (about 2h 15mins). Diqing Shangri-La Airport provides 3-6 direct flights to Lhasa (about 2 hrs), including 1 non-stop flight 1 non-stop flight opened by China Easter Airlines and at most 5 connecting flights.
As a common practice, we will deliver your Tibet travel permit to your hotel in Kungming by express, 1-7 days prior to your departure for Lhasa. It is common to get the permit even the night or a couple of hours before your departure to Tibet. In some extreme cases, our staff in Kungming will deliver it to your hand before departure at airport or railway station. As a Tibet travel agency, we have never failed to get and deliver the Tibet travel permit to our clients. Please feel rest-assured.
If you take a flight to Lhasa from Kungming or Lijiang or Shangri-La, the original copy is required, Your travel consultant will handle with it perfectly according to the situation.
The Tourism Bureau only accepts the permit application that is used to arrive in Tibet within 20 days. Generally, it takes 6-12 working days to issue the permit after we get the photo copy of your passport and Chinese visa. The application time depends on where you travel in Tibet, about 8-12 days to get the permit if heading to Mt.Everest and Mount Kailash, and just 6-8 days if you only travel in Lhasa City.
After we get the permit in Lhasa, we will deliever the permit to you immediately by express, and it takes at least 3 days to arrive in Kungming. Therefore, you will only be able to get the permit within 1 to 7 days before your departure for Lhasa.
However, your personal consultant usually ask you to confirm the tour much earlier, because the earlier you provide all the required documents, the earlier we can submit to Tibet Tourism Bureau and wait for your turn.