Train from Beijing to Lhasa
Train from Beijing to Lhasa
4
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Monday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Tuesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Wednesday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Thursday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Friday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Saturday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
Sunday
12:00 AM - 11:59 PM
About
The Beijing-Lhasa train Z21 was launched in July, 2006, this great railway between Beijing and Lhasa takes passengers from northern China to the furthest southwestern Tibet plateau for their lifetime Tibet tour. The Beijing to Lhasa train is served as one of the 3 initial railway routes of Qinghai-Tibet Railway, with other two lines moving from Chengdu to Lhasa and Xining to Lhasa. The Beijing-Lhasa train stretches 3753km all the way to Lhasa, crossing 8 provinces with 1110 km running on the world's highest Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The total train ride is about 44 hours from Beijing to Lhasa, the return train from Lhasa to Beijing is called Z22. More details, please contact Tibet Local Guide Travel Service
Duration: More than 3 hours
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sydneypo
Sydney, Australia81 contributions
July 2013 • Friends
My mum (66 yrs young) and I decided to travel from Beijing to Lhasa by rail. You will need everything pre-booked by your tour agency, and make sure you have all your permits to Tibet printed out and ready as they will check this on the train.
You'll then need to pick up your train ticket using the booking number provided by the tour agency. We picked up the tickets at Beijing Railway station, and Thankfully had a local Chinese friend to help us. Just make sure if you're travelling WITH other people that you insist you are in the same cabin. My mum and I were separated but we did manage to move a number of times through the journey (with a number of stops, there were a number of carriage changes) until we finally got into the 1 cabin. All you need to do is ask and the people & officers were friendly enough to help.
Get to the train station early, too - as it can be a little weird to try to find the platform. Most Lhasa trains will depart from Beijing Xi station - this is not the main Beijing station, but Beijing WEST, so take note.
What this ISN'T:
First up: This is not the Orient Express. You're travelling with locals - many tourists from China and some people who actually live in Tibet and are travelling home. So if you are expecting the romantic ideal of train travel, with silver cutlery, your own toilet and shower in your cabin, privacy, and Poirot.... this is not it.
Having said that, the trains are still modern, but it is a loooong train journey and each carriage has an area with sinks to brush teeth, wash your face - but no showers. There are also 2 toilets per cabin. One western toilet and one squat toilet. So based on the length of the journey and the number of people in carriages who wander up and down the train, you can imagine, toilets are well-used, not just from the people in your carriage.
So - If you're squeamish with squat toilets maybe China isn't the place for you anyway. :) BUT if you made it this far, then read on.
What it IS:
If you book the 4 soft sleeper cabins, you will have 4 beds in 1 cabin. Each bed will have linen, pillow and a quilt. It was clean. So with 4 beds, my mum and I shared with 2 other people in each cabin. And sometimes these people changed as some got off at stops, and new people got on. Note: the linen & quilt did not change.
As it's a 44 hour trip, suggest you pay for the soft sleeper. I wandered through the other carriages - hard sleeper (6 bunks in 1 cabin) and the seats carriages. It was very cramped. I don't think I could've lasted 44 hours in the other class cabins.
What you will get is a very rare experience to travel with locals, and take in the scenery (and yes, there is lots of it). This aspect of the romantic train journey is quite amazing - you see the industrial Chinese juggernaut slowly change to vast open rocky expanses, change to smaller towns, sides of mountains, open up into vast valleys, lakes, flocks of sheep, wind energy fields...the variety of China/ TIbet's landscape is amazing to take in. I can't emphasise how much I enjoyed the scenery - I was up at night just taking it in from the window, hopefully the attached photos give you an idea of the variety, expanse and scope of the country.
Service:
At one stage in the journey, my cabin was freeeeezing, so I wandered the corridors to find an officer, and when I finally found one (it was 3am) I explained this by gestures - by hugging myself and shaking plus I was wearing track pants and a fleecy hooded jumper. Despite my pathetic miming, the officer, nodded, followed me to my cabin and then nodded again and went to the control room and turned off the air conditioning.
Also, as my mum and I were placed in different cabins, we spoke direct to other passengers, who were happy to swap if they were travelling solo and the officers were ok with that too.
Tips for the journey:
- Hot water is free - there's a hot water dispenser near the sinks, so you can always make a cup of tea or a bowl of noodles.
- Bring your own food - noodles in a bowl, or buy noodles in a packet and a cheap metal cup with lid at any corner store in Beijing. We also brought snacks, fruit, sunflower seeds....and sharing your snacks is a great way to make conversation.
- Bring your own music/ movies/ entertainment/ cards
- The power plug for chargers are located in the corridors OR under your table in the cabin with the 4 soft sleepers (in between the 2 lower bunks). Unfortunately, I only found the power plug at the last 6 hours of our journey! HAHHA! Oh well. You gotta have a sense of humour, right? everyone was really happy for us to "take turns" with charging devices.
- Bring some wet wipes (you can find these in stores) so you can refresh yourself
- Bring a small towel (I concur with The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - it is indispensable in all travels!)
- Bring your own toilet/ tissue paper
- Wear comfy and warm clothes - loose clothes and warm layers as it will get colder as you get higher in altitude.
- Have a change of clothes for bed - I asked fellow passengers whether I could change, and the men were gracious and left the cabin so I could swap pants/ top.
- Ladies, bring panty liners.
- There WILL be smokers. This is China. Bring essential oil and dab on tissue. If it gets overwhelming, ask politely if the person smoking can smoke down the carriage (there are smoking sections in every carriage) and cite a health issue. I find being polite and asking often gains amazing results for humans who don't have psychic powers.
- Toiletries - small bag with toothbrush/ paste, comb, deodorant, essential oils, moisturiser, face cleanser.
- The food sold on the train looked ok - they come round to carriages with a trolley and you buy straight from that. I wasn't too impressed with the food sold in the restaurant, but it wasn't terrible. We only ate there once. It was nice to have a change in the surroundings. We were glad we brought our own food.
- There are a number of stops where you can grab some quick food from trolley stalls on the platform - fruit/ boiled eggs/ snacks etc. and the train will stop for about 5-10 mins so you can buy this if you're desperate & want to stretch your legs.
- PERMITS - make 100% sure you have them your passport, tickets, visa etc. on hand so you can show them to the officers as they do check them. Might be different number of checks for each journey, but you definitely need a permit to enter Tibet, so make lots of copies.
- Altitude sickness: it can affect you on the train - don't know if it's better to fly or not, but take a gamble. We bought altitude sickness tablets before the train trip and took them when we got on the train. The tablets can be bought at Chinese Chemists. They are safe to take every 3 hours. The locals who lived in Lhasa took them too and said even after the many train trips they've taken home, they still feel tired & out of sorts. So they still take the tablets as a safety/ to lessen the affects. I had some tiredness, but my mum was fine. Everyone's different, so suggest you take tablets as a precaution.
Despite the toilet horrors (you can use your imagination), I have to say, the toilet is just as bad/ good as some tourist locations in China on really busy times (Forbidden City, Summer Palace etc.).
Balancing out the toilet issue for us was the experience of chatting to 3 older gents on a tour to Tibet, learning "Chi" breathing from a guy from Guang Dong, meeting a family who was living in Lhasa, and talking about life, politics and sharing photos of our pet dogs. The scenery, the life experience outweighed the toilet issue/ cramped conditions. Everyone was polite, considerate when they sat on our lower bunks (we were happy to share) and happy to chat about their lives, family, travels. After all, we were all on the same train to Lhasa. :)
If you're realistic, and can handle the above, you won't miss this opportunity to travel to Lhasa and see China's landscapes in a very unique way.
You'll then need to pick up your train ticket using the booking number provided by the tour agency. We picked up the tickets at Beijing Railway station, and Thankfully had a local Chinese friend to help us. Just make sure if you're travelling WITH other people that you insist you are in the same cabin. My mum and I were separated but we did manage to move a number of times through the journey (with a number of stops, there were a number of carriage changes) until we finally got into the 1 cabin. All you need to do is ask and the people & officers were friendly enough to help.
Get to the train station early, too - as it can be a little weird to try to find the platform. Most Lhasa trains will depart from Beijing Xi station - this is not the main Beijing station, but Beijing WEST, so take note.
What this ISN'T:
First up: This is not the Orient Express. You're travelling with locals - many tourists from China and some people who actually live in Tibet and are travelling home. So if you are expecting the romantic ideal of train travel, with silver cutlery, your own toilet and shower in your cabin, privacy, and Poirot.... this is not it.
Having said that, the trains are still modern, but it is a loooong train journey and each carriage has an area with sinks to brush teeth, wash your face - but no showers. There are also 2 toilets per cabin. One western toilet and one squat toilet. So based on the length of the journey and the number of people in carriages who wander up and down the train, you can imagine, toilets are well-used, not just from the people in your carriage.
So - If you're squeamish with squat toilets maybe China isn't the place for you anyway. :) BUT if you made it this far, then read on.
What it IS:
If you book the 4 soft sleeper cabins, you will have 4 beds in 1 cabin. Each bed will have linen, pillow and a quilt. It was clean. So with 4 beds, my mum and I shared with 2 other people in each cabin. And sometimes these people changed as some got off at stops, and new people got on. Note: the linen & quilt did not change.
As it's a 44 hour trip, suggest you pay for the soft sleeper. I wandered through the other carriages - hard sleeper (6 bunks in 1 cabin) and the seats carriages. It was very cramped. I don't think I could've lasted 44 hours in the other class cabins.
What you will get is a very rare experience to travel with locals, and take in the scenery (and yes, there is lots of it). This aspect of the romantic train journey is quite amazing - you see the industrial Chinese juggernaut slowly change to vast open rocky expanses, change to smaller towns, sides of mountains, open up into vast valleys, lakes, flocks of sheep, wind energy fields...the variety of China/ TIbet's landscape is amazing to take in. I can't emphasise how much I enjoyed the scenery - I was up at night just taking it in from the window, hopefully the attached photos give you an idea of the variety, expanse and scope of the country.
Service:
At one stage in the journey, my cabin was freeeeezing, so I wandered the corridors to find an officer, and when I finally found one (it was 3am) I explained this by gestures - by hugging myself and shaking plus I was wearing track pants and a fleecy hooded jumper. Despite my pathetic miming, the officer, nodded, followed me to my cabin and then nodded again and went to the control room and turned off the air conditioning.
Also, as my mum and I were placed in different cabins, we spoke direct to other passengers, who were happy to swap if they were travelling solo and the officers were ok with that too.
Tips for the journey:
- Hot water is free - there's a hot water dispenser near the sinks, so you can always make a cup of tea or a bowl of noodles.
- Bring your own food - noodles in a bowl, or buy noodles in a packet and a cheap metal cup with lid at any corner store in Beijing. We also brought snacks, fruit, sunflower seeds....and sharing your snacks is a great way to make conversation.
- Bring your own music/ movies/ entertainment/ cards
- The power plug for chargers are located in the corridors OR under your table in the cabin with the 4 soft sleepers (in between the 2 lower bunks). Unfortunately, I only found the power plug at the last 6 hours of our journey! HAHHA! Oh well. You gotta have a sense of humour, right? everyone was really happy for us to "take turns" with charging devices.
- Bring some wet wipes (you can find these in stores) so you can refresh yourself
- Bring a small towel (I concur with The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - it is indispensable in all travels!)
- Bring your own toilet/ tissue paper
- Wear comfy and warm clothes - loose clothes and warm layers as it will get colder as you get higher in altitude.
- Have a change of clothes for bed - I asked fellow passengers whether I could change, and the men were gracious and left the cabin so I could swap pants/ top.
- Ladies, bring panty liners.
- There WILL be smokers. This is China. Bring essential oil and dab on tissue. If it gets overwhelming, ask politely if the person smoking can smoke down the carriage (there are smoking sections in every carriage) and cite a health issue. I find being polite and asking often gains amazing results for humans who don't have psychic powers.
- Toiletries - small bag with toothbrush/ paste, comb, deodorant, essential oils, moisturiser, face cleanser.
- The food sold on the train looked ok - they come round to carriages with a trolley and you buy straight from that. I wasn't too impressed with the food sold in the restaurant, but it wasn't terrible. We only ate there once. It was nice to have a change in the surroundings. We were glad we brought our own food.
- There are a number of stops where you can grab some quick food from trolley stalls on the platform - fruit/ boiled eggs/ snacks etc. and the train will stop for about 5-10 mins so you can buy this if you're desperate & want to stretch your legs.
- PERMITS - make 100% sure you have them your passport, tickets, visa etc. on hand so you can show them to the officers as they do check them. Might be different number of checks for each journey, but you definitely need a permit to enter Tibet, so make lots of copies.
- Altitude sickness: it can affect you on the train - don't know if it's better to fly or not, but take a gamble. We bought altitude sickness tablets before the train trip and took them when we got on the train. The tablets can be bought at Chinese Chemists. They are safe to take every 3 hours. The locals who lived in Lhasa took them too and said even after the many train trips they've taken home, they still feel tired & out of sorts. So they still take the tablets as a safety/ to lessen the affects. I had some tiredness, but my mum was fine. Everyone's different, so suggest you take tablets as a precaution.
Despite the toilet horrors (you can use your imagination), I have to say, the toilet is just as bad/ good as some tourist locations in China on really busy times (Forbidden City, Summer Palace etc.).
Balancing out the toilet issue for us was the experience of chatting to 3 older gents on a tour to Tibet, learning "Chi" breathing from a guy from Guang Dong, meeting a family who was living in Lhasa, and talking about life, politics and sharing photos of our pet dogs. The scenery, the life experience outweighed the toilet issue/ cramped conditions. Everyone was polite, considerate when they sat on our lower bunks (we were happy to share) and happy to chat about their lives, family, travels. After all, we were all on the same train to Lhasa. :)
If you're realistic, and can handle the above, you won't miss this opportunity to travel to Lhasa and see China's landscapes in a very unique way.
Written 8 October 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
KC_47
Kirkland, WA135 contributions
Dec 2013 • Solo
I took the train from Xining to Lhasa on the agent of my travel agent who said the trains that originate in Xining are cleaner and faster (true in both cases--the toilets were cleaned regularly and the train arrived in Lhasa 2 hours early).
Because so few people travel in December, I had no trouble getting a soft sleeper berth. I had the compartment to myself after the first six hours and slept well (I didn't find the berths at all hard and had no problems with altitude). I didn't try the restaurant since I brought my own food & coffee.
I enjoyed looking at the snow-covered mountains, frozen lakes and small villages with yaks. I saw far more of the country than I had when flying into Lhasa on my earlier visit.
Because so few people travel in December, I had no trouble getting a soft sleeper berth. I had the compartment to myself after the first six hours and slept well (I didn't find the berths at all hard and had no problems with altitude). I didn't try the restaurant since I brought my own food & coffee.
I enjoyed looking at the snow-covered mountains, frozen lakes and small villages with yaks. I saw far more of the country than I had when flying into Lhasa on my earlier visit.
Written 5 January 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Qwelt
Chennai District, India528 contributions
Sept 2014 • Couples
While preparing our trip to Lhasa, we decided to take this train from Xining while going as it can help us getting acclimatized to the high altitude and also, not to miss the breathtaking sceneries outside, We boarded the train at Xining at 7:30 pm. If you are having heavy suitcases, please hire the porter as you need to climb few steps to go to the platform. Boarding the train with luggages was one challenge as too many tourists were pulling and pushing their luggages. There was one big confusion as everyone was allotted seats randomly. My seat was located 2 cabins away from my wife! This was the first class cabin and could not imagine the chaos in lower classes. The big luggages were not going under the seats/bed and we just placed them on the gangway like others. After some negotiations and shoutings mostly in Chinese supported with many other languages, we could settle properly when each family and the groups were united. This was made possible only after the arrival of a ticket examiner or the coach of our compartment. Luckily, we were only 3 people in a cabin meant for 4. Our car was located next to the pantry car and we could not get any food which was vegetarian. We carried our own food, but the breakfast provided was ok. We took half tablet for altitude sickness and went to sleep with out any further incidents. Next day morning we realized that the train was at some 4200m above the sea level. We travelled some places where the altitude was some 5200 m. There was an altimeter located near the toilet showing the altitude of the train continuosly.
The outside scenery was all the time amazing and breathtaking. After marvelling this great achievement of Chinese Railway engineers, we reached Lhasa around 6:30 pm. At the station, a policeman took us to the police station located outside, took copies of our passports, Tibet Travel Permit and then allowed us to proceed.
There was a sense of relief when we saw our host standing with our names in a placard as we were the only 2 Indians in that area. The India - China relationship on Tibet is very tense and palpable which is not a travel story to tell.
The outside scenery was all the time amazing and breathtaking. After marvelling this great achievement of Chinese Railway engineers, we reached Lhasa around 6:30 pm. At the station, a policeman took us to the police station located outside, took copies of our passports, Tibet Travel Permit and then allowed us to proceed.
There was a sense of relief when we saw our host standing with our names in a placard as we were the only 2 Indians in that area. The India - China relationship on Tibet is very tense and palpable which is not a travel story to tell.
Written 6 November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jade_Royale
Asia12 contributions
Dec 2013 • Solo
I took the train from Lhasa to Beijing and it was an absolute horror. If you've taken the Trans-Siberian from Beijing to Moscow in 1st class (which was great for me), don't expect a similarly gorgeous experience. In fact, expect the opposite...
The Lhasa-Beijing train has 4 people to a compartment even in soft sleeper. The toilets were filthy within the second hour into the journey. The sinks were sloshing with what looked like pee + dirty water. The toilets were unflushed and there was water on the floor both in the toilets and the wash basin area. By the second afternoon (you spend 2 nights on the train), both toilets in our section was unusable and had to be locked. I repeat, this is in soft sleeper.
The train was full of Chinese guys stripped to their woolen underwear or jammies. What an awful sight.
If you're unlucky, you get compartment mates who banter loudly in high pitch all day and night, smoke and eat non-stop.
Yes, you get the Chinese experience. It can be cute if don't live in a city with a huge influx of Chinese, which is a rare city these days.
The view (even between Lhasa and Golmud) can't compensate. If you drive out of Lhasa, you see more stunning scenery and have the opportunity to get out and walk along sacred lakes etc. Best to fly and spend more time in gorgeous Tibet and among lovely Tibetans.
If you still must take the train, which for me was a huge mistake, then i suggest the following:
1. Make sure your travel agent can "guarantee" a soft sleeper. The hard sleepers squeeze 6 people into a tiny compartment. Don't even think about hard seats!
2. Insist on a lower bunk unless you adore performing acrobatics like 8 times a day.
3. There's no need to bring food, water, beverages etc. Carts with fresh food and drink (including fresh tomatoes and bananas) come through several times a day. A little costly, though....
4. Bring lots of wet wipes. Bring some with antiseptic for wiping your feet and shoes after you visit the filthy bathroom (if they work at all). You could also use wet wipes to take a "shower".
5. Travel very light. There is barely any space for storage. There is a small space in the ceiling of the compartment and under the bunks (but a suitcase won't fit in here).
6. Be prepared to get altitude sickness at the highest parts of the journey (more than 5,000 m), which is the first night after leaving Lhasa. Yes, the oxygen supply helps a little but doesn't remove the possibility of sickness entirely. Best to just sleep it down.
7. Bring rubber slippers for visiting the bathrooms. Make sure the soles are thick so that your feet won't touch the filthy water that's perpetually on the floor. I wouldn't wear my shoes in there. You could dump those slippers at the end of the journey.
Hope that helps and I would say, just fly.
The Lhasa-Beijing train has 4 people to a compartment even in soft sleeper. The toilets were filthy within the second hour into the journey. The sinks were sloshing with what looked like pee + dirty water. The toilets were unflushed and there was water on the floor both in the toilets and the wash basin area. By the second afternoon (you spend 2 nights on the train), both toilets in our section was unusable and had to be locked. I repeat, this is in soft sleeper.
The train was full of Chinese guys stripped to their woolen underwear or jammies. What an awful sight.
If you're unlucky, you get compartment mates who banter loudly in high pitch all day and night, smoke and eat non-stop.
Yes, you get the Chinese experience. It can be cute if don't live in a city with a huge influx of Chinese, which is a rare city these days.
The view (even between Lhasa and Golmud) can't compensate. If you drive out of Lhasa, you see more stunning scenery and have the opportunity to get out and walk along sacred lakes etc. Best to fly and spend more time in gorgeous Tibet and among lovely Tibetans.
If you still must take the train, which for me was a huge mistake, then i suggest the following:
1. Make sure your travel agent can "guarantee" a soft sleeper. The hard sleepers squeeze 6 people into a tiny compartment. Don't even think about hard seats!
2. Insist on a lower bunk unless you adore performing acrobatics like 8 times a day.
3. There's no need to bring food, water, beverages etc. Carts with fresh food and drink (including fresh tomatoes and bananas) come through several times a day. A little costly, though....
4. Bring lots of wet wipes. Bring some with antiseptic for wiping your feet and shoes after you visit the filthy bathroom (if they work at all). You could also use wet wipes to take a "shower".
5. Travel very light. There is barely any space for storage. There is a small space in the ceiling of the compartment and under the bunks (but a suitcase won't fit in here).
6. Be prepared to get altitude sickness at the highest parts of the journey (more than 5,000 m), which is the first night after leaving Lhasa. Yes, the oxygen supply helps a little but doesn't remove the possibility of sickness entirely. Best to just sleep it down.
7. Bring rubber slippers for visiting the bathrooms. Make sure the soles are thick so that your feet won't touch the filthy water that's perpetually on the floor. I wouldn't wear my shoes in there. You could dump those slippers at the end of the journey.
Hope that helps and I would say, just fly.
Written 13 January 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Duncan M
Decatur, GA25 contributions
May 2013 • Friends
Let me preface this by saying that I am a seasoned world traveler who does his research ahead of time. Thus, I knew that this was going to be an arduous journey. There were 3 of us traveling from Xi'an to Lhasa and we booked soft sleepers, as recommended by others. None of the negative reviews on TripAdvisor prepared us for this leg of our trip.
Let's start with the cabins. Even in the soft sleeper cars, you are crammed like sardines onto 4 beds - two on each side of the room. You pay slightly more for a lower bunk, but it is assumed that the upper bunk "mates" get to sit downstairs during waking hours. Our bunkmate spent his waking hours spitting phlegm, sunflower seeds and tea leaves onto the very narrow floor between the lower beds. The garbage can inside the car went unused.
Next up, the bathrooms. Much has been written about the Chinese and their "squattie potties," so I won't expand on this topic, except to say that all of the waste dumps directly onto the train tracks. As a result, all bathrooms are locked while the train is in the station. Plan accordingly.
Thirdly, the food cars. The food itself wasn't bad, but when you add toddlers defecating on the floor, men smoking profusely despite the oxygenated environment, more spitting and gas-passing, Westerners are likely to lose their appetite.
Finally, the "views." Several other reviewers have mentioned "unprecedented beauty" and "spectaular scenery." I can only describe the immediate landscape as "lunar." Yes, there are periodic scenic shots of the Himalayas and the occasional yak, but you can get plenty of that in/around Lhasa.
By all means, everyone should go to Lhasa. It's fantastic and the people are wonderful despite the police presence. Do yourself a f
Let's start with the cabins. Even in the soft sleeper cars, you are crammed like sardines onto 4 beds - two on each side of the room. You pay slightly more for a lower bunk, but it is assumed that the upper bunk "mates" get to sit downstairs during waking hours. Our bunkmate spent his waking hours spitting phlegm, sunflower seeds and tea leaves onto the very narrow floor between the lower beds. The garbage can inside the car went unused.
Next up, the bathrooms. Much has been written about the Chinese and their "squattie potties," so I won't expand on this topic, except to say that all of the waste dumps directly onto the train tracks. As a result, all bathrooms are locked while the train is in the station. Plan accordingly.
Thirdly, the food cars. The food itself wasn't bad, but when you add toddlers defecating on the floor, men smoking profusely despite the oxygenated environment, more spitting and gas-passing, Westerners are likely to lose their appetite.
Finally, the "views." Several other reviewers have mentioned "unprecedented beauty" and "spectaular scenery." I can only describe the immediate landscape as "lunar." Yes, there are periodic scenic shots of the Himalayas and the occasional yak, but you can get plenty of that in/around Lhasa.
By all means, everyone should go to Lhasa. It's fantastic and the people are wonderful despite the police presence. Do yourself a f
Written 29 May 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kathy D
port moody, british columbia, canada152 contributions
Aug 2014 • Solo
I was travelling with a travel group (Explore travel). We didn't know up to about eight hours before we boarded the train whether we had tickets or not. Apparently the mainland Chinese people have priority over western people on who gets tickets for this train. I took the train from Xining to Lhasa. I especially wanted to see the high mountain passes at 16,000 feet. I read so much about how hard it was to build the bridges and tunnels for this railway. I was looking forward to seeing the high mountains and the beautiful scenery along with the engineering marvel. Well this didn't happen. The Chinese took the tickets from us at the last minute so that they would be getting to this area in the mountains in the day light. We got the tickets that would get us there at 2:00 am when it is pitch black. We were also in the car that the air conditioner didn't work. It was like a sauna for about 6 to 7 hours. We complained about the heat but nothing was done until a Chinese citizen finally thought that it was to hot for him. The bathrooms on the train were disgusting and like all the toilets in China there is never I mean never any toilet paper. The train that I saw on line on the internet had an observation car. This train didn't have one. So as a result we had to sit in our berth ( six to a berth, we ticketed for 4 to a berth) or take turns sharing a small fold out chair in the aisle. Most of the scenery was miles and miles of grassland. Not the mountains that I expected. There was a restaurant car at the other end of the train. Most of the time this was used by the railway staff or some soldiers. Even if we could have sat there, there wasn't much to eat anyway. When we arrived in Lhasa after 24 hours we headed for the exit like everybody else. Note, from what I saw we were the only western people on the train. All the other people just gave their tickets at the exit to the railway staff member. For our group we were taken aside and herded off to the immigration. This took another 30 minutes of questions. If I had known I wouldn't be seeing the mountain passes and being fried (no air conditioning) in our railway car I would have flown to Lhasa. Another note. This was Explores last trip on the train to Lhasa. I didn't know this either. The lady managing our trip said that in the past sometimes the Chinese would take the tickets from people and that group wouldn't even go to Lhasa. So this was my experience on this train. I hope that if you take this train in the future that you will have better luck than I did.
Written 29 September 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
darijaswanderer
Toronto, Canada9 contributions
Apr 2012 • Solo
I took the Beijing to Lhasa train, departing Beijing on April 19, 2012. I had tried to book the soft sleeper (only four passengers to a berth); however, was only offered the hard sleeper (six to a berth).
Don’t be fooled into thinking that this train is equivalent to a European or North American train. It is definitely not.
Hard sleeper means “hard”, i.e. no mattress. The berth is 6’-2” long by 6’-0” wide. There are three bunks stacked each side. There is no door to the berth; however, security did not appear to be a problem.
There is no effective supplemental seating outside the berth except for a limited number of fold down seats that can only accommodate very skinny passengers. Ultimately you end up spending 47 hours in a cramped compartment, sitting on the lower berth (three abreast) during waking hours. If you’re more than 5’-10” tall, headroom is a real problem.
Don’t bother with a change of clothes, there’s no place to change. You spend 47 hours in the same clothes.
Pack light as there is little room for luggage in a hard sleeper. Bags are stored in the small space over the corridor ceiling.
The food car is particularly unattractive. You can only sit in there while eating. Once finished, you’re out. I suggest you bring energy bars, chocolate and snacks and avoid train food.
Each carriage has two toilet stalls. They are both eastern toilets (i.e., hole in the floor).
After 12 hours, only one stall was working in my carriage and it was disgusting, what with passengers suffering altitude and motion sickness. Don’t forget to bring your own toilet paper and sanitizing wipes.
The mountain views on the second day are interesting; however, if your trip includes a drive from Lhasa to Nepal, you will see many days of more spectacular sights.
RECOMMENDATION
If your trip is to Lhasa only, the train adds a certain adventurous aspect to your travels; however, if planning to drive through Tibet, I suggest flying to Lhasa.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that this train is equivalent to a European or North American train. It is definitely not.
Hard sleeper means “hard”, i.e. no mattress. The berth is 6’-2” long by 6’-0” wide. There are three bunks stacked each side. There is no door to the berth; however, security did not appear to be a problem.
There is no effective supplemental seating outside the berth except for a limited number of fold down seats that can only accommodate very skinny passengers. Ultimately you end up spending 47 hours in a cramped compartment, sitting on the lower berth (three abreast) during waking hours. If you’re more than 5’-10” tall, headroom is a real problem.
Don’t bother with a change of clothes, there’s no place to change. You spend 47 hours in the same clothes.
Pack light as there is little room for luggage in a hard sleeper. Bags are stored in the small space over the corridor ceiling.
The food car is particularly unattractive. You can only sit in there while eating. Once finished, you’re out. I suggest you bring energy bars, chocolate and snacks and avoid train food.
Each carriage has two toilet stalls. They are both eastern toilets (i.e., hole in the floor).
After 12 hours, only one stall was working in my carriage and it was disgusting, what with passengers suffering altitude and motion sickness. Don’t forget to bring your own toilet paper and sanitizing wipes.
The mountain views on the second day are interesting; however, if your trip includes a drive from Lhasa to Nepal, you will see many days of more spectacular sights.
RECOMMENDATION
If your trip is to Lhasa only, the train adds a certain adventurous aspect to your travels; however, if planning to drive through Tibet, I suggest flying to Lhasa.
Written 25 May 2012
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
David Morgan
Perth, Australia77 contributions
May 2015 • Solo
An amazing journey. Unless you're an experienced China train traveller then book a soft sleeper ticket. No showers on the train. You can not visit Tibet unless it is sanctioned by a Chinese/Tibet tour company. To organise it from your home country is usually very expensive. I did a private tour using TibetAdvisor (tibetadvisor.com) after contacting three different Tibet tour companies. I was very happy with the train ticket, contact, advice, price and received everything I was promised. I would recommend Danny and his team as being very legitimate and would use this group again.
Written 22 December 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
NSJ82
Kuwait City, Kuwait90 contributions
Oct 2013 • Solo
I know this is one of the must-do train trips, but I was the only non-Chinese person on the train, and man was it packed and unfriendly. I kept getting booted out of my room on top of the altitude sickness, and the toilets for the 48 hour journey were in line with the rest of China. Bring your own food.
Written 7 September 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
MaggieKuching
Melaka, Malaysia38 contributions
May 2013 • Couples
The views outside the train were great - the inside was not!. People were smoking (even when oxygen was being circulated), spitting, not flushing the toilets - while they were still working, that is. After the first night when water was replenished and toilets were emptied, no maintenance took place. As each toilet became unusable, the staff locked it and put up a notice in Chinese that presumably meant "find another one". By the time we got to Beijing, there was one for 2 carriages. The people in the top bunks had nowhere to sit during the day. (we had one top and one lower, so we were ok - the other fellow was stuck!)
We supplemented our food with a meal from the trolley - ok for train food.
We supplemented our food with a meal from the trolley - ok for train food.
Written 9 June 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
if tickets are 2 weeks in advance ..what is the offical site..as I can see some sites offering them now for October
Written 19 June 2024
Ik wil zelf naar Chengdu vliegen en ter plaatse aansluiten en met een gids de trein nemen , enkele dagen in Lhasa verblijven en terug met het vliegtuig tot Chengdu en dan terug...
Dank voor een eventueel antwoord !
Written 7 April 2019
For the train travel to Lhasa, you do not need a guide. Once permits ready, you can board the train for Lhasa. For the tour in Lhasa, you will need a tour guide.
Written 8 April 2019
I am a single middle aged women traveling alone from Beijing to Lhasa and have a few questions,
1) is it safe to travel alone? 2) is bedding included in the cabins? 3) is food included in the price.
Written 21 February 2019
Hello it is safe to travel alone, no problem. bed included if you get soft or hard sleeper tickets, and food is available to buy.
Written 22 February 2019
Como comprar a passagem de trem de Pequim para lhasa tibet
Written 17 January 2019
Beijing to Lhasa train tickets are on sales normally 30 days before train leaves, if the direct train tickets are in high demand, you can easily book the connecting train via Xi'ning, more trains from Xi'ning. You will also need permits to get train tickets printed out, so we suggest you book via agent to handle everything. For Tibet train ticketing reference, you can find on "Visit Tibet Travel Service org".
Written 22 January 2019
On a train from Chengdhu to Lhasa the train arrives at 9:55++ in Lhasa .. The most scenic part of the trip is from Xining to Lhasa. If i is dark from the evening before arvin in Lhasa until the morning of arrival is most of the scenery missed? If one was to take the trip is it more scenic to travel from Lhasa to Chengdhu so that most of the scenic part of tip is in daytime from Lhasa to Xining
Written 24 November 2018
Right from Lhasa to Xi'ning or vice versa will be good. Chengdu or Beijing to Lhasa, it takes too long time. If you do not have much time, please consider flying up and down. Choose a shoulder season to avoid massive travelers.
Written 24 November 2018
Hi there! Looking at doing this trip in Winter this year and wondering how to manage the permit situation, do you have to be with a guide while you're on the train? Can you get the permit and travel solo through Tibet without the guide? All tours seem to be westbound from China, any advice on doing the opposite?
Written 26 September 2018
I travelled Eastbound from Lhasa to Beijing. Booked the train through an online agency and travelled on the train without a guide. You do however require a permit to enter Tibet and this is only available through an accredited agency
Written 26 September 2018
How easy is it to catch the train in Beijing? I’ll be flying into Beijing and wanting to go straight to Tibet - so I’ll be jet lagged and don’t speak/read mandarin. I’m worried I’ll end up getting on the wrong train and ending up somewhere else!
Written 10 April 2018
All comments above are true and very valid. You can always hire a tour guide in Beijing for the day, and they can take you to the correct train station, help you get your ticket, and make sure you get onto the correct train. That’s what we did, we’ll worth it as it is very, very crowded
Written 25 November 2018
Is it possible to make this trip with a child of 4 years old?
Written 26 March 2018
Is it possible to travel on Z21 from Beijing to Lhasa ( Tibet ) by train, see around Lhasa and then continue by road to Katmandu ? How long does it take ? What will be the train ticket and road trip cost ? Any RELIABLE AND REPUTED tour operator ?
Written 30 July 2017
Firstly you cannot buy any train ticket to Lhasa without an entry permit so to get an entry permit you have to book a trip with an operator .I can recommend Tibettraveltours via Amyzhang9968 on wechat. Its almost impossible to but the train ticket without an operator and the 'scalpers' price which is an extra 300 rmb on top of the ticket price. A soft sleeper from Beijing is 1024 and it takes 48 hrs . Onward from Lhasa you can only travel if you are booked with an agency and you also need an Alien Travel Permit which you cannot achieve yourself. If you want to go further to my Kailash then you need a military pass which only the agency can achieve for you. The permits are checked when you buy the ticket and on arrival at Lhasa - and before you are allowed on the train ... so see tibettours all the info is on there but putting it simply - no independent travel in Tibet is allowed .
Written 31 July 2017
Any advice on how to purchase train tickets from Beijing to Lhasa? Any recommendation on which website to purchase as it appears the timetables for October are not out yet. Tour agency says it's easier to purchase ourselves vs having them buy it......based on comments from Zhangchilove, by the time one sees the timetables online, it's already sold out......any recommendations or tips are most appreciated....
Written 26 August 2016
From June to October, it is very hard to purchase the train ticket from Beijing to Lhasa or from other cities to Lhasa, even if you plan to purchase one 2 months in advance. So I advise you to let your travel agency to buy it.
From now, the ticket pre-selling time can only be 30 days in advance, but it is relatively easy to purchase the train tickets from now to next May.
Written 3 November 2016
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