Who We Are · Since 1999
We are the people on the ground in Lhasa who answer your emails, prepare your permits, design your route and meet you when you land. Our job is simple: remove every obstacle between you and the high plateau — legally, transparently and without drama.
Lhasa-based office 20,000+ permits processed 8 working languages
Our Story
In the late 1990s, foreign travellers who wanted to see Tibet kept running into the same wall: nobody could explain the paperwork clearly, and nobody would answer the phone. Permits were treated as a secret rather than a service.
TibetPermit.com began in 1999 as a direct answer to that. We put an office in Lhasa, hired people who actually speak the languages our travellers speak, and built our whole operation around one promise: a straight answer, in writing, within one working day. No vague replies. No hidden fees appearing three emails later. No "we will confirm next week" when a flight is already booked.
Twenty-seven years later that promise has carried more than 20,000 permits through the Tibet Tourism Bureau, the Public Security Bureau and the Foreign Affairs Office — for solo backpackers, honeymooners, photographers, families, cyclists, students and pilgrims. The tools have changed. The promise has not.
Today TibetPermit.com is the English- and Chinese-language front door of a licensed Lhasa travel business. When you write to us, you are not talking to a call centre in another country. You are talking to people who walk past the Potala Palace on the way to work.
What We Do
Most travellers come to us for one of these. Many end up using all three. Everything is arranged in-house — you never get handed to a third party.
The core of what we do, and the reason most people find us. We prepare, submit and track every document you need to enter the Tibet Autonomous Region — then get the originals into your hands before you board.
Fixed itineraries, fixed departure dates and a small number of travellers per vehicle. A sensible way to see Tibet if you would rather not plan every kilometre yourself.
Your dates, your pace, your interests. Tell us what you actually want to see and we will build the route around it — including the permits that route requires.
The Ground Operator
Permits are only half the story. Once you are in Tibet you need a licensed operator, a registered vehicle and a guide who is legally allowed to accompany foreign travellers — and all three must be booked in advance.
Every journey we sell is contracted and delivered on the ground by Tibet Youth International Travel Service (西藏青年国际旅行社), a travel service company registered and licensed in the Tibet Autonomous Region (License No. L-XZ00261), with its own office and operations team in Lhasa.
What Drives Us
Three statements we actually use when we make decisions — about pricing, about routes and about the people we work with.
We want Tibet to be a place any curious traveller can reach without becoming an expert in Chinese bureaucracy first. That means clear information in plain language, published processing times, honest costs and answers that do not change depending on who is asking. The plateau is already difficult enough to reach — the paperwork should not be the hard part.
Our mission is to handle every official requirement correctly the first time, so that nothing about your trip depends on luck. Permits filed properly, guides who are legally licensed, vehicles that are registered and insured, contracts in writing — and someone in Lhasa who picks up the phone while you are on the road.
We keep groups small, we discourage single-use plastic on the road, we brief travellers on monastery etiquette before they arrive, and we steer spending towards family-run guesthouses and local restaurants rather than chain hotels. We pay our guides and drivers above the local market rate, because a fair wage is the foundation of a fair trip.
“A permit is a piece of paper. What travellers actually need is someone in Lhasa who will still answer the phone when something changes.”TibetPermit.com — our working principle since 1999
Why Travellers Choose Us
Taken from what travellers actually tell us in their first email — and in their reviews when they get home.
Not a reseller abroad. Our office is here, and our team lives here year-round.
Every complete application we have ever submitted has been approved.
One written quote covering permits, guide, vehicle and hotels. No surprise add-ons.
Usually much faster. One named contact from your first email to your last day.
Every guide holds a valid Tibet guide licence and speaks your language.
Small groups, local suppliers and fair pay for the people who look after you.
Milestones
Not every year was dramatic, but these ones changed how we work.
The agency is founded in Lhasa and begins arranging permits and guided tours for foreign travellers — at a time when almost nobody was publishing accurate permit information in English.
The opening of the Qinghai–Tibet railway brings a surge of independent travellers. Train entry becomes a standard request, and our permit delivery system is rebuilt around it.
Our team expands to handle English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Chinese enquiries directly — no translation layer between traveller and Lhasa.
The Lonely Planet Tibet travel guide recommends us on page 41 — recognition that came from twenty years of simply doing what we said we would do.
International travel to Tibet restarts and we reopen at full capacity, rebuilding itineraries and re-establishing ground arrangements across every region.
We pass 20,000 permits processed. In March, the original permit becomes mandatory for train entry, and we rebuild our delivery process around it within a week.
Recognition
We are recommended on page 41 of the Lonely Planet Tibet travel guide (2019 edition).
This recognition reflects our credibility as a reliable local Tibet travel agency. You can trust us to provide comprehensive Tibet travel services, including assistance with arranging the Tibet Travel Permit required for visiting Tibet.
Talk To Us
Send us your travel dates, your passport nationality and roughly what you want to see. You will get a clear reply within one working day — an itinerary, a written quote and an honest answer about whether your dates are realistic.
Free consultation · English, Japanese, German, French, Italian and Spanish speaking staff · Operating since 1999