Xian Lhasa Trains - Route, Schedule, Fares, Permit, Ticket Booking 2024

1. Xian is a great a hub to shorten both the long air travel and train travel from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu to Lhasa. It takes only about 31 hours to get to Lhasa by train from Xian.

2. You can choose the Train Z165 from Shanghai to Z265 from Guangzhou.

3. It is a wonderful chance to visit the world famous man-made wonder – Terracotta Warriors

Though Xian is a very important gateway city to Tibet, but it currently hasn’t operated any train route which makes Xian as the starting station. To take a train to Lhasa from Xian, one has to board a train from Shanghai or Guangzhou. The rail road lasts about 1,780 miles (2,864 km). From Xian, you have to pass only 4 midway stations (Lanzhou, Xining, Golumd and Ngachu) before final arrival at Lhasa Railway Station.

▷ How to Travel from Xian to Tibet

Both Xian to Lhasa and Lhasa to Xian are good idea. You can choose it according to your itinerary in China. Since Xian is usually visited as a midway destination in a long China Tibet trip instead of the international arrival or departure city, so if you start your vacation from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, you can firstly take a flight or high speed train to Xian, then take a train to Tibet. If you start your tour from southwestern cities such as Chengdu, Kunming, Chongqing, you can take flights to Lhasa from these cities, and then take a train to Xian, and extend your vacation to Beijing, Shanghai, etc. If you want to take a flight directly from Kathmandu, you can take the Xian to Lhasa route.

Another key factor is the ticket booking. The train tickets for Xian Lhasa trains are always in a big demand. Bug generally speaking, it is a little bit easier to book a ticket for Lhasa to Xian train than Xian to Lhasa train. Currently passenger can book the train ticket 30 days before the departure.

Since it is a journey more than 30 hours between Xian and Lhasa by train, you may be interested in some major cities along the way where the train would stop for long time, and you can use the stopping time to stretch your legs, breath some fresh airs and get some supplies of food and drinks.

Lanzhou

Both the train from Beijing to Lhasa or Lhasa from Beijing will take a stop around 20 minutes in the daytime at Lanzhou Railway Station. You can get off the car and get some rest and take a glimpse of this city of Yellow River. The city is known for its Lanzhou Noodles.

Xining

Xining is famous for having the largest salt lake in China – Qinghai Lake. No matter you take the train from Beijing to Lhasa, or from Lhasa to Beijing, you can see part of this beautiful plateau lake. The train usually stops at Xining for 20 minutes.

Golmud

The train usually stops for 25 minutes in Golmud Railway Station. If you take train from Beijing to Lhasa, it will be around 10pm when the train gets to Golmud. If you set out from Lhasa, you will get to Golmud in the early morning around 7am when is good time to see the Tibetan antelopes.

A Tibet Travel Permit (Tibet Entry Permit) is the MUST-DOCUMENT to take a train to Lhasa from Xian. Travelers need the Tibet Travel Permit to book the train ticket and board the train in Xian Railway Station. The original permit is required. Please remember to dumplicate at least 3 copies of Tibet Travel Permit because the permits are required for many occasions. When you checking in at railway station, the office man will take one of your Tibet Travel Permit copy away. The permit can only be issued in Tibet by the Tibet Tourism Bureau, and also can be only applied by travel agency behalf of travelers. It needs about 15~20 days to obtain the permit.

How to Apply for Tibet Travel Permit

1. Contact a us to work out and confirm an itinerary in Tibet;

2. Send us the scanned copies of your passport, and provide an available address in China(hotel or local agency) to receive your permit;

3. We apply for the Tibet Travel Permit from Tibet Tourism Bureau in Lhasa;

4. Once the permit is issued, we will send the original permit to you by post.

> Learn more detail about Tibet Travel Permit Application

There are two ways to book the Train Tickets – book on your own or contact a travel agency to book for you. If you are already in Xian or other cities in China, you can go to any of railway station to book the train tickets. Original passport and photocopy of Tibet Travel Permit (Tibet Entry Permit) is required. You can ask the conductor to provide your preferred sleepers (upper or lower) if they are available. You can also provide us your passport information, and we will book the train tickets for you online.

Some useful tips to increase the chance of successful ticket booking

1. If you fail to book the ticket of Xian to Lhasa train, you can try booking tickets of former stations (cities) to Lhasa, such as Zhengzhou, Xuzhou, even Shanghai. If you have managed to obtain a ticket from those cities, and your confirmed gateway city to Tibet is Xian on the Tibet Travel Permit, you have to board the train at Xian Railway Station.

2. When you find it hard to book a ticket for Xian to Lhasa train, you can change a starting station, such as Lanzhou and Xining. These two cities offer bigger chance to get a ticket.