How to Book Train ticket to Tibet in Peak Season
Taking the Qinghai-Tibet railway to Lhasa is the dream of countless tourists. Along the Qinghai-Tibet railway, the highest and longest railway in the world, the train penetrates into the mysterious land of Qinghai-Tibet plateau, crosses the three river source region and Hoh Xil, runs over Tanggula Mountains Pass and connects the northern Tibetan grassland. You can enjoy the changeable and magnificent scenery along the way.
However, the reality is always more cruel than the dream. During the peak season (usually in June, July and August each year), domestic and foreign tourists flock to Tibet, causing the tickets hard to get. To get a train ticket to Tibet makes numerous tourists scratching their heads.
In June, July and August, a train ticket to Tibet is usually sold out as soon as it is issued, even though the online train ticket selling date has been advanced to 30 days before the departure date. How can you get a ticket with lower cost quickly and easily? This article may give you the answer.
When is the peak tourist season in Tibet?
From June to August, a large number of tourists from home and abroad flock to Tibet. Located on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Tibet is characterized by high altitude, low oxygen content, dryness and large temperature difference between day and night. All of these contributes to the unique plateau scenery.
Tibet is mysterious and sacred to foreign visitors. At the same time, they’re afraid of the high altitude in Tibet. In summer, there are abundant rains, which alleviate the dryness of Tibet and facilitate the plant growing. Thus, there are more oxygen and people are less likely to suffer from high altitude sickness in summer. In summer, the temperature is high during the day and the ultraviolet ray is strong. Therefore, even if the temperature drops at night, tourists don’t feel too cold. From varied perspectives, summer indeed is the best time to visit Tibet.
Why is it difficult to buy train tickets during the high season in Tibet?
1. Tibet in the high season features favorable temperature and beautiful scenery. For foreign tourists, especially for American, Australian and other ethnic Chinese, their chance touring to Tibet is rare. Maybe they will visit Tibet for only once in their lifetime. Hence, most of them choose to visit there in summer, the most beautiful and comfortable season in a year.
In fact, both foreign and domestic tourists choose to visit Tibet for the first time in summer. Only when they have the opportunity to visit Tibet for the second time, they choose to visit Tibet in other seasons.
That explains why so many visitors flock to Tibet in summer. Some tourists have been looking forward to the trip for a long time, and some even start to book the trip one year in advance, ensuring that they can successfully book the tickets.
2. As the season coincides with the summer vacation in mainland China, a lot of mainland tourists visit Tibet during the period.
During the summer vacation, Tibet, with its high altitude, is very cool, a great choice for summer resort. Therefore, students, teachers and parents are willing to choose this time to travel to Tibet. The natural scenery of Tibet, which is different from that of the mainland, is also an important factor attracting the mainland tourists. At the same time, as mainland tourists have more ways to buy tickets, they can book tickets more easily than foreign tourists.
3. The number of Qinghai-Tibet trains is limited. And it only gets small amount of sleeping berths.
On the five trains entering Tibet every day, there are small amount of sleepers. On each compartment, there are 36 soft sleepers, 54 hard sleepers and close to 100 hard seats. There is no specific number of the compartments. The number of sleeper cars may be increased during the peak tourist season, and there may be more passenger trains every day.
How to buy a train ticket to Tibet in peak season?
1. You can join a package tour in a travel agency at least 2 months in advance, so that the travel agency can book tickets for you
If you can book the group tour our agency provide at least two months in advance, we can provide you a comfortable and convenient journey by booking all the tickets needed and arranging a detailed plan.
2. By transferring trains, you can have more choices.
If it is difficult to buy a ticket departing from Guangzhou, Beijing, Chengdu and other big cities to Tibet, you may consider taking a transfer to Lanzhou and Xining. One train enters Tibet every day from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. And in Chengdu and Chongqing, only one train enters Tibet every two days. However, there are four trains bound for Tibet every day in Lanzhou and five in Xining, the first station on the Qinghai-Tibet railway. If you transfer to Xining and Lanzhou, there’s a larger possibility to get a sleeper ticket. And you can adapt to the rising altitude more easily with the altitude in the two cities reaching 2000
3.It's better to take plane to Tibet and take train back.
Although it is difficult to buy train tickets to Tibet during the peak season, it is relatively easy to buy the returning tickets. The reasons are as follows.
A. It is widely believed that taking train slowly to Tibet can effectively alleviate the high altitude sickness. But, in fact, the cramped room and long time spending on the train might make you uncomfortable, thus triggering altitude sickness.
B. Many think that taking train can enjoy more scenery. But in fact, when you’re entering Tibet, you are likely to be troubled by the high altitude sickness and unable to concentrate on the scenery.
