How to Find Cheap Train Tickets to Lhasa

If you are looking for a discount on a Tibet train ticket, we will say sorry to you for there is no discount ticket for any train to Tibet.

Generally, only children who stand between 3.9 feet (1.2 m) and 4.9 feet (1.5 m) tall can buy Tibet train tickets with a children discount while those under 3.9 feet (1.2 m) ride for free. In that case, children for discount should share a seat or sleeping berth with parents, and 1 full priced adult can only take 1 child with discount tickets. If you have kids for free tickets, please state it to travel agency when you make the reservation with them.

Are There Any Ways to Get a Cheaper Tibet Train Ticket?

In fact, there is no discounted Tibet train ticket doesn't mean you can never save money on Tibet train travel. Since train tickets to Tibet are always popular with travelers from both home and abroad, the market price of a Tibet train ticket is always higher than the net price. So you may get a train ticket to Tibet at a lower market price in low tourist seasons.

Just check our saving tips on Tibet train travel to get more ideals about how to arrange your trip to Tibet with a cheaper train journey.

1. Book Your Tibet Train Ticket in Advance

The price for Chinese train ticket is stable with no early-bird discount. But booking a Tibet train in peak season is usually accompanied with high service fee and market price for the limitation of the ticket supply. Since the railway station tickets office normally gives preferential treatment to earlier order, it is more efficient and secure to get your favorite ticket class with less extra fee by an early reservation.

In China, train tickets are starting to be available for 60 days in advance for online booking. If you book Tibet train tickets less than 30 days before departure day, it is even hard to guarantee tickets.

2. Avoid Travelling in Peak Seasons

If your travel time is flexible, try to avoid traveling in peak season (usually from July to August, and the early October). The market price could be more expensive depends on seasons. While it's easy to book a train ticket to Tibet in winter, the off peak train tickets are always cheaper.

3. Choose a Cheaper Ticket Class

There are three ticket classes of Tibet train. Among which, the hard sleeper class is highly recommended for budget travelers. Staying in the open compartment with six passengers in total, you may have less privacy and moving space than in a soft sleeper compartment, but it could be a lifetime travel experience on a Tibet train journey. It may be crowded and noisy, but all you experience is a real Chinese railway journey. Also, you can avoid being in a closed soft sleeper compartment with people you don’t know.

Though the hard seat is the cheapest one on a Tibet train, it is not suggested to foreign travelers to take a long time Tibet train journey in hard seat carriage. The Hard seat is just a metal seat where all passengers sit next to each other and you have no space to lie down to sleep.

Since foreign passengers are seldom seen in the hard seat cars, where are mainly crowded with students, farmers and migrant workers, it may be definitely uncomfortable and even unbearable with many surprise and curious looks from others.