Private Tibet Tours: Your Own Dates, Guide and Vehicle

A private tour in Tibet is not a different destination — it is the same permits, the same licensed-guide requirement and often the same road. What changes is who else is in the vehicle.

What you get that a group departure does not

Your own dates. Private itineraries do not run on a fixed calendar. You pick the departure and the permit timeline is built backwards from it, which matters if you are fitting Tibet around a flight into Chengdu or a single week of leave.

Your own vehicle and guide. The driver and guide work for your party only. In practice that means stopping when the light is right, spending longer in a chapel that interests you and skipping one that does not — decisions a group has to take by consensus.

Your own pace. Altitude affects people differently. On a private trip an easy first day in Lhasa is a decision you can make that morning, not a request to twelve other travellers.

What private costs

Pricing is per person on a twin-share basis, based on two travellers, and the current private itineraries start at $499 per person for four days. Because the fixed costs — guide, driver, vehicle, permit handling — are carried by your party rather than split across a group, the per-person price falls as your party grows: two travellers pay the most per head.

What the private itineraries cover

The current private routes are short and city-anchored: four days around Lhasa, or a compressed run to the north face of Everest for travellers who have the days but not the week. Longer private versions of the group routes can be quoted — tell us the dates and the places you care about.

Private or group?

Choose private if your dates are fixed, your party is already two or more, or you want the itinerary shaped around your interests.

Choose a group departure if the lower per-person cost matters more than the flexibility, and a published date happens to suit you.