Taking train from Beijing to Lhasa is a popular way among foreign tourists to Tibet.

1. Cost on taking train from Beijing to Lhasa
Taking train from Beijing to Lhasa is a popular way among foreign tourists to Tibet. The cost of the
train ticket is about 1189CNY for a soft-sleeper berth and 766CNY for a hard-sleeper berth. But
the cost on taking train from Beijing to Lhasa is much higher than the original price of the train
ticket from Beijing to Lhasa.
As all the trains in China is owned and operated by the state, there is no discount on the train
ticket except for children who are shorter than 1.1m. But there is some discount for domestic
students, teachers, soldiers and disabled persons, with required certificates. Therefore, generally
there is no discount for foreigners.
In China, the train ticket fare does not include meals, so you need to pay the food in the train. A
normal breakfast will cost you about 10RMB and a lunch or dinner 20-30RMB. Drinking boiled
water is free, but you need to take a bottle or cup with you. There is bottled mineral water sold
on the train. It costs around 3-5CNY for each bottle of water. If you want to have a cup of coffee
or milk, you need to prepare it by yourself in advance for it is hard to get it on the train.
Except the cost on food, another big expense on the Beijing to Lhasa train trip is that you have to
pay the service charge to the travel agency who help you purchase the train tickets. The cost
ranges from 100RMB to 600RMB in different seasons. In the peak tourism season of Tibet, it
might be hard to get one train ticket from Beijing to Lhasa, even impossible to purchase train
tickets in local train ticket office. It is such a hot tourist railroad, almost all train tickets are
reserved by travel agencies in advance. Hence it is wise to book your train tickets through a travel
agency attached to your local tour request. Please be realized that the travel agency who help
you book train tickets must be a reliable one, not all the travel agencies who advertised they can
book Qinghai Tibet railway tickets are able to guarantee you the tickets. The reason is so simple,
the demand is large and the tickets are limited, especially when you request a soft sleeping berth.
Tibet Travel org is a qualified agent to help you book train tickets to Lhasa, for its stable
relationship with train station and having a reasonable number of tickets reserved annually.
In a word, the total cost of Beijing to Lhasa train tour is about 1500-1800CNY for soft sleeper
berth and 1100-1200CNY for hard sleeper berth. Actually the bunk of the hard-sleeper is also soft.
There are just two more bunks in a room than those in a soft sleeper room.