There are five main highways in Tibet. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway stretches east to link Lhasa with Chengdu; the Yunnan-Tibet Highway also goes east, following the same route as the Sichuan Highway as far as Markam, then heading southeast into northern Yunnan; the Qinghai-Tibet Highway provides northerly road access to Xining, the Qinghai capital, via Golmud; the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway travels through western Tibet into the far west of Xinjiang province; and the China-Nepal Highway goes southwest and crosses the border into Nepal about 110km from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu. For entry to or exit from Tibet, only the Qinghai-Tibet and China-Nepal Highways can be used by foreigners at present.
The bus station in Lhasa is located southwest of Barkhor Square and serves a wide range of destinations within Tibet. There are also long distance buses to Lanzhou, Chengdu and Xining. Note that because of the standard of roads in Tibet, long-distance bus journeys can take as long as several days.
Thanks to the increasing number of tourists, minibuses have become a booming industry in Tibet. The area south of Barkhor Square is where minibuses set off for places like Tsurphu Monastery and Drepung Monastery. Another place to look for a minibus is in front of the Kirey Hotel, where there are daily minibuses to Naqu, Samye and Shigatse. Usually the departure time of the buses is not fixed, so inquiry in advance is highly recommended.
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