There are five overland routes to Lhasa. In practice, however, most travellers only use one or two officially sanctioned routes: Kathmandu to Lhasa via the Friendship Highway or Golmud to Lhasa via the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. Other possible routes are the Sichuan-Tibet Highway the Yunnan-Tibet Highway and the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway.

1)The asphalt Qinghai-Tibet Highway between Lhasa and Golmud (1,947km) is a journey that might take between 30 to 50 hours, depending on road conditions. Train between Golmud and Xining, the capital city of Qinghai province, is available. In Xining, one can easily find flights or trains that connecting the most of major cities of China.

2)The Sichuan-Tibet Highway between Lhasa and Chengdu is either around 2400km or around 2100km, depending on whether you take the northern route or the southern route, which is divided at Kangding Town. The road varies greatly in altitude and for the most parts of it is rugged and winding. During the rainy season, the mountainside often caves in, sending down mudslides that block the road. Therefore, when taking this route, extra time should be considered.

3)The Yunnan-Tibet Highway is built along the ancient 'Tea-Horse' trading route with a length of 2,317km. Starting from Kunming, the road passes through Dali, Lijiang, Zhongdian and reaches Lhasa via Nyingchi. One can see Mt. Cang, Erhai Lake (Dali), the ancient city of Naxi (Lijiang), Shangrila (Zhongdian), and the Hengduan Mountains on the way.

4)The Xinjiang-Tibet Highway between Yecheng to Lhasa(2,743km)  has the highest altitude of all five routes. Despite the hardships of treking at least two weeks along the uninhabited route, one can still be deeply impressed by the fantastic natural scenery and precious historical sites on the way, including Karakorum Mountains, the remains of the ancient Guge Kingdom, the sacred Kangrinboqe Mountain, the sacred Mapam Yumco Lake and the Sagya Monastery.

5)The 1000 km stretch of road between Lhasa and Kathmandu is known as the China-Nepal Friendship Highway.The journey is without a doubt one of the most spectacular in the world. From Kathmandu the road travels gently up to Kodari (1873 m), before leaving Nepal to make a steep switch-back ascent to Zhangmu (2300 m), the Tibetan border town. From here the road climbs and climbs, past Nyalam (3750 m) to the top of the Tanggula pass (5120 m). Tingri (4390 m) provides fabulous views of Mt. Everest and the Himalaya Range and is where many travellers spend the night at Mt. Everest Base Camp before travelling on.