City guide · Gansu
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
The nightlife in Lanzhou is genuinely loud — at two or three in the morning the food stalls are still heaving, almost all of them run by Hui cooks, and the customers keep coming, laughing and talking as if nobody had noticed it was past midnight.
cutefork1, 'Gannan Skies: A Summer Trip'
We sat on the riverbank, sometimes watching the Yellow River drift past, sometimes watching whoever walked by, talking about everything and nothing. We just wandered along the water with no particular purpose, and it turned out to be the best hours of the trip.
Forsandy01, 'It Doesn't Take Much to Fall for Lanzhou'
Lanzhou is the only provincial capital in China that the Yellow River runs straight through — it splits the city into north and south banks and gives the whole place its shape and its temperament. The river is not a backdrop here; it is the reason the city exists at all, a Silk Road crossing point since the Han dynasty and a trading town where caravans once forded the water on inflated sheepskin rafts.
The city is narrow and long, squeezed between mountains on both sides, so it never sprawls the way other Chinese cities do. You can climb White Pagoda Hill in the morning and look down on the iron bridge and the barges, then be eating lamb skewers in a night market alley by evening without ever feeling rushed.
What surprises most visitors is how relaxed it feels for a place with such a heavy history. Hui Muslim restaurants sit beside Sichuan hotpot joints, the tea houses along the river fill up with old men playing chess, and the smell of simmering beef broth drifts out of noodle shops before the sun is even up. It is a working city, not a tourist stage set — which is exactly why it is worth stopping.
Lanzhou
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
Lanzhou is the source of the noodle cult that conquered China. The local version is a breakfast dish: clear beef broth, white radish, red chili oil, green herbs and yellow alkaline noodles, pulled to order in eight thicknesses. A bowl at Mazilu or Jinding costs around CNY 11, and most shops shut by mid-afternoon because locals eat it before work.
Lanzhou is the only provincial capital the Yellow River cuts clean through, and the whole city is strung along a 40-kilometer riverside promenade. You can walk from the Zhongshan Bridge to the Waterwheel Park to the Yellow River Mother sculpture in half a day, all of it free, all of it flat.
Zhongshan Bridge, finished in 1907, was the first permanent bridge across the Yellow River and is still called the First Bridge Under Heaven. It is free to walk, lit up at night, and the single best place to photograph the river with White Pagoda Mountain rising behind it.
Before bridges, people crossed on inflated sheepskin rafts, and you still can, from the dock beside the Waterwheel Park. It is a short, bouncy, thoroughly un-modern float on the Yellow River, and it only runs in summer when the water is high enough.
The Gansu Provincial Museum holds roughly 350,000 objects, and its star is the Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow, the Han-dynasty bronze that became the symbol of Chinese tourism. Entry is free, and it is closed Mondays.
Itinerary
The essential Lanzhou: riverside monuments, the noodle pilgrimage, the museum and the night markets, all on foot and by cheap bus. Best for a first visit or a stopover you want to make count.
Start early on the north bank and work your way down to the river, then end the day in the old commercial heart where the food is.
Stops: White Pagoda Mountain Park (free, 06:00-18:00)Zhongshan Bridge (free)Yellow River Mother Sculpture (free)Waterwheel Park (free, 08:00-18:00, to 20:00 in summer)Zhangye Road Pedestrian StreetZhengning Road night market
Give the Gansu Provincial Museum a solid two hours for the Galloping Horse, then spend the afternoon in the green hills south of the city.
Stops: Gansu Provincial Museum (free, 09:00-17:00, last entry 16:00, closed Mondays)Wuquan Mountain Park (free, 08:00-18:00)Chenghuang Temple antique marketTongwei Road potato-slice stalls
Eat your way through the morning, then head west to the biggest mosque in the city and the streets around it.
Stops: Mazilu Beef Noodles, Dazhong Lane 86Du Ji sweet snacks, Zhangye RoadXiguan MosqueYongchang Road night market
Two urban days plus a day trip out to the Liujiaxia Dam and the Bingling Temple grottoes, for travellers who want the river's older, stranger face.
Same as the classic loop's first day: ridge, bridge, river, night market.
Stops: White Pagoda Mountain ParkZhongshan BridgeWaterwheel ParkZhengning Road night market
Museum in the morning, Wuquan Mountain in the afternoon, sweet snacks on Zhangye Road in the evening.
Stops: Gansu Provincial MuseumWuquan Mountain ParkChenghuang Temple antique marketZhangye Road Pedestrian Street
Catch an early bus from the West Bus Station to the dam, then take a boat upstream through the gorge to the cliff-carved grottoes. Allow a full day and check the last bus back.
Stops: Liujiaxia Dam (CNY 30, 09:00-17:00)Bingling Temple Grottoes by boatWest Bus Station return (last bus 17:30)
Sights
Best view in the city
A hill on the north bank crowned by a Yuan-dynasty white pagoda, with pavilions all the way up and tea houses where locals sit and play chess on the way down. Climb it in the morning and the whole city, the river and the iron bridge lay out below you. There is a cable car from beside the Waterwheel Park if you would rather not walk.
Tip Go before 9am. The light on the river is best early and the pavilions are empty, and the tea houses lower down are a genuine local scene rather than a tourist one.
1907 iron bridge
Built in 1907 as the Lanzhou Yellow River Iron Bridge, this is the oldest bridge in the city and the first permanent crossing of the Yellow River anywhere. It is modest by modern standards, which is exactly why people love it: a hundred years of city history pressed into a few hundred meters of riveted steel. It is free, walkable at any hour, and best after dark when the whole span is lit.
Tip Walk across at dusk, loop up White Pagoda Mountain for the night view, then come back down for noodles. It is the single most photogenic hour in Lanzhou.
Home of the Galloping Horse
Roughly 350,000 objects spanning Cretaceous fossils, Neolithic painted pottery, Shang and Zhou bronzes, and ceramics, wood carvings and silk from the Song to the Qing. The headline piece is the Bronze Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow, the Han bronze that became the logo of Chinese tourism. It is free and takes two solid hours.
Tip Closed Mondays without exception, and last entry is a full hour before closing. Bring your passport, as free state museums in China require ID for the ticket.
River craft, rebuilt
Opened in 2005 to recreate the lines of wooden waterwheels that once stood along both banks, the park splits into a wheel garden, a wheel plaza and a cultural plaza on the south bank. It is where the sheepskin raft dock is, so you can combine the two. Note that in winter the river level drops and the wheels may not turn.
Tip Pair it with the raft ride, which launches from the dock here. Summer only, and worth haggling lightly over the price before you step on.
Two thousand years of springs
On the northern slope of Gaolan Mountain south of the city center, this is a long-established Longshang beauty spot built around five named springs and a scatter of Buddhist halls. The oldest surviving structure is the Vajra Hall inside Chongqing Temple, built in the fifth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming. Three separate routes, west, middle and east, each have their own pavilions, bridges and waterfalls.
Tip It is about four kilometers from Zhangye Road with a direct bus, so it slots neatly into an afternoon after the noodle shops close.
Food
The city's whole identity in one bowl: clear broth, white radish, red chili oil, green cilantro and scallion, yellow noodles — 'one clear, two white, three red, four green, five yellow.' A bowl costs about CNY 11 at Ma Zilu and locals eat it for breakfast, so most noodle shops shut by early afternoon. Order your noodle gauge by name: fine (细的) is the crowd favourite, erxi (二细) is chewier, jiuye (韭叶) is flat like a leek leaf, and da kuan (大宽) is one belt-wide noodle per bowl.
Cold, chewy, translucent-orange wheat or starch noodles in vinegar, garlic water and chili oil — a Hui Muslim specialty that works as both snack and light meal. Around CNY 7 a plate and everywhere in summer.
A sweet porridge of grey peas slow-cooked with red dates until the dates collapse into the broth, then sweetened with sugar. Served hot in winter, iced in summer — order it at Du Ji Sweet Shop on Dazhong Lane for about CNY 7.
Milk, egg and fermented glutinous rice simmered together — sweet, faintly alcoholic, easy on the stomach, and the single most popular late-night order on Zhengning Road. Roughly CNY 10 a bowl.
Hand-grabbed mutton, boiled rather than roasted, eaten with your fingers and dipped in salt or chili. Good versions are tender with no gamey smell at all; Ma Laoliu on Tongwei Road does a refined take at around CNY 68 per person.
Where to eat
Beef noodles · the famous one
The name every out-of-towner has heard, and still the easiest first bowl in the city. The ground floor is priced for locals and the second floor sells tourist set meals at a markup — sit downstairs. Go before 10am; like almost every noodle shop in Lanzhou it closes around midday because beef noodles are a breakfast dish here.
Beef noodles · local favourite
Where Lanzhou people actually eat: the man who pulled noodles for the 'A Bite of China' documentary was Jinding's fourth-generation noodle master. If Ma Zilu feels like a pilgrimage site, this is the better bowl. Two branches, both central.
Snacks · old brand
An old-school shop at the head of Dazhong Lane, permanently busy, selling Lanzhou snacks with a sweet bias — hui dou zi, hot winter pear (热冬果), niang pi. Cheapest way to eat five different Lanzhou things in one sitting.
Night market · the big one
Lanzhou's most famous night food street, right in the busy downtown, lit and loud until late. Skewers, malatang, noodles, fruit, dried nuts, cold drinks — hundreds of stalls and no reason to plan. Only operates in the evening. Cash and phone payment both work.
Where to stay
Hostel · best value
A proper backpacker hostel with a Tibetan-style lounge, small library, roof garden and DIY barbecue, plus a consulting desk that will actually help you plan onward Gansu travel. Dorms are wooden bunk beds with shared bathrooms on each floor; doubles have private bathroom, air conditioning and TV. Book ahead in summer.
Mid-range · unbeatable location
Sits inside the Dazhong Lane commercial core off Zhangye Road, steps from the Central Square, New World Department Store and the Yaxin and Zijin malls — you can walk to Ma Zilu for breakfast and to the Zhengning Road night market after dark. Clean, predictable, free high-speed Wi-Fi.
Luxury · river view
A five-star tower standing right on the bank of the Yellow River, with every room looking out over the water. Free Wi-Fi and wired internet throughout, minibar, ironing facilities, flat-screen TV with CD/DVD, bathrobes and full amenities in the bathroom. The splurge option if you want to wake up to the river.
Getting around
Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport sits at 1,947 m in Yongdeng County, about 70 km from the city centre — roughly an hour by road. It's a plateau airport, so if you're sensitive to altitude, take the first day easy. Flights connect Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guilin, Chengdu, Xi'an and Urumqi, plus Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Jeju and Seoul.
Lanzhou Station is the big hub for the whole northwest, with more than 100 routes. This is how you reach Jiayuguan and Dunhuang inside Gansu, and Xining, Taiyuan, Yinchuan, Hohhot, Beijing, Urumqi, Xi'an, Qingdao, Jinan, Zhengzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lhasa, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen beyond it.
Buses are often faster than trains between Gansu towns and you never wait for a departure slot, though they are less safe than rail. Three stations cover different directions — check which one your destination leaves from before you head out.
For a city this small the bus network is huge — over 100 routes, and they reach everywhere short of the genuinely remote outskirts. Taxis are cheap and everywhere. The yellow River is the spine of the city, so most of what you want sits along the north and south banks and the bridges between them.
Shopping
Lanzhou is the national capital of dried lilies, and the sweet apricots from the surrounding valleys are cheap and pack well. Buy them loose by weight in the markets rather than in gift-boxed tourist shops, where the same thing costs three times as much.
You cannot take a bowl of noodles home, but you can take the chilli oil and the spice mix. Supermarkets around Zhangye Road sell both, and it is the one souvenir your friends will actually use.
The old temple, over 900 years old, now houses an antiques market where Lanzhou families have been rummaging for generations. You may well stumble on something worth having — just assume the first price is a starting point, not a number.
Northwest China's largest wholesale market, with ten halls, six specialised 'cities' (shoes, clothing, appliances) and four public squares. It is the Yiwu of the northwest: concentrated, cheap, and worth an hour even if you buy nothing.
Practical
Lanzhou is a genuinely compact city and easy to walk in pieces. The one thing that catches visitors out is the food clock: beef noodles are a morning dish, and the famous shops shut their doors around lunchtime.
| Best time to go | Early autumn. It is cool, the melons and fruit are at their sweetest, and the annual Lanzhou Silk Road Festival is on. Spring brings sandstorms — pack a mask and don't plan long walks for March and April. |
|---|---|
| Money | Costs sit in the lower-middle band nationally — expect hotel doubles around CNY 200–500, a bowl of beef noodles for CNY 11, and street snacks from CNY 6. Department-store prices, however, are high. Budget roughly CNY 800 per person for two days excluding flights. |
| Clothing | Big day-night temperature swings and very dry air. Bring a jacket even in summer, plus lip balm and a face mist. Lanzhou sits at 1,520 m — altitude sickness is very unlikely, but anyone frail should take the first day slowly. |
| Eating | Lanzhou runs hot and spicy, so Sichuan and Hunan food is everywhere; noodles are the staple. Because of the large Hui population, meat means beef and mutton. As a provincial capital and tourist city, every major cuisine is available, so nobody starves. |
| Beef noodle timing | Locals eat beef noodles for breakfast and most shops close by early afternoon. If you want the real thing, go before 10am. At Ma Zilu, the ground floor is for locals and cheaper; the first floor is aimed at visitors, with set menus and higher prices. |
| Hospital and complaints | Gansu Provincial People's Hospital, Donggang West Road 160, 0931-8281114. Lanzhou University First Hospital, Donggang West Road 1, 0931-8625200. Tourist complaints 0931-8826860; price bureau 0931-8722462. |
| Book ahead for the west | If Lanzhou is a stop on a Silk Road run, reserve Lanzhou–Dunhuang and Lanzhou–Jiayuguan train seats as early as you can — this is the busiest corridor in the northwest and the good departures sell out. |
Background
Lanzhou was founded in 86 BC, and its first name was Jincheng — 'Gold City'. One story says builders dug up gold on the site; another says it borrows from 'a city wall of metal and a moat of boiling water', the classical phrase for an impregnable fortress. Either way the geography did the work: the Yellow River narrows here, mountains pinch in from north and south, and for centuries the only practical crossing on this stretch of the river was right where you are standing.
From the Han through the Tang and Song dynasties, once the Silk Road was open, Lanzhou became the junction where silk went west and Ferghana horses came east. Writer Chen Yunhe summed up the traffic jam of history this way: Han generals marching west, foreign merchants heading east, even the monk Xuanzang on his way to fetch Buddhist scriptures — all of them floated across the river here on inflated ox-hide rafts.
Modern Lanzhou is a strip: about 25 km long east to west, squeezed between the Beishan hills to the north and Gaolan Mountain to the south, with the Yellow River running straight through the middle. It is the only provincial capital in China that the Yellow River actually crosses. Downtown sits at 1,520 m, which is high enough to feel dry and cool but far too low to give you altitude sickness — unless you are unusually frail, don't worry about it.
Four seasons are distinct, winters are not brutal and summers are not sweltering, and the yearly average is 11.2°C. Spring is the one season to watch: sandstorms blow in from the north, so pack a mask and eye drops if you come in March or April. The dry air is the other thing nobody warns you about — bring lip balm and a small spray bottle even in July.
Lanzhou's largest minority group is the Hui, and the city also has smaller populations of Yugur, Bonan and Dongxiang people. Several neighbourhoods are Hui-majority, especially around the Xiguan Mosque and the night markets, so dress modestly when you visit a mosque and don't point your camera at people praying without asking.
The other half of local culture is louder. If 1990 counts as year zero for Lanzhou rock, more than 250 bands have formed here since. A dozen or so are active now — Standing Socks, Polyphonic Carnival, Six Kings — and the city has produced one of China's most famous magazines too: Reader, founded here in 1981, whose headquarters on the south bank of the Yellow River is a minor pilgrimage for Chinese readers. Lanzhou people are blunt and funny about their own city; let them be your guide.
Further reading
Zhang Hailong
The essential book about this corner of China — essays on Lanzhou and the northwest told in an almost icy voice, covering dialect, food, folk songs, history, geography and the people who drift through all of it. Zhang deconstructs and exaggerates, mocks and pastiches classical texts, and somehow makes you want to eat a bowl of noodles and read a poem at the same time. Read it on the train in and you'll see the city differently.
Low Wormwood (低苦艾乐队)
A Lanzhou band's love letter to their own city, folk-leaning and understated but with strong experimental and ethnic textures underneath. Whether you're about to arrive or already miss the place, this song does the job — play it on the walk back from Zhongshan Bridge at night and the whole strip of river lights suddenly makes sense.
Director Xia Yong, 2009
The first feature film ever to carry Lanzhou in its title, made for the 60th anniversary of the city's liberation. It follows underground Party members and ordinary residents trying to smuggle wounded comrades and stolen city-defence intelligence past Kuomintang security in the days before the PLA arrived. Melodramatic, but a useful primer on the 1949 battle that reshaped the city.
The questions visitors ask us most about Lanzhou, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
It is worth at least 1–2 days in its own right. The riverfront — White Pagoda Park, Zhongshan Iron Bridge, the Waterwheel Park and the Yellow River Mother sculpture — is free and walkable in half a day, the Gansu Provincial Museum holds the Flying Horse of Gansu bronze, and the food alone (beef noodles, lamb skewers, niang pi) justifies the stop. If you are only changing trains, you can still see the main sights in a single day because the city is small and the sights cluster together.
Early autumn is the sweet spot — cool, dry weather, melons and fruit at their peak, and the annual Silk Road Festival in September. Spring is warmer but prone to dust storms, summer is hot and dry with big day-night temperature swings, and winter is cold but clear. Whatever the season, pack a jacket and lip balm: Lanzhou is dry and the temperature drops sharply after dark.
It is a hand-pulled noodle soup with clear beef broth, white radish slices, red chili oil and green herbs — the locals describe it as 'one clear, two white, three red, four green, five yellow.' You order by noodle width, and the standard is 'er xi' (二细) or 'xi' (细) for a chewy, medium-thin round noodle. A bowl costs CNY 8–11, and most shops shut by mid-afternoon because Lanzhou eats this for breakfast, not dinner.
The airport sits 70 km north of the city, about an hour by road. The airport shuttle is the cheapest option at CNY 30 per person and picks up near the Jinjiang Sunshine Hotel. A metered taxi would run over CNY 200, so negotiate a flat fare of CNY 180–200 instead, or take a shared ride for CNY 40–100 per person depending on how many passengers and where you sit.
No, not really. The city sits at 1,520 metres, which is low enough that altitude sickness is not a concern for healthy travellers. Only those with pre-existing heart or lung conditions should take it slowly on the first day. Side trips climb higher — Xinglong Mountain and the road toward Qinghai go above 2,000 metres — so pace yourself if you head out of town.
Base yourself around Zhangye Road and the Xiguan area in Chengguan district — it puts you within walking distance of the Zhongshan Bridge, the night markets and the noodle shops. Budget hostels with dorm beds run CNY 30–45 per bed, standard mid-range hotel rooms CNY 200–500, and riverside five-star properties like the Crowne Plaza start around CNY 1,000. A hostel near the universities is also handy if you want cheap food streets nearby.
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City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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