City guide · Tibet
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
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 moment we reached Lulang I stopped wanting to go home. Wooden fences, wooden houses, herders' villages scattered across the meadow, streams winding through, wild flowers everywhere, mist rolling in and out of the valley. Snow mountains, forest, farmland — it was the calmest mountain scene I have ever stood in.
qlzw, '2012 Tibet Independent Travel'
We walked straight into the Lulang stone-pot chicken place and the owner asked if we had driven ourselves. When I said yes she knocked it down to 150 a pot — the tour guides pay 280. Four of us couldn't finish it.
Baizhuxiao, 'Eight Thousand Kilometres Alone — Sichuan-Tibet South Route to Ali'
Nyingchi means 'throne of the sun' in Tibetan, and the name is not romantic exaggeration. Because the land drops away to the southeast, warm Indian Ocean air pushes up the Yarlung Tsangpo valley and stalls against the Nyainqentanglha range, so banana palms and bamboo grow at the same latitude as glaciers. You can photograph a 6,800 m ice tongue one hour and eat a bowl of rice grown at 1,400 m the next.
The first thing most visitors notice is that they can breathe. At 3,100 m the nights are cold but the days are mild, the forest smells of pine resin, and the villages along the Niyang River have wooden fences, smoke rising from chimneys and yaks grazing between barley fields. It is the part of Tibet that looks least like the Tibet in your head.
The second thing they notice is how much of it hides. Namcha Barwa is called the 'shy maiden peak' because its triangular summit spends most days behind cloud; travellers wait three days for a glimpse and count it a lucky trip. The canyon below it is the deepest on earth, and much of it has never been walked. You come here for what you might see, not for what you are guaranteed.
Nyingchi
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
At 7,782 m this is Nyingchi's highest mountain and the 15th-highest on earth, a massive triangle of snow that spends most of the year wrapped in cloud — locals call it the Shy Maiden. Clear views are rare enough that Tibetans treat a sighting as good fortune. Your best odds are at dawn from Zhihbai village at the mouth of the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon.
The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is the longest and deepest gorge on the planet; the viewing area sits at 2,800 m and the river bends sharply around Namcha Barwa before escaping into India. Entry is CNY 150 for adults, CNY 70 for children, plus a CNY 90 shuttle and CNY 30 meal if you take the standard package — buy the CNY 150 trekking ticket instead and walk in if you'd rather not be herded.
Eighty kilometres from Bayi town along the Sichuan-Tibet highway, Lulang means "Dragon King Valley" in Tibetan, and locals also translate it as "the place that makes you not want to go home." Cloud drifts in and out of spruce forest, meadows sit neatly below snow peaks, and stone-and-branch fences ring the farmhouses. Tickets are CNY 10, open 06:30–18:30 — go early, the mist burns off by mid-morning.
The star isn't the chicken, it's the pot: a single block of dark soapstone mica carved out in Medog and, before the road existed, carried out on people's backs. Free-range Tibetan chicken simmers two hours with hand-picked ginseng, angelica and Tibetan fritillary. Expect around CNY 200 per pot — walk in on your own and you can often negotiate CNY 150; arrive with a tour guide and it's CNY 280.
Every March and April, wild peach trees — small flowers, but packed so densely they read as pink cloud — bloom against still-white glaciers. Gala village is the classic stop, and the Niyang River valley fills with blossom above barley fields. It is the single busiest window of the Nyingchi year, so book beds and vehicles weeks ahead.
Itinerary
The route almost everyone takes: 407 km of highway from Lhasa to Bayi town, then the canyon and the forest, with the highest passes behind you by lunchtime on day one. Best for first-timers who want the headline sights without committing to a full overland.
Leave Lhasa early and climb over the pass into a completely different Tibet — greener, wetter, warmer. First stop is Basum Tso, a crescent-shaped lake at 3,700 m with snow peaks mirrored in it; adults CNY 100, children CNY 50, open 09:00–18:00. Then follow the Niyang River, whose emerald water runs past forest, meadow and sandbars. Finish at Kazi Gully, a gorge 200 m deep with a waterfall that hides a naturally formed Buddha image in the rock — CNY 20, open 09:00–17:30. Read the sign at the gate before you walk in; without it you'll miss half the shapes in the cliff.
Stops: Basum TsoNiyang RiverKazi GullyBayi town
Drive toward the airport, cross the Yarlung Tsangpo and turn onto the narrow but decent 70 km road to Pai town. About halfway there the road bends and Namcha Barwa fills the windscreen — that's the moment people photograph from moving cars. Pai is a scruffy little supply town; the ticket gate sits before you enter it. From here it's canyon rim at 2,800 m, and if the cloud lifts you get the peak itself. Sleep at Zhihbai village, the closest settlement to the mountain and by far the best place to catch it at sunrise.
Stops: Pai townYarlung Tsangpo Grand CanyonNamcha BarwaZhihbai village
Morning drive to Lulang at around 3,700 m — meadow, spruce, drifting cloud, and on a clear day Namcha Barwa again from a completely different angle. Give it half a day; there is no reason to rush. After lunch head to the Great Cypress Grove, a Bon sacred site at 3,000–3,400 m where hundreds of trees are over a thousand years old and the biggest, the King Cypress, is roughly 2,500 years old and needs several people to circle. Tickets CNY 10, open 09:00–17:00. Sleep in Lulang or push back to Bayi.
Stops: Lulang forestGreat Cypress GroveLulang
The overland route for anyone driving the Sichuan-Tibet highway east to west. It trades Lhasa logistics for glacier country, the Parlung Tsangpo gorge and the notorious Tongmai stretch — you cover the most dramatic 345 km of the whole highway.
Ranwu sits right on the Chamdo–Nyingchi border, a one-street town of guesthouses, repair sheds and small shops that exists because of the lake. The 345 km on to Bomi runs through a gorge between the Nyainqentanglha and Himalaya ranges: broadleaf forest on the valley floor, conifer on the slopes, snow above, and the river the whole way. It's the kind of drive where you stop every twenty minutes.
Stops: Ranwu LakeParlung TsangpoBomi
Midui Glacier is the lowest-elevation glacier in the world and one of Tibet's most important maritime glaciers, its main peak at 6,800 m and the snowline at 4,600 m. From Ranwu it's 50 km toward Bomi; turn off, walk through Midui village and hike about two hours to the ice. A local guide costs around CNY 20 to carry your gear; during peak holiday weeks the village charges CNY 15 per visitor and hands you a hand-printed receipt. There is no hotel or restaurant in Midui village. Then brace yourself for Tongmai, the most feared stretch of the entire Sichuan-Tibet highway — narrow, landslide-prone, genuinely nerve-wracking when you meet oncoming traffic.
Stops: Midui GlacierMidui villageTongmaiLulang
Leave Lulang and climb the Serkyim La; on a lucky day the pass gives you one more long look at Namcha Barwa before the descent. Stop for stone-pot chicken in Lulang itself on the way out — this is the town it's named after, and the pots come from Medog. You arrive in Bayi, Nyingchi's new town, which feels startlingly modern and prosperous compared with every county town you passed on the way.
Stops: Serkyim LaLulangBayi town
Sights
Lake · 3,700 m
A crescent of green water pinned between high峡 valleys, with snow peaks reflected in it, ducks and gulls drifting across the surface, and a small island in the middle carrying a temple. "Cuogao" means "green water" in Tibetan, and the name is literal. It is the single easiest big-payoff stop on the road between Lhasa and Bayi, which is why every itinerary includes it.
Tip Arrive before 10am for calm water and actual reflections — afternoon wind chops the lake up and kills the mirror effect you came for. You can sleep at the resort village by the lake or camp on the shore.
Forest and meadow · 3,700 m
Spruce forest climbing the slopes, a flat meadow running down the middle, cloud gathering and scattering over it, and farmhouses fenced with stone and branches. Visitors describe it as a Chinese ink painting, and in rain that's exactly what it looks like — grey, layered, low contrast. Even without Namcha Barwa showing, people come away saying it wasn't a loss.
Tip Give it half a day minimum and eat stone-pot chicken while you're here — this is the town the dish is named after and prices are lower than in Bayi.
Canyon · viewpoint at 2,800 m
The longest and deepest canyon on earth, where glaciers, cliff faces, rockfall and a very large river all sit within a few kilometres of each other. Large parts have never been visited. The gateway is Pai town, a border settlement nicknamed the backpackers' holy land; the mountain above it, Namcha Barwa, is rated first among China's ten most beautiful peaks.
Tip Skip the package: buy the CNY 150 trekking ticket, or arrange a pickup from Zhihbai village for around CNY 150 — some people take a motorbike in. Summer and autumn are the best seasons for both the canyon and the peak. Hot springs sit at the foot of the mountain.
Glacier · snowline 4,600 m
The lowest glacier in the world and Tibet's most significant maritime glacier, its summit at 6,800 m and ice pushing down into mixed conifer and broadleaf forest — snow above, green below, in the same frame. The ice surface is warm enough that ice worms, ice fleas and other microorganisms live in it year-round. China National Geographic ranked it fourth among China's six most beautiful glaciers in 2005.
Tip No hotels or restaurants in Midui village — sort out food and a bed in Bomi or Ranwu. Hire a villager as a guide and offer CNY 20 or so if they carry your bag. Never buy the "mountain produce" hawked at roadside stalls on the Bomi road; it's a setup and fines run into the thousands.
Valley · 2,500 m · Lhoba culture
"Nanyi" means fairyland, and the gully earns it: a humid, protected valley in Lhoba township with dense forest and a Tibetan medicine tradition — the founder of Tibetan pharmacology, Yuthok Yonten Gonpo, is said to have made medicines and taught here. It's known as the Medicine King Valley. What stays with most visitors is the松萝 lichen hanging off every branch, pale green and drifting like gauze, which is why it's nicknamed the green silk scarf gorge.
Tip Close to the Indian border, so you can see the McMahon Line area from parts of the valley. Combine it with Lamaling Monastery, a Nyingma (Red Sect) temple founded in the late 1930s, about 2 hours' visit, on the same day.
Food
The dish this region is famous for, and the pot matters more than the bird. It's carved from a single block of soft black soapstone mined in Medog — before the road went in, someone carried each one out on their back. Free-range Tibetan chicken simmers two hours with hand-shaped ginseng, angelica, Tibetan fritillary and goji until the broth turns milky. A whole pot runs about CNY 200; walk in off the road as a self-driver and you can talk it down to 150, while a tour-group table pays closer to 280.
Pigs that live above 3,000 m, root for cordyceps and wild mushrooms, drink spring water and sleep in caves. They take two years to reach 40 kg, which is why the meat is fine-grained, dark and almost beef-like. Order it stir-fried with matsutake if it's on the menu — it's the priciest thing on most tables and worth it once.
A cold-water river fish from the Nyang and Basum Tso, named for Bahe town in Gongbo'gyamda county. Firm flesh, few bones, and usually served as a clear soup with ginger and scallion — the local answer to a long day at altitude. Ask the price before you order; river fish is sold by weight and the numbers climb fast.
Peak season is July through September, when these sell for a fraction of what Tokyo pays. Grilled with a little butter, folded into chicken soup, or simply stir-fried with green pepper, they're the reason a summer trip here beats a spring one on the plate if not in the camera.
Be honest with yourself: most restaurants along the route are run by Sichuan families, and the mapo tofu and twice-cooked pork are reliably good and cheap. Tibetan butter tea, tsampa and dried yak meat are the local staples — try them once, then fall back on the chilli.
Where to eat
Signature dish · Lulang
The benchmark pot, on Lulang's main street. Big pot is a whole chicken; you can add matsutake, hand-shaped ginseng and other mushrooms and vegetables. Drink the broth before anything else goes in — it's the whole point of the meal. Finish by cooking a handful of noodles in what's left.
Mushrooms · Bayi town
A smaller, cheaper, mushroom-forward version of the same idea, in the middle of Bayi. The pots come from Medog, the broth is aggressively savoury, and vegetables and noodles at the end are free refills — good value if you're feeding a group on a budget.
Fusion · Bayi town
The owner is from Lijiang and had the sense to marry Yunnan cured pork ribs to a Medog soapstone pot. A small pot is CNY 68 and holds a full 600 g of ribs plus potato, Chinese yam and cabbage; the ribs are cured for two weeks, lean and tender, with a faint rice-wine sweetness. The broth is rich without being greasy.
All-rounder · Bayi town
A bigger sit-down place on Guangdong Road doing gastrodia stone-pot chicken, Tibetan fish and fragrant pork with matsutake. The fish is longer and scaleless compared with lowland varieties; the pork is a house signature and priced accordingly. Reliable when you want a proper table rather than a roadside bowl.
Where to stay
Mid-range · Bayi town centre
Central Bayi, walking distance to shops, banks, supermarkets and restaurants, and the most convenient base if you're day-tripping to the Great Cypress Forest, Lulang or Nanyi Valley, or catching the airport bus. Rooms from CNY 165 — the best value-to-location ratio in town.
Hostel · Bayi new district
A four-storey building with a courtyard of nearly 1,000 sq m, parking and a first-floor lounge built for meeting other travellers, using the wifi, or doing absolutely nothing in the sun. Dorms CNY 30, standard rooms CNY 200.
Hostel · Pai village
The one to book if Namcha Barwa is the reason you came. It sits on the Yarlung Tsangpo at the trailhead for the Medog trek, and the floor-to-ceiling windows frame the snow peaks of Namcha Barwa and Gyala Peri across the water. Dorms CNY 30, doubles CNY 140 — book ahead in peach season and the October holiday.
Getting around
Mainling (Nyingchi) Airport is the only real gateway, and for years it ran a single daily round-trip from Chengdu — Air China Airbus A319, wheels up 07:30, down at 09:15, 1h45m in the air. Extra flights get added over National Day and the spring peach season, so book early if you're coming in late March or early April. A shuttle bus meets arrivals and runs to Bayi Town for CNY 25; the ticket office is 0894-5810118.
No trains serve Nyingchi yet, so almost everyone comes by road. The public bus from Lhasa to Bayi Town covers 407 km via Maizhokunggar and Gongbo'gyamda in 6–8 hours; the first departure is 08:00 and tickets run CNY 100–170. Coming back the other way, Bayi to Lhasa buses leave daily at CNY 80–100. If you'd rather share, hostels and travel forums are the place to find people to split a 4WD with — it costs more but lets you stop at the small sights.
The other classic approach is the G318 from Chengdu, which drops you into Nyingchi past Ranwu Lake. Two stretches deserve respect: the Zewang–Nyingchi road (475 km via Gyaca and Mainling) and the infamous Tongmai section between Bomi and Lulang, the most dangerous piece of the entire Sichuan–Tibet highway, regularly wiped out by landslides and mudslides. In the May–September rainy season, expect the road east of Bayi Town to be closed for days at a time.
Bayi Town itself is small and flat enough to walk, which is the best way to handle it. Taxis are mostly Santanas with a CNY 10 flag fall and drivers who generally don't use the meter — agree a price first. Pedal rickshaws are everywhere and cost about CNY 3 a ride. To reach bigger sights like Basum Tso, rent a 4WD jeep near the Bayi Town post office: 4–5 seats for CNY 500–700 a day.
Shopping
The signature Nyingchi buy. Carved from a single block of soft grey-brown soapstone pulled off the cliffs along the Yarlung Tsangpo, heat-proof and famously durable. Before the roads went in, they were carried out of Medog on people's backs — which is why they cost what they do. Heavy, so check your luggage allowance.
Grown at the Zayü tea plantation in southeast Nyingchi and graded into premium, special, and selected first and second classes. A maofeng-style green tea with tight wiry leaves, a lasting fragrance and a bright yellow-green liquor — plateau tea has a genuinely different character from lowland Chinese green tea.
Songrong mushrooms grow in pine and mixed forest and peak July to September; they're treated as a delicacy in Japan and Europe and sell accordingly. Dried songrong, qinggang mushrooms and tianma (gastrodia) are all easy to carry and all locally produced around Bomi and Bayi Town.
Turned from hardwood roots and burls — cypress, oak, birch — these bowls are dense, won't warp or crack, and hold a faint fragrance that changes how butter tea tastes. Graded into three classes, with silver-rimmed 'zaya' bowls at the top. Medog's Dawang Sangjie Lin village makes the best ones.
Practical
One warning worth taking seriously: the youth hostel near the bus station with the red sign is fake — it's a low-standard guesthouse that has conned plenty of backpackers. Book accommodation in advance rather than trusting a signboard, and compare prices on our Nyingchi tour packages before you commit.
| Permits | Medog and Mainling county require a border permit (边防证), obtainable at your home police station or through a Lhasa travel agency. Carry your ID card at all times — checkpoints are routine. |
|---|---|
| Altitude | Nyingchi sits at an average of 3,100 m, low by Tibetan standards, but the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon viewpoint is at 2,800 m and Basum Tso at 3,700 m. Take it easy for the first day or two. |
| Bathing | Skip it on arrival to avoid catching cold and worsening altitude sickness. Once you've acclimatised for a few days it's fine — Bayi Town's better hotels all have hot water. |
| Money | There are only a handful of banks in Nyingchi — Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank and Postal Savings branches. Bring cash; ATMs are scarce outside Bayi Town. |
| Internet and phone | Internet cafés are rare and WiFi is patchy, though most decent hotels and some restaurants provide it. Mobile signal is reliable in towns and along G318, weak or absent in the canyons. |
| Season and weather | March–April for peach blossom, May–October for trekking and the canyon. Avoid the May–September rainy season if you're heading to Bomi or Medog — landslides and mudslides close roads. Medog is only passable roughly May to late October. |
| Emergency numbers | Nyingchi Prefecture People's Hospital, Fuyu Road, Bayi Town: 0894-5822842. Nyingchi Jimin Hospital, Shuangyong North Road 315: 0894-5887120. Nyingchi Tourism Bureau: 0894-5831385. |
Background
Nyingchi means "throne of the sun" in Tibetan, and the name fits — this is the corner of Tibet where the sun comes up first. The Himalaya and the Nyainqentanglha run east in parallel like two dragons, then meet the Hengduan range head-on in the east, and Nyingchi sits in the pocket they enclose at an average 3,100 m. The Yarlung Tsangpo — the highest river on earth — drops through that gap toward the Indian Ocean, and the warm monsoon air pushing up the valley collides with the cold northern current. The result is tropical, subtropical, temperate and frigid zones stacked in one prefecture, which is why you can see banana palms and 7,782 m peaks in the same afternoon.
Nyingchi was called Gongbo in older records; artifacts dug up here show people farming and settling the valley four to five thousand years ago, and the earliest written trace is a cliff inscription at Dromo that is over 1,200 years old. Tibetans make up more than 90 percent of the population, but the Monba and Lhoba live here too — the Lhoba in the great gorge country are traditionally called "southerners" by Tibetans and still keep customs you will not find anywhere else in Tibet. Both groups wear the guoxiu, a sleeveless pullover robe, woven from pulu wool in summer and fur in winter, usually black or purple; modern versions have brocade trim at the collar, cuffs and hem. If you are invited into a Monba or Lhoba home, remember you are a guest in a living culture, not a diorama.
Watch & Read
Directed by Dai Wei; 96 minutes
A Flying Tigers pilot crash-lands in a remote corner of Tibet during World War II and is rescued by a Tibetan girl; they fall in love across a language barrier. Critics were mixed, but the production shot real plateau locations up to 5,200 m, and the landscape is the real co-star — worth watching before you go so the altitude does not hit you by surprise. Available with Mandarin, English and Tibetan dialogue.
Fu Zhen and Mao Mingji
A soon-to-graduate student heading to England and a quiet Hong Kong man both arrive in Tibet during the 2003 SARS period carrying the same backpacker guidebook and meet in a Lhasa youth hostel. It is a slim, honest account of falling for someone when your futures point in opposite directions — and the best portrait in print of what the Lhasa-to-Nyingchi backpacker circuit actually feels like.
Zhu Zheqin (Dadawa), composed by He Xuntian
Widely called the first Chinese record to genuinely register internationally. He Xuntian dug into Tibetan mysticism — reincarnation, karmic cause and effect, prayer and incantation — and recorded Dadawa singing every track straight through with no editing or mixing, backed by Western synthesizers. If a Tibetan driver ever picks you up on the road from Lhasa toward Nyingchi, this is roughly the soundtrack you will get.
The questions visitors ask us most about Nyingchi, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
Late March to early April for the peach blossom, or September to October for the clearest mountain views. Summer (May–September) is the rainy season — landslides regularly cut the Sichuan-Tibet highway east of Bayi and the road into Medog — while winter is cold, dry and quiet, with far fewer visitors and lower hotel rates.
Either the daily bus from Lhasa to Bayi (departs 08:00, 407 km, 6–8 hours, 100–170 CNY) or a one-hour-45-minute flight from Chengdu into Mainling Airport, which lands at 09:15. There is no railway to Nyingchi yet — the usual route is train to Lhasa first, then bus or flight onward.
Yes for some areas. Chinese citizens need a border defence permit (边防证) for Medog and Mainling, obtainable at your household registration office or through a Lhasa travel agency. Foreign travellers need a Tibet Travel Permit arranged in advance through a licensed agency, plus an alien's travel permit for the closed areas — allow at least 15 days.
Generally yes. Nyingchi averages 3,100 m against Lhasa's 3,650 m, and the forest cover means more oxygen in the air. Many itineraries now start in Nyingchi to acclimatise before heading up to Lhasa. That said, the pass into the region from Lhasa crosses 5,000 m, so take the first two days slowly either way.
For the main sights, hire a car. Buses only cover the Lhasa–Bayi, Bayi–Bomi and Bayi–Pai Town routes, and the good stops — Basum Tso, Lulang, the Midui Glacier trailhead — are off them. A 4–5 seat jeep from the Bayi post office costs 500–700 CNY per day. Taxis in town start at 10 CNY and rarely use the meter; pedicabs are 3 CNY.
Very hard, and you should not attempt it casually. The classic route is Pai Town to Medog via the Doxong La pass — roughly 120 km over 4 days, crossing a 5,000 m pass, through leech country and past active landslide zones. The trekking season is May to October only. Go with a guide, never alone, and keep your group to 5–8 people.
Plan this trip
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Sanya
City guide · 12 tours
China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.
Haikou
City guide · 12 tours
Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.
Beihai
City guide · 12 tours
24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.
Nanning
City guide · 12 tours
Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
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.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
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.
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.
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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