Hailuogou · Sichuan
Plan a private Hailuogou tour in Sichuan: a low-altitude glacier below 7,556 m Gongga Shan, a cable car to Camp 4, alpine hot springs and the old town of Moxi.
The short version
The place itself
Hailuogou is the eastern flank of Gongga Shan — at 7,556 m the highest mountain in Sichuan and the 'King of Sichuan' — and its draw is a glacier that descends unusually low, to about 2,850 m, through cloud forest and mist. Most glaciers in the world sit above the treeline; this one you can reach on foot or by cable car and stand beside.
The valley is organised into camps by altitude. Camp 1 at 1,940 m, 15 km from Moxi, is warm and forested with hot springs. Camp 2 at 2,580 m is the hot-spring camp, its pools set in old forest with steam drifting through the trees. Camp 3 at 2,940 m, by a glacial lake, is the classic place to watch the sunrise turn Gongga gold. Camp 4, reached by cable car, stands almost against Gongga itself, with the whole glacier spread out below.
Above it all is the Great Ice Fall, more than 1,000 m high and 1,100 m wide — bigger than Huangguoshu Falls by an order of magnitude — with the moving ice pushing rock and debris down the mountain behind its calm white face. The whole massif is a biodiversity hotspot, seven climate zones stacked from the gate to the summit, which is why the forest on the way up keeps changing.
Below the glacier is Moxi, the old town at the valley mouth on the tea-horse road, with Ming and Qing timber houses, a 1918 French Catholic church and the memory of the Long March — Mao and Zhou Enlai slept here in 1935 and held the Moxi Conference. It is the base, the bus stop and the place to eat, and it is worth a slow afternoon of its own.
Pins are plotted from real latitude and longitude on a 5° graticule. This is a schematic orientation diagram, not a political map — no boundaries are drawn.
A low-altitude monsoon glacier descending to about 2,850 m, ending in an ice tongue you can approach from the viewing platform at Camp 4. The Great Ice Fall above it drops over 1,000 m and is more than 1,100 m wide — ten times the scale of Huangguoshu.
A return cable car from Camp 3 to Camp 4, ¥150, crosses the glacier and gives the classic aerial view of ice, forest and the peak of Gongga together. Camp 4 has no beds — it is a viewpoint, not a base.
A cluster of hot-spring pools in the forest at 2,580 m, snow-fed and steaming, ¥80 to soak. In winter you lie in hot water while snow falls on the trees around you; the water is a bicarbonate-type thermal mineral spring, good for tired legs.
From Camp 3 or the forest balcony at Camp 2, sunrise paints Gongga's southern peaks gold — the local 'sunrise over the golden mountain'. It happens around 06:40 in spring and summer, about 07:20 in autumn and winter. Do not sleep through it.
The old town at the valley mouth, with Ming and Qing timber houses, the 1918 French Catholic church where Mao, Zhu Enlai and others slept in 1935, and the Moxi Conference site. A quiet, lived-in place to walk at the start or end of the day.
The trail from Camp 3 to the glacier viewpoint runs through old forest with moss and lichen and, if you are quiet, macaques, squirrels and red-bellied pheasants. The valley has seven climate zones stacked between the gate and the summit — one of the richest vertical landscapes in China.
Five regions, one journey: imperial north, panda country, the karst rivers of Guilin and the skyline of Shanghai, with Hangzhou's West Lake.
From US$2,580/per person
View tourBy bus, the direct service from Chengdu Xinnanmen Station (☎ 028-85433609) leaves once a day, at 09:30, to Moxi town at the valley gate — about 5 hours, ¥138; returning, there is usually one bus a day at ¥145, with more in peak season. Miss it and you take a bus to Luding (¥91) and then a local car the last 52 km (about ¥20).
By road, the classic route is Chengdu–Ya'an–Tianquan–Erlangshan Tunnel–Luding–Moxi, about 280 km and 6–8 hours, following the G318 and G108; the 4.1 km Erlangshan Tunnel divides two different climates on either side. Two longer alternatives exist — via the Ya'an Expressway and the Sichuan–Tibet (Yakang) Expressway to Luding, which is faster and safer than the old mountain road, or the 750 km western loop through Wolong, Xiaojin and Danba, which takes two days but lets you fold in Mount Siguniang. Inside the valley only the green shuttle buses run, the last one up at 17:00.
| Month | Weather | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2°C / -12°C · bitterly cold, clear | Quiet | Avoid |
| February | 5°C / -9°C · bitterly cold, clear | Very busy | Avoid |
| March | 10°C / -3°C · bitterly cold, clear | Moderate | Good |
| April | 15°C / 3°C · bitterly cold, clear | Moderate | Good |
| May | 19°C / 8°C · bitterly cold, clear | Busy | OK |
| June | 22°C / 12°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| July | 23°C / 14°C · clear and mild | Busy | Best |
| August | 22°C / 13°C · clear and mild | Busy | Best |
| September | 19°C / 9°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| October | 14°C / 2°C · bitterly cold, clear | Very busy | Good |
| November | 7°C / -6°C · bitterly cold, clear | Quiet | Good |
| December | 2°C / -11°C · bitterly cold, clear | Quiet | Avoid |
Two days is the standard, and it is enough: day one to ride the shuttle up through the forest and take the cable car at Camp 3 for the glacier and Camp 4, then soak at the Camp 2 hot springs on the way down; day two for the sunrise on Gongga and a slow morning in Moxi old town. Three days lets you add Yanzi Gou, the quieter sister valley, or the red-rock and lake country of Yajiageng, and turns a fast visit into a relaxed one. If you are coming from Chengdu, remember the road eats most of a day in each direction.
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Take the direct bus from Chengdu Xinnanmen Station (☎ 028-85433609) at 09:30 to Moxi — about 5 hours, ¥138, one departure a day, so book ahead. Or drive via Ya'an and the Erlangshan Tunnel on the G318, 280 km in 6–8 hours; the newer Sichuan–Tibet Expressway to Luding is quicker. There is no train or airport at the gate.
Yes — that is the whole point of Hailuogou. The glacier descends to about 2,850 m, low enough that the shuttle and cable car bring you close, and a boardwalk takes you near the ice without any technical gear. If you can walk uphill for an hour, you can see it properly.
No. Hailuogou is a living, moving glacier with crevasses and falling rock, and walking onto it is not permitted with the regular tour — the ice is unstable and dangerous. View it from the platforms, take the cable car, and enjoy the ice fall from a safe distance.
Most people base in Moxi old town at the gate, where there is everything from ¥40 hostel beds to four-star hotels and the bus terminal. Inside the valley there are hotels at Camps 1, 2 and 3 — Camp 2 lets you soak and watch the sunrise, Camp 3 is the closest to the glacier but pricier. The glacier resort at Camp 2 is the romantic option.
It is genuinely a four-season destination and the entry ticket never changes with the season. October to April brings the clearest skies and snow on the peaks; May is the local spring, with wildflowers and the best odds of sunrise on Gongga; summer is cooler than the Sichuan basin; winter means snow and hot springs together. The wettest months are May to September, and heavy snow falls October to April.
The camps are numbered by altitude, so a bigger number means higher and closer to Gongga. Camp 1 is forested and warm, Camp 2 has the hot springs, Camp 3 is the shuttle's last stop and the best sunrise point, and Camp 4 is a viewpoint reached only by cable car with no beds. You do not need all four — most trips use Camp 2 for bathing and Camp 3 or 4 for the glacier.
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