14 Days Sichuan-Gansu Amdo Tibetan Tour from Chengdu to Lanzhou

Tour Overview

This 14-day Sichuan and Gansu tour starts from Chengdu, the homeland of Giant pandas and land of abundance. You will pass Jiuzhaigou Valley & Huanglong scenic spot, and traverse...

Code of Tour: YCT0000003556

Length of Travel: 14 Day

Destinations of Tour:

Departure City: Chengdu

Price of Tour: Request

Type of Tour:

Features of Tour:

More Map & Picture

This 14-day Sichuan and Gansu tour starts from Chengdu, the homeland of Giant pandas and land of abundance. You will pass Jiuzhaigou Valley & Huanglong scenic spot, and traverse Zoige grassland, where you can visit famous Tibetan Buddhist monastery- Langmusi, located in Sichuan and Gansu provinces. Then head towards Xiahe to visit a significant monastery in Amdo Tibet – Labrang monastery, and finally arrive in Lanzhou, where the tour ends.

This itinerary is at the edge of northeastern Tibetan Plateau, and owing to its unique topography, one can appreciate spectacular landscapes, including plains, lush forests, snow-capped mountains, lakes, grasslands, pasture, farmland, loess landscape and so on.

Highlights

• Visit two famous attractions in Chengdu: Jiuzhaigou Valley and Huanglong scenic spot;
• Step into famous Buddhist monasteries-Lanmusi Monastery and Labrang Monasteries;
• Experience the authentic Tibetan culture.

Brief Itinerary

• Day 1 Arrive in Chengdu
• Day 2 Chengdu-Mianyang
• Day 3 Mianyang-Jiuzhaigou
• Day 4 Jiuzhaigou
• Day 5 Jiuzhaigou
• Day 6 Jiuzhaigou- Huanglong-Songpan
• Day 7 Songpan
• Day 8 Songpan
• Day 9 Songpan-Ruoergai Grassland
• Day 10 Ruer gai-Langmu Monastery
• Day 11 Langmu Monastery
• Day 12 Langmu Monastery-Xiahe-Labuleng Monastry
• Day 13 Xiahe-Lanzhou
• Day 14 Lanzhou-Beijing/Shanghai

Google Map

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive in Chengdu

Sightseeing and Activities:Arrive in Chengdu
Accommodation: Chengdu
Meals: none

Transfer to your reserved hotel after arriving in Chengdu airport.

Stay overnight in Chengdu.

Day 2 Chengdu-Mianyang

Sightseeing and Activities:Panda Breeding and Research Center, Sanxingdui Museum
Accommodation:Mianyang
Meals:breakfast, lunch

We will start our driving today. First drive to the Panda Breeding and Research Center to see the Giant Panda and then drive to visit Sanxingdui Museum on the way. We will explore the mysterious ancient civilization of Yangtze drainage in Sanxingdui Museum (Three Star Garden Museum). Every excavated ware is a marvelous art craft for us. Then drive further to Mianyang.

Stay overnight in Mianyang.

Day 3 Mianyang -Jiuzhaigou

Sightseeing and Activities:Jiuzhaigou
Accommodation:Jiuzhaigou
Meals:breakfast, lunch

After breakfast, drive to Jiuzhaigou. We will have lunch in Pingwu, a nice small county with an ancient temple. If the traffic is fine, we will arrive in Jiuzhaigou in the late afternoon.

Stay overnight in Jiuzhaigou.

Day 4 Jiuzhaigou National Park Excursion

Sightseeing and Activities:Jiuzhaigou National Park Excursion ( Hiking 5-6 hours)
Accommodation:Jiuzhaigou
Meals:breakfast, lunch

We will explore scenic areas of Jiuzhaigou to the full: Mirror Lake, the Pearl Shoal Waterfall, the Five Colored Pond and the Panda Lake. At the end of the visit, you cannot agree more with the old Chinese saying, which goes: ‘just as one will find it worthless seeing a mountain after he has already visited the Yellow Mountain and he will also come to the conclusion that every lake is dull after he has seen the lakes in Jiuzhaigou’.

Stay overnight in Jiuzhaigou.

Day 5 Jiuzhaigou- Huanglong-Songpan

Sightseeing and Activities:Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) National park, Songpan old town
Accommodation:Songpan
Meals:breakfast, lunch

Drive to Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) National park in the morning in about 3 hours. Small ponds, waterfalls and dense forests scatter in a spectacular canyon, which is between 3,000 m-3,500 m (9,843 ft-11,483 ft) above sea level and interspersed with colorful flowers in Spring. Then drive to Songpan old town.

Stay overnight in Songpan old town.

Day 6 Songpan Horse-riding

Sightseeing and Activities:Songpan Horse-riding, Muni Valley
Accommodation:Songpan
Meals:breakfast, lunch

You will have a two-day horse-riding trip in the beautiful mountains surrounding by Songpan. Visit Muni Valley, where there are some peaceful lakes and an elegant waterfall. The horses are tame but the slopes are sometimes quite steep. You can do this trip even if you don’t have experience with horse-riding.

Camping for overnight.

Day 7 Songpan-Ruoergai Grassland

Sightseeing and Activities:Flower Lake, Ruoergai grassland
Accommodation:Ruergai
Meals:breakfast, lunch

The first half of the drive is in mountainous area, and then we will climb over to the high altitude grassland, where the jade like Yellow River and the Flower Lake located. The Flower Lake is a wetland located in the center of the Ruoergai grassland, a good place for wild bird-watching and sunset-watching. (the best time to explore grassland is from June to August)

Stay overnight at hotel in Ruergai county.

Day 8 Ruoergai-Langmu Monastery

Sightseeing and Activities:Langmu Monastery
Accommodation:Langmu
Meals:breakfast, lunch

The highlight of today is the tour to Langmu Monastery, located on the border of Sichuan and Gansu, a long-hiding village and temple where the time seems stand still. This village is unique for it is a mixture of Christianism, Buddhism and Islamism in their villager’s life and architecture.

Stay in Langmusi hotel or the similar.

Day 9 Langmu Monastery Hiking

Sightseeing and Activities:Langmusi Hiking
Accommodation:Langmusi
Meals:breakfast, lunch

Huagai Mountain is the highest mountain around Langmusi and also the sacred mountain for Tibetan people from Gansu Sichuan and Qinghai province. We will hike on this mountain and its Fairy Valley near the Monastery called Namo. Standing on the top of the mountain, you will see yellow river and big grassland.

Stay in Langmusi hotel or the similar.

Day 10 Langmu Monastery-Xiahe-Labuleng Monastry and the grassland

Sightseeing and Activities:Labuleng Monastery, sightseeing along the way
Accommodation:Xiahe
Meals:breakfast, lunch

Today’s driving is long, but you will see yaks, herd and beautiful landscapes on the way. We may be invited to a nomad’s tent to drink the fresh yak milk on the way. Arrive in Xiahe in Gansu province and spend a half day visiting the Labuleng Monastery and the grassland around. Stay in the best hotel in the small town.

Labuleng Monastry is one of the biggest Yellow Head Sect Monasteries in China. We will hike onto the top of the hill to have a bird view of the whole Monastery. We would watch the impressive gathering of the monks (at 12:00 everyday) in the courtyard of the monastery with the call of “alphorn”. Once the monks are doing their chanting, they will walk the Kora, surrounding the whole monastery complex and count the prayer wheels you are turning. We would also explore the village of Xiahe with local shops and the grassland around Xiahe, where nomad families live in tents.

Stay in Xiling Hotel or the similar

Day 11 Xiahe-Lanzhou

Sightseeing and Activities:Bingling Caves
Accommodation:Lanzhou
Meals:breakfast, lunch

The high way makes the drive much easier and faster. Visit Bingling Caves at the Yellow River, where we will first take a boat and then pass muddy trail to reach the site of unique Buddhist Caves, sculptures and paintings hiding from most of the tourists.

Stay overnight in Lanzhou.

Day 12 Lanzhou to Beijing/Shanghai

Sightseeing and Activities:Lanzhou to Beijing/Shanghai
Accommodation:none
Meals:breakfast

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Beijing or Shanghai and then take the flight for home.

Recommended Hotels

Quotations

Service Included:

• Tibet travel permit and all other necessary permits to Tibet;
• All entrance ticket fees for all tourist sites listed in the itinerary;
• Personal knowledgeable English-speaking Tibetan local tour guide;
• Personal comfortable, clean and safe vehicle with reliable Tibetan local driver; vehicle ranging from 4WD land cruiser to minibus depending on your group size;
• All lodging listed in the itinerary; it’s your decision about the accommodation class: luxury 5-star international hotel, comfortable 4-star hotel, economic 3-star hotel or budget hostel, guesthouse or tent. Please tell us your accommodation preference when submitting the enquiry; we will arrange the best-value hotels for you.
• Domestic flight/train tickets listed in the itinerary;
• All meals listed in the above itinerary;
• Tourist accident/casualty insurance;
• First aid kit;

Service Excluded:

• International flight to and out of China;
• Chinese visa (Note: we could help you with the Chinese visa application, like providing the invitation letter, presenting the hotel or domestic flight reservation copies, etc that you may need. )
• Domestic flight/train not listed in the itinerary. (We can provide you the domestic flight/train ticket booking service at the BEST discount price; please contact us our travel experts for the details.)
• Meals not specified in the itinerary; usually it costs about USD3-15 per person for one meal in TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region).
• Tips and gratitude to tour guide and driver;
• Personal expenses, like laundry, phone call, snacks, soft drinks (please do the best to avoid the alcoholic beverages during your Tibet trip), optional tour activities, etc.