Leo's 2 Days Summer Trip in Badain Jaran

In 2022, we took several trips and most of them were weekend getaways. We can only choose those places without coivd situations and no strict requirements during the covid period. The two days short trip to Badain Jaran Desert was one of the best trips I even took, but it's also very exhausted as we did the overnight train to Jinchang from Chengdu. Usually there are a few direct flight to Jinchang Airport from Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu; if you do the Silk Road trip, you can take a side trip to Badain Jaran Desert from Zhangye, which would be cost-effective and it's our recommendation.

Following you can find that we did the classic two days Badain Jaran Desert trip with one overnight in the desert.

Day 1 Jinchang Arrival July 02

Instead of taking flight to Jinchang, we took an overnight train (which takes around 17 hours, K452 (15:41-08:28)). When arriving at the train station on July 2nd, we caught a local taxi to Badain Jaran Town (which is about 65km from Badain Jaran Desert National Park) and it takes around 2-3 hours driving.

Chengdu to Kashgar Train with Stop in Jinchang

Upon our arrival at the entrance of the Badain Jaran Desert National Park, we hopped on a desert Jeep, and drive head to the heartland of the desert.

The Jeep in the desert

As a vast desert covering over 45,000 square kilometers, Badain Jaran Desert's highlighting lakes and sand dunes can only be reached by SUV unless you will have to trek several days through the desert.

The red lake in the desert

The driving goes to Badain Jaran Temple in the deep desert where a Mongol yurt camp sets up on the side of a lake for travelers to stay over the night.

The Badain Jaran Temple

After today's visit, you will check in your hotel in the deep desert; we chose to stay at a local guesthouse with limited conditions. You can also stat at a Mongol Yurt which is a different experience.

The Mongol Yurts in the desert

If you are a photographer, you can shoot the Milky Way if the weather is nice.

The Mongol Yurts in the desert

Day 2 Badain Jaran Desert Departure July 03

Today we visited some other lakes along our way out of the desert.

We have to Say Good Bye to Desert

In the afternoon, we took the overnight train back to Chengdu.

Overall the weather was very good when we visited the desert and it's really beautiful in the deep desert; If you plan to visit it, it's better to stay two nights there, one night in the town and one night in the deep desert. Badain Jaran Desert is definitely my recommendation.