7 Days Jiuzhaigou Ruoergai Prairie Langmusi Tour

Day 1 Chengdu - Chuanzhusi Town (L)

Driving from Chengdu to Chuanzhusi Town - 350 km / 6~7 hours

Today after breakfast, your tour guide will pick you up in your hotel, then leave the city and drive to Chuanzhusi Town, which is a beautiful small town near to Huanglong National Park. The distance between Chengdu and Chuanzhusi is about 350 kilometers, and need about 6~7 hours to drive. Before getting to Chuanzhusi Town, you will take a visit to historical Songpan Ancient City. Check in to your hotel in Chuanzhusi Town. The rest of today is free for you to acclimatize the altitude (2900 m) and relax.

Tips for Saving Time: you can also take a flight from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport if you want to save time. The flights usually depart from Chengdu in the early morning and take only about 1 hour to get to Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport before noon. The afternoon time can be spent to visit Huanglong National Park, which will save a day compared with tour package by driving.

• Beautiful Chuanzhusi Town

Day 2 Chuanzhusi - Huanglong - Jiuzhaigou (B)

Today's highlight: Huanglong Valley

After breakfast, drive about 30 minutes from Chuanzhusi to visit Huanglong National Park. Situated in the Minshan Mountains in northwestern Sichuan Province, Huanglong Valley has one of the three most outstanding travertine lake terraces in the world, which is 3.6 Kilometers long, lying under the grandiose peak of Xuebao Peak (Snow Treasure Mountain: 5,588 meters) like a yellow dragon. This is how the valley gained the name of Huanglong (Yellow Dragon). The travertine scenery was created by the thousands years of geological evolution, including glacial revolution, terrane movement, chemical reaction, climate changing, etc. At the top (3556 m) of the valley lies the best highlight - Five-Color Ponds consisting of 693 ponds of different sizes, shapes, colors, dazzling like beautiful emeralds. Huanglong Valley is also renowned for superlative sceneries of snow mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, wild forests, etc. as well as an important habitant of Giant Pandas and Snub-nosed monkeys. All these magnificences of nature helped Huanglong gained the title of World Natural Heritage Site in 1992.

It usually takes about 6 hours to hike from the entrance to Five-Color Ponds, then return to the entrance. To save energy and time, you will take a quick cable car directly to the top, and then walk down the valley to enjoy the scenery. After about 3-hour sightseeing in the valley, you will leave the park and drive about 2 hours to Jiuzhaigou to check in your hotel.

Useful tips: 1) some attractions in Huanglong valleys are located over 3500 meters above the sea level, which may cause high altitude sickness for some travelers. You’d better walk at a slower pace. If you feel hard to breathe or headache, you can go to the Oxygen Bars to rest and take oxygen; 2) Huanglong cableway is not operational in winter; 3) there is no restaurant in the valley, you can bring some food or snacks, or have lunch after exiting the park.

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Day 3 Jiuzhaigou Full Day Exploration (B)

Today's highlight: Jiuzhaigou Valley

After breakfast at your hotel, set out for the full-day exploration of Jiuzhaigou National Park. Your guide will accompany you to hop on a sightseeing bus to enter the park to explore the fairyland landscape of Jiuzhaigou.

Having been hidden as a mysterious home to nine Tibetan villages and never been bothered by outsider until the first discovery in the middle 20th century, Jiuzhaigou is a reserve of superb and diverse natural beauty of which the waterfall and plateau lakes are praised as the most stunning waterscape in the world. According to official records, there are up to 114 turquoise pools and lakes, 47 tranquil springs, 17 groups of waterfalls, 11 rapids and 5 beautiful tufa shoals scattering in the three main valleys of Jiuzhaigou, Rize Valley, Zechawa Valley and Shuzheng Valley. They present various color patterns of white, blue, green, turquoise and emerald in different seasons. The visual feast of Jiuzhaigou also expands from waterscape to spectacular jagged alpine mountains, wild forests with multi-colors and many other remarkable natural features.

Visiting Jiuzhaigou Valley is relaxing and enjoyable. There are sightseeing buses running from the entrance to the three valleys with stops near the scenic spots. Travelers hop off the bus, walk along wooden plank roads to enjoy the sights, then hop on another bus to next attractions. Our tour guide will organize your visit route according to your time, energy and crowd level, and accompany you to explore the essence of Jiuzhaigou at a comfortable pace. The classic visit route is to take tourist bus from the entrance to Nuorilang Water Fall first, then transfer to Zechawa Valley to visit the Long Lake and Five-Color Pond, then move to Rize Valley to visit the Panda Lake, Five Flowers Lake, Pearl Shoal, Mirror Lake, etc. Lastly, get back to Nuorilang, and descend along Shuzheng Valley to the park entrance and visit Rhinoceros Lake, Tiger Lakes, Shuzheng Waterfall, Sparkling Lake, etc. on route.

After Jiuzhaigou sightseeing, your tour guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Useful tips: 1) try to have breakfast and enter the park earlier to escape the crowds of tourist groups; 2) wear comfortable walking shoes and seasonal cloths based on your travel month; 3) Buffet lunch is provided in Nuorilang Restaurant (the only restaurant in the valley) but food options are limited. You can also bring some snacks or let your hotel prepare packed food for you if you like.

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Day 4 Jiuzhaigou Valley - Ruoergai (B, L)

Today's highlights: Ruoergai Prairie, Dazha Monastery

After breakfast, leave Jiuzhaigou and drive about 160 km (nearly 4 hours) to Ruoergai County. On Route, enjoy the beautiful scenery of Ruoergai Prairie, and feel free to ask for stops along the way to take photos. Ruoergai Prairie is famous as one of the Top 10 Most Beautiful Wetlands in China. It is a vast prairie with marshes, wetlands, valleys, hills in the northwestern Tibetan region of Sichuan Province. The Yellow River and the Yangtze River divide it into two parts. In the east, there are continuous mountains, green peaks, and billows of the forest; in the west, there are vast grasslands, lush wetlands, flocks of cattle and sheep, known as "oasis of Northwest Sichuan Plateau". After arriving at Ruoergai County, check in your hotel and take a rest for a while, then go to visit the Dazha Monastery, a spectacular monastery of Gelug sect (Yellow Hat) of Tibetan Buddhism. The temple is large in scale, which combines the architectural features of both Han and Tibetan. There is a library and exhibition hall in the temple housing many ancient scriptures. You can see many devout pilgrims praying around the pagoda outside the main hall where you can also overlook the panoramic view of Ruoergai County and enjoy the beautiful sunset when the days are clean.

• Dazha Monastery in Ruoergai County
• Driving among beautiful Ruoergai Prairie

Day 5 Ruoergai - Huahu Lake - Langmusi (B, L)

Today's highlights: Huahu Lake, Langmusi Town

This morning in the morning glory, you will drive about 1 hour from Ruoergai County to visit the brightest star on the Ruoergai Prairie - Huahu Lake (3,468 m)which is a natural Wetland Pond on the vast prairie. This is the best place to watch the wild birds including the rare black Crane. Under the peaceful lake is a vast and unfathomable swamp. Walking along the plank beside the lake, you can enter the middle of the wetland. It is named after a kind of small white flowers blooming around the lake. During June and May, the Lake is colorful with all kinds of blossoms. When the weather is clear and windless, the lake is like a mirror with the reflection of the blue sky and white cloud, which has a sense of the world in the fairy tale, Therefore, it has once named as the most beautiful wetland in China by National Geographic. Sightseeing bus will escort you into the deep area of the prairie, then let you walk on plank roads to enjoy surrounding scenery.

Leaving Huahu Lake, you will keep driving northward about 1 hour to Langmusi which is a small town divided by a river into Sichuan and Gansu part. Nicknamed as "Little Oriental Switzerland", Langmusi is surrounded by grassland, forests and hills. Han, Tibetan, and Hui people live here in harmony and most residents here believe in Tibetan Buddhism and Islam. Stepping into Langmusi, you can feel a strong atmosphere of religion seeing the colorful temples and prayer flags, which also adds a sense of Zen to the primitive nature scene. Staying here, people can easily calm down and find a little peace of mind. Your tour guide will bring you to visit the two most outstanding temples here - Serti Gompa and Kirti Gompa, also enjoy some leisure walk around to enjoy amazing scenery before checking in your hotel in Langmusi town./p>

• Huahu Lake (Flower Lake) in July
• Peaceful Morning at Langmusi Town

Day 6 Langmusi - Hongyuan (B, L)

Today's highlights: The First Band of Yellow River, Waqie Pagoda Forest

Wake up in the peaceful morning of Langmsi. Go to enjoy a spectacular sunrise if you don't mind getting up early. After breakfast, leave Langmusi and drive about 2 hours southward to visit the First Band of Yellow River (3,50 m) where the Yellow River, the mother river of Chinese civilization, makes a magic 180-degree turn, looking like a shape of 卍 and Yin-Yang Diagram. It is also the first among the ninety-nine winding bends of the meandering Yellow River. You can walk along the wooden plank road or take an elevator up (extra cost) to the sightseeing platform to look down upon and enjoy a panoramic view of the First Band of Yellow River. After some pleasant photo time at the First Band of Yellow River, keep driving about 1 hour to Waqie Town (3,508 m) to visit Waqie Pagoda Forest. It is said the Holiness 10th Panchen Lama came to Waqie to teach Buddhism twice before he passed away in 1989. Local pilgrims built 108 white pagodas to commemorate his great achievement in the diffusion of Tibetan Buddhism. For photographers, the rows of white pagodas and volant prayer flags are great materials to take some impressive photos. Lastly, drive about 1 hour to Hongyuan County (3,504 m) for accommodation.

• First Bend of Yellow River
• Kathryn Foster

Day 7 Hongyuan - Chengdu (B, L)

Today's highlight: Taoping Qiang Village

After breakfast, leave Hongyuan and drive about 7~8 hours back to Chengdu. Make a midway stop to visit Taoping Qiang Village, which is an ancient village of Qiang people, an important ethnic group in northern Sichuan. Located 180 km northwest from Chengdu city, Taoping Qiang Village is best-preserved Qiang-style building group of watchtowers and folk houses all over the world, and it was built in 111 AD as the county pass and key defense area in West Han dynasty (206 BC - 9 AD) according to historic materials. Strolling in the village, you will be astonished by the so solid houses that compose like a maze. Visiting Taoping Qiang Village, you can experience its more than 2000-year history, see the original and pure life of Qiang people, and enjoy the local fantastic songs and dance, especially the multi-voice of high artistic value, also the talented Qiang embroidery of long history is another shining star of Qiang people.

Your Jiuzhaigou Ruoergai Langmusi adventure tour ends at your hotel in Chengdu. It is also available to drop off at the airport or train station if you want to leave Chengdu today. If you do so, you'd better book the flight or train leaving after 18:00.

• Taoping Qiang Village - Mysterious Village of Qiang Ethnic Group