Qinghai–Gansu
Grand Route

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Xining and Kumbum Monastery

   Arrival, transfer and acclimatisation. Visit Kumbum (Ta'er Si), birthplace of the Gelug school and one of Tibet's six great monasteries. Overnight in Xining.

2. Qinghai Lake (Koko Nor)

   Drive the southern shore of China's largest saltwater lake, with viewpoints over an impossible blue and yak herders' camps. Overnight near the lake.

3. Chaka Salt Lake: the mirror of the sky

   Leave at dawn, when the still water turns the ground into a mirror. We go in before the coaches arrive. Afternoon drive to Dachaidan.

4. Dachaidan Emerald Lake

   Old borax mines turned into lakes of impossible green, desert all around. Free afternoon for photography.

5. Yardangs on the water

   Sandstone formations rising out of a salt lake in the middle of the desert. One of the strangest landscapes on earth. Continue to Dunhuang.

6. Dunhuang: Mogao and Mingsha

   Morning in the Mogao Caves, 492 cave temples with 45,000 m² of wall painting. Afternoon on the Mingsha dunes and Crescent Lake at sunset.

7. Jiayuguan, the Wall's western end

   Visit the last Great Wall fortress before the desert, with the snow-capped Qilian Mountains behind. Overnight in Jiayuguan.

8. Zhangye Rainbow Mountains

   Danxia Geopark: sandstone layers 24 million years old. We visit at sunset, when the colours are deepest.

9. Qilian and back to Xining

   High-altitude meadows, mountain monasteries and, in July, the rapeseed sea at Menyuan. Transfer to the airport or an extra night.