5 Days Danxia Badain Jaran Desert Tour from Zhangye

Full Itinerary Day by day

Day 1 Zhangye Arrival

Welcome to Zhangye, a key town of the Silk Road, the major thoroughfare of New Eurasian Land Bridge and national historical and cultural city! Your tour guide will meet you at Zhangye Ganzhou Airport (or railway station), then escort you to your hotel in a private vehicle. The rest of today is on your own to relax in this historical city.

Arrival Ideas: Zhangye is not a very popular transportation hub like Lanzhou and Xining. Currently, it is usually reached by flights from Xian, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou. You can also get there by high speed trains from Lanzhou (4 hrs), Xining (2hrs), Xian (7.5hrs), Dunhuang (4hrs), Jiayuguan (1.5hrs), Urumqi (8hrs), and so on.

Day 2 Zhangye Danxia Sightseeing (B, L)

Zhangye is famous for its unparalleled Danxia Landforms which is a spectacular petrographic geomorphology landscape formed from red-colored sand stones and conglomerates. Among all the Danxia places in Zhangye, Binggou Danxia Landform Scenery Area and Zhangye Danxia Landform Geographical Park (Linze Danxia) have most significant Danxia landscapes. Today you will go to explore both of them.

After breakfast, you will go to visit Binggou Danxia Landform first which is about 1 hour's driving from Zhangye downtown. Even though just being visited by fewer travelers, Binggou Danxia Landform Scenery Area has its own featured charms. If the Linze Danxia Scenery is a visual feast of colors, then the Binggou Danxia is a great joy to find how the Mother Nature became a sculptor who sculptured the mountains to amazing different shapes, like grand palaces, long corridors, giant pillars, etc. You will hike leisurely about 2 hours to look the spectacular landform closely.

In the afternoon, drive about 30mins to visit the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geographical Park which was formed in the pre-Jurassic Age. Thousands of mountains and stiffs stretch like the colorful sunset glow. The barren mountains are covered by a red grit rock stratum. At the same time, some surfaces of mountains appear other colors, such as white, yellow, etc, and form many irregular lines and blocks looking like some abstract oil paintings. There are five viewing decks for you to watch and shoot. You will visit one by one, and will be transferred by park buses from one deck to another.

You won't miss the precious opportunity to enjoy the amazing sunset. Viewing Deck No. 4 is the best location to take sunset of the Danxia Landform. It's better to get there earlier to occupy a good location. After sunset, drive back to Zhangye downtown for accommodation.

Useful Tips:  1) Pack with sun creams, sun glasses, protective clothing and hat to protect from strong sunlight in summer; 2) sunset is the best time for taking photos which happen around 19:00~20:00 in summer and 18:00~19:00 in winter.

Day 3 Zhangye - Badain Jaran Town (B, L)

After breakfast, you will go to visit the famous Giant Buddha Temple which is famous for having the largest indoor sleeping Buddha in Asia. This temple is a large complex with regal arrangements built in Xixia Dynasty(1098), and keeps many precious Buddhist scriptures and wall paintings. Its famous treasure is the Sleeping Buddha which is the centrally seated, symmetric buildings situate along the sides. The Buddha statue was carved by woods with a length of 34.5 meters, telling the story of Buddha’s Nirvana. His ears are as big as the space in which 4 adults can sit side by side.

Finishing the Giant Buddha Temple visit, drive about 160 kilometers(2hrs) to Badain Jaran Town, the largest town near Badain Jaran Desert. On route, you will take an excursion trip to Pingshan Lake Grand Canyon Scenic Area where the rock is peculiar in shape. You can find “human, bird, animal, and pagoda”. It has been praised as "comparable to the Grand Canyon of Colorado" by well-known geological experts and tourists at home and abroad, and it is the new discovery of the Silk Road!

Stay overnight in Badain Jaran Town.

Day 4 Badain Jaran Desert Jeep Safari & Exploration (B, L)

Visiting Route: Geo-park Museum - Badain Lake - Dagetu - Fairy Peak - Yinderitu Spring - Bilutu - Badain Jaran Temple (The final route is subject to change according to weather and time condition)

After breakfast, drive about 1 hour from your hotel to the entrance area of the desert park to visit Badain Jaran Geo-park Museum first to learn some useful geography and cultural information about this China’s most beautiful desert. UNESCO experts claim that Badain Jaran Desert includes “unique desert aeolian features of the most concentrated distribution area of mega-dunes and inter-dunal lake basins, constituting irreplaceable natural heritage values”.

Start your thrilling and exciting Badain Jaran off-road adventure now! Hop on a desert Jeep, and drive head to the heartland of 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 driving goes to Badain Jaran Temple in the deep desert where a Mongol yurts camp sets up on the side of a lake for travelers to stay over the night.

There are a lot of stops at the most beautiful points, such as Badain Lake, desert oasis, Genghis Khan Sand Carving, Dagetu Lake, Yinderitu Spring, Temple Lake, etc. You will also go up to Bilutu which is the highest sand dune in the world with an altitude of 1611 meters. You will reach at Badain Jaran Temple, known as the Forbidden City in the Desert, after about 4~5 hours driving. The rest time is free to explore the beauty of the desert till the sunset time.

Tonight you will accommodate in a Mongol yurt in the middle of the desert which is comfortable (for a yurt) with shower available, but the toilet is basic and placed outside the camp.

Pack and Wear Right – Very Important? - bring only necessary things to the desert, such as water, sunglasses, sunblocking cream, camera, dramamine (for possible carsickness during desert driving), etc. Take a towel, shower gel, shampoo if you want to take a shower. Your luggage can be remained in our car or hotel in Badain Jaran Town.

Day 5 Badain Jaran Desert Half-day Tour & Departure (B, L)

Visiting Route: Badain Jaran Temple - Barun Jaran - Barunyikeri - Heavenly Lake - Entrance(The final route is subject to change according to weather and time condition)

Get up at about 5:30~6.00 A.M in the morning, find a good sunrise location on the sand mountain to wait for the first ray of golden sunlight to shine on the stretches of desert. The sunrise at Badain Jaran Desert is a true feast to eyes. It’s a striking combination of light and shadow. At the daybreaking time, the sun seems to be playing the hide-and-seek with people. It then rises gradually like a dancing sparrows from the horizon, and project her golden light upon the sea of sand. Soak yourself in this sun-drenched otherworldly scene, and let the golden light and cool desert air wash over you. After the sunrise, return to the camp site.

After breakfast, keep on Jeep Safari adventure. You will make a stop at Barun Jaran (Barunjilin), a stunning lake which is a great place to take photo of sand dunes’ reflection. You will also go to visit Barunyikeri where two lakes are divided by an edge of sand dunes, and Heavenly Lake (Tianchi), a lovely lake suitable for photography.

You will exit the desert park around the noon time. Have lunch before leaving for next destination. (Departure tips: the nearest airport is Jinchang Airport where you can take flights to Xian, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, etc. If you want to transfer to Zhangye or other places in the region with our private car services, please contact your travel consultant in advance.)

The quotation for this trip is from Request Per Person

1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one standard double-bed room in a 4-star hotel and traveling with our private tour in low seasons.
2. This price is subject to change according to your traveling season, group size, hotel class, change of activities in your itinerary and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate. If you want a lower price, you can get more people to join you, or use economy class hotels.
3. This price is only valid to March 31, 2025.
4. Reference exchange rate of USD 1=RMB 7.00. The final quote is based on current exchange rate. It may change according to the currency fluctuation, while the RMB quotation will be remained the same.

How Our Teams Serve you at China Discovery

"Highest Standards of Quality and Honesty" is the core value of each specialized team at China Discovery.

Eveyone in our company is working hard for only one goal, which is to ensure the highest level of service, luxury, and attention to detail from the minute you begin planning your trip, to the day you return home.

1-on-1 Travel Consultant

Our travel consultants are professional, experienced and responsible, helping you from the very beginning to the end of your China trip!

After sending us an inquiry, one of our travel consultants will get back to you within 0.5~23.5 hrs. In the next few days, he/she will be working closely with you to formulate a customized tour plan, as well as providing professional suggestions based on your travel interests, time, and budget.

Beside, he/she will keep in contact with you during your entire tour in China, continually checking if everything is going well as planned.

We're working at Chengdu Bamboo International Tours, local based in Chengdu.

Local Tour Guides

Our local guide in every destination is not only very friendly, enthusiastic but also very informative and knowledgeable.

Once you arrive in the destination, the patient and punctual guides will pick you up and take you to get under skin of the city at your own pace. By in-depth discovery and explanation, they’ll show you more about the history, culture, customs and authentic local life. Throughout the journey, they're not only expert guides who take care of all the details but also fellow travelers who are dedicated to help you explore in comfort and style.

Our guides are passionate about what they do, and it shows all the way!

Local Drivers & Vehicle

Using our private transfer service makes you comfortable, relaxed and worry free all the way!

Our private service includes licensed drivers with many years’ driving experience and air-conditioned, non-smoking, clean and well-maintained cars/vans. Drivers are local, polite, friendly and helpful, taking you to your tourist sites, hotels, airport/train stations in safety. All kinds of vehicle are offered, and yours depends on the size of your group. Usually, we offer sedan cars, SUVs, business vans (MPV) and different types of buses, all with extra space for your luggage.

Our private transfer service guarantees you the highest comfort!

Comfortable & Homelike Hotels

In each destination, you’ll enjoy a comfortable stay in a great location!

The hotels we choose are based on star rating, great locations, well-equipped facilities, cozy bed, high quality service and guests’ feedbacks. Choices are a lot ranging from luxury 5 star, comfortable 4 star to budget 3 star. You could decide where to stay to best suit for your budget and likes. Generally, the hotels have both Western and Chinese breakfast with a wide choices.

If you have already got an ideal hotel, please feel free to tell our travel consultants and they'll book the hotel for you.

Have good sleep in our well-selected hotels in all the destinations of China.

Meals & Dining

We can satisfy all the dietary requirements no matter you want Chinese local food, western food, vegetarian food or muslin food.

The restaurants we will take you for lunch or dinner are all designated tourist restaurants approved by local tourist administration bureau. They have very good sanitary conditions and the food is prepared fresh and clean.

There will be some meals excluded in your itinerary as you like, and your private guide will be delighted to give you some suggestions and take you to the local restaurants to taste like Beijing Roast Duck, Xian Dumpling Dinner, Sichuan Hotpot, etc., if you are interested in local food tasting.

All the dining options will satisfy your stomach!

Check What our delighted customers are saying about our services

Hi Rita,

The best experience ever!!!! I fell in love.

I received your lovely card and cute gifts, thank you so much.

Done it! As always it’s my pleasure to hire your company services, see you in the next adventure.

Emmy

Emmy‚ Mexico, December 15, 2024

Hi Rita,

Please kindly see the feedback below.

We are a family of 7. This private tour package definitely met our expectations! Both tour guides (Chengdu- MAY & Chongqing-DAVID) provided us a very good service, both friendly and very flexible despite the change in our tour schedules. They were also very responsible and ensured our safety, meals and transports were well taken care of, especially since we have elderly and kids in our group. Both tour guides are very fluent in English too so it is very convenient for some of the non-chinese speakers in our group.

We will look for the same tour agent again in our next trip to China!

Best Regards,

Victoria

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Victoria‚ Singapore, December 14, 2024

Hi Shirley,

Thanks for the tour, and the itinerary that you planned for us was very comprehensive and detailed. We enjoyed it very much. The tour guide was also very friendly and experienced. He followed your itinerary closely and brought us to all the sites and explained in detail. He also recommended and brought us to enjoy some of the local cuisines during lunch.

Overall, we are impressed by the excellent service, reliability and quality that yourself, the tour guide and the driver has provided us. We would like to visit China again and we will not hesitate to engage your services again. Thank you!

Regards

Chun How

Chun How‚ Singapore, December 14, 2024

Hi Shirley,

I'm writing to provide some feedback on our recent Xian and Beijing trip that you put together for us.

We travel a lot, in the past year to Japan, New Zealand, China, Turkey, Africa, China, and finally this Xian/Beijing trip. I bring this up to highlight that we deal with a lot of travel professionals. You are easily the best travel professional we have dealt with through all of those trips. My wife, who happens to be Chinese asked me to make sure to keep your contact information for future China trips, with the intention of replacing the China based agent her brother usually uses for our trips.

Please let your manager know that we would probably not have used your company if not for you. Bamboo Travel is new to us and in a foreign country, so we had doubts as to what to expect. Your service was excellent from start to finish which really gave us confidence in your company. We had a little bit of an unusual itinerary and some constraints related to our other China travel prior to this tour. You were able to work through all of our issues with fast responses to our questions.

You also went what I would say was above and beyond expectations. The final example of that is a friend in the US was shipping some things to our hotel in Beijing for me to bring home to her. I contacted you to confirm the hotel name before they shipped the items, expecting I would then have to figure out the shipping details. Your reply not only confirmed the hotel, but you provided the shipping info in both English and Chinese, which saved me the hassle of trying to figure which address to use. Not a huge thing, but it's those small things that add up to a big difference in customer experience.

Thanks again for everything!

Xian:

Our guide was Waldner and we liked him from the start. We were just coming off another tour with another company which had maybe the best tour leader we've ever had. Even though we were always comparing Waldner measured up well. He was great at explaining the history of places we visited as well as answering our cultural questions. The restaurants/food were very good. He and the driver also modified the itinerary somewhat to optimize the driving based on our arrival and departure times and locations. We liked the hotel in Xian. The car (van) was very comfortable. Waldner also helped arrange tickets for a night show for us.

Beijing:

Pickup was great; even though we got in late the guide that picked us up was there and actually met us at the track. Cindy was our guide and we really liked her also. She is very knowledgeable and willing to answer (a lot of) questions. This was my 3rd time in Beijing and it was amazing what a difference having a good guide made. Cindy and the driver also modified the itinerary to optimize the driving. She also helped us book tickets to two shows, one of which was not on your list of optional items (Lao She tea house). Cindy was concerned about us ordering a cab so she stayed at the show to make sure we got back to our hotel ok. The restaurants/food were very good. The hotel was good but not great; for example we had hot water issues every day, and when I went to pick up a package that was shipped to me they just left me to dig through a pretty large pile of packages all addressed in Chinese.

To wrap up, I would rate the overall experience of looking for a trip, picking a company, and traveling 9.5 out of 10. Shirley, your service was 10 out of 10.

See you next trip!

Terry

Terry ‚ USA, December 11, 2024

Dear Rita,

Feedback.

The trip organised by Rita Jiang to Beijing and Xian was very well planned and enjoyable, showing the best of Chinese history, culture, heritage, and enormous progress.

Your 2 guides, Linda Chua and Beryl are very good. Linda went out of her way to take us to Peking Opera at night. The kids were tired, so we did not go to Summer palace and Heavenly temple, and did not go to Xian Pagoda. It was our choice, so its ok. (I have been to all)

The 2 bus drivers were excellent, very careful, disciplined and good temperament and helpful. I could not give a tip to Beryl at Xian station, as I had to rush into toilet inside, and did not know she could not enter the train Station.

The pace was good, but the last day of train from Xian, to hotel (plus late dinner scrabbling in Beijing), then early next morning to airport was too Hectic. However, it was because we had to return on 8.12.24. we wish we could stay longer in Xian, and elsewhere. We could probably have gone to Xian by train, then fly back to Beijing by plane, but one way tickets could cost much more.

Anyway, thank you very much for all your fine arrangements. We all enjoyed the short trip.

For the kids, the major highlights were the Great Wall, Terracotta warriors, Acrobatic show. They will treasure. I will plan more trips for them to China.

Best wishes and warm regards,

Richard

Richard‚ Singapore, December 11, 2024

Check What our customers are saying about us on Tripadvisor.com

excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended...

Luciano P

"Travel consultant Mr Wonder Wang was so helpful and he planned our trip to Xi’an and Beijing so well. Mr Waldner is an amazing guide. His knowledge and enthusiasm made our tour very memorable..." read more »

Reviewed on December 13, 2024

Luciano P

"excellent assistance, helpfulness and courtesy. My contact 'was Shirley, prepared friendly and punctual. Highly recommended..." read more »

Reviewed on December 13, 2024