Bashang Grassland Photography Tour, The Most Suitable Grassland for Photography in China

Itinerary Details Day by Day

Day 1 Beijing Arrival

Ni Hao, welcome to Beijing, the iconic city as well as the capital of China!

You will be met by your local tour guide at the arrival hall of your arrival airport or train station, then be escorted to check in to your hotel in downtown by a private comfortable vehicle. The rest of today is on your own to relax. If you want to explore nearby, feel free to get some practical suggestions from your tour guide.

Arrival Ideas: At present, there are many international and domestic flights to Beijing. Besides, you can take a high speed train to this capital city from Shanghai (4.5-6 hrs), Xian (4-6 hrs), Guangzhou (7.5-8 hrs), Chengdu (7.5-10 hrs), Chongqing (7-9 hrs), Hong Kong (8 hrs), etc.

Tour guide picked up our clients at Beijing airport

Day 2 Beijing (B, L)

Today's tour begins with a visit to the Tiananmen Square, the world's largest plaza. Walking through Tiananmen Gate, you'll enter the splendid Forbidden City, China's No.1 palace complex adorned with imperial treasures. It is a complex of more than 8000 rooms, including palaces, city moat and towers, which showcase the imposing scene of the royal city. The grandiose city gates with red paint is also the shooting scene. After Forbidden City exploration, take a short visit to Jingshan Park where you can get a nice shot of one watchtower of Forbidden City and take a panoramic view of Forbidden City.

In the afternoon, you'll marvel at the Temple of Heaven which is a great place to shoot another unique architecture style - fashioning order and symmetry. You can first take the panoramic view from a high point, then go to get some close shots of temples. The most famous one is Qinian Temple – a giant temple poking into the sky with ornate stage.

After the shooting of the stunning sunset, get back to your hotel.

Temple of Heaven Photographed by Our Guest Jessica in September 2023

Traditional Lion Head Door Knocker of Forbidden City

Day 3 Beijing - Jinshanling Great Wall (B)

After breakfast, your tour guide and driver will take you to Jinshanling Great Wall which is about 130km away from Beijing city. After check in your hotel, start your photography on the Jinshanling Great Wall.

Jinshanling Great Wall is located on the west of Simatai Great Wall. It is the best section for you to observe the diverse architectural style of the Great Wall here. Towers were built by different styles for different use. Impeccable unites for battles were also built on the great wall, including walls to block enemies and horses, crenels for shooting, etc. The spectacular mixed view of cloud, mist and sunset glow is a famous feature of Jinshanling Great Wall.

After shooting the beautiful sunset on the great wall, get back to your hotel.

Jinshanling Great Wall Taken by Our Guest Roger

Jinshanling Great Wall Taken by Our Guest Delma

Day 4 Jinshanling Great Wall-Bashang Grassland (B, L)

Get up early and drive to Bashang Grassland.

You will get to Weichang County by midday. After having lunch at Weichang County, keep driving north to Red Hill Military Horse Farm. The Red Hill Military Horse Farm is mainly responsible for supplying military horses for frontier forces. The most beautiful shooting sites are located in the farm area. After arrival, you will shoot sunset at the Back Mountain.

After the sun goes down, go back to your hotel.

Day 5 Bashang Grassland (B, L)

Get up early and drive to Jiangjun Lake. Jiangjun Lake is the biggest Lake in Red Hill Military Horse Farm. This is a great place for shooting sunrise. You can shoot the Big Red Hill under the morning light from here. After that, drive back to your hotel, and have lunch and some rest in the hotel.

In the afternoon, drive to Yangshubei Pasture. Herds of cows, sheep and horses are eating grass on this beautiful land. The herds are perfectly combining with the golden birches. If you are lucky, you will see the horses galloping on the fields. It is recommended to shoot the herds from a high angle under the sunset light.

After that, drive back to your hotel.

Day 6 Bashang Grassland (B, L)

Get up early and drive to Beigou to shoot the sunrise scene. Beigou is a north-south ditch and is most covered by secondary forest, like birches, wild hawthorns, pagoda trees and elms. The landform here is rich in variations. High quality photos can be shot in here. Then, drive to Wucai Hill, which is famous for the colorful trees on the hill.

After that, go back to your hotel, and get lunch.

In the afternoon, drive to Gongzhu Lake. This little lake is surrounded by birch forests and white sand. The scene here is just like a natural landscape painting. After that, go to the Panlong Valley, which is only 4km from Gongzhu Lake. Until today, this primitive valley still reserves its original features.

After that, drive back to your hotel.

Day 7 Bashang Grassland – Beijing (B, L)

In the morning, you will drive to Hamaba to shoot sunrise. Hamaba is a gentle slope which is located at a hilly and mountainous region. Colorful forests and herds of cows and sheep will look prettier under the sunshine at here.

After the shooting, farewell to the beautiful prairie and drive back to Beijing.

Weichang Bashang

Weichang Bashang can be divided into Saihanba National Forest Park, Yudaokou Plain and Forest Resort, Wulanbu Series Prairie and Huamugou Forest Farm. As the heaven of photographers, almost every place is good place for shooting. The most beautiful and suitable sites for photography are as the follows.

Best Sites for Photography

Three Mountains around Weichang

The three mountains are Big Red Hill, Little Red Hill and Lama Hill. These three mountains are not far from one another and they are located near from the Red Hill Military Horse Farm. They are recommended as the sunrise shooting places by the local people. Relatively speaking, Little Red Hill has the best view to shoot, and car can drive to the top of the hill. Besides, there is a village at the foot of Little Red Hill, and in autumn, there will be a large temperature difference between day and night, so this is also a good place to shoot kitchen smoke.

Wucai Hill

Wucai Hill (Wucai means five colors in Chinese) is 20km west to Red Hill Military Horse Farm. Once the autumn comes, due to the frost action, the trees will show different colors. At this time, Wucai Hill is just like dressing festival clothes and this will be a feast to your eyes.

Beigou

Beigou is a north-south ditch and is north to Red Hill Military Horse Farm. The length of Beigou is over 10km and most of Beigou is claimed by secondary forest. There are overgrown with birches at the hillside, while the bottom of the ditch is covered by wild hawthorns, pagoda trees and elms. Beigou is the rotational grazing area permitted by the Horse Farm. So you can see the herds of cows and sheep in here. Best time to shoot is morning and dusk.

Hamaba

As a classic shooting site, Hamaba is about 50km to Red Hill Military Farm. Hamaba is a gentle slope and it is located at a hilly and mountainous region. This site is suitable for shooting all year around. While the autumn of Hamaba is extremely beautiful for it’s very colorful in autumn. Village, herds of animals and forests are all your subjects to shoot. If the weather is fine, you can shoot the effect of light and shade just before sunrise or sunset against the sunlight, and you can also shoot the scene with bluish color after the sunset.

Gongzhu Lake

This is a little lake surrounded by birch forests and other trees. Across the lake is a white sand beach. The trees reflection on the lake surface under the sunlight forms a natural landscape painting. Though Gongzhu Lake is not big, it has its unique charms. Sunrise time and sunset time are all good time to shoot in Gongzhu Lake.

Panlong Valley

About 20km from Red Hill Military Horse Farm and 4km from Gongzhu Lake, Panlong Valley is a quiet place consisted of grassland, primitive forest, lake and valley. Developed at 1994, Panlong Valley still reserve its original features till today. In autumn, when the trees are bare in other places, Panlong Valley still has a good view because it’s low-lying position.

Best Season for Photography

For normal tourists, the best season to travel to Bashang is summer and autumn (from June to October). July to August is the golden time to avoid summer heat. However, for shutterbugs, you can shoot good pictures all year round.

The spring on Bashang starts from the mid May. At this time, the verdant grassland is covered by a carpet of flowers. All kinds of flowers bloom one by one. The color of the grassland will rotate among Yellow, red, white, blue and violet every half month till the end of summer.

When the summer (July to August) comes, the sky is high, the land is broad, the fields are green, the air is clear and the climate is cool. Look up from a high land, you will feel as if the sky and cloud is reachable. Look down at the open field, the grass and flowers swing with summer breeze, and horses gallop on the vast field.

As for the golden autumn, from mid-September to the end of September, the land keeps changing its coat color from dark green to golden yellow, and then to fire red. In the half agriculture and half pastoral area, straight paths cross the fields and divide the fields into different-color zones, as if nature draw us a bright and colorful oil painting.

During the winter time, the world is cladded in silvery white. Ink-colored thicket spread on the silvery white field, sporadic horses wandering around, a plume of smoke comes out of the snow-covered thatched house. All these forms a natural Chinese ink painting.

Tips from Our Experts

1. Recommended equipment

Shoot on the grassland, telephoto lens, wide angle lens and tripod are recommended. While when you shoot the winter Bashang, polarizer is useful to filter the reflection of the snow land.

2. Living equipment

Large temperature difference between day and night, so bring warm clothes is very important. Especially in autumn and winter, the temperature at night is normally is below zero, so down jacket is recommended. Even in summer, you’d better wear long trousers to avoid the mosquito bite and weed scratch. Sunblock can protect you from sun burns.

3. How to choose interesting objects

Sheep, horses, cars and even geirs can bring more vitality and fun to your photo. Normally, these objects are arranged around the golden section points to be coordinated with the picture.

4. How to arrange the position of horizon line

The positions of horizon line and sky are very important. According to different scenes, there are three ways to arrange horizon line. First, put the horizon line in the upper one-third position can highlight the vast of the grassland. Second, place the horizon line in the center is suitable for lake photography. While the horizon line in the lower one-third position can highlight the cloud and sunglow in the sky.

5. Transportation advice

From Beijing to Weichang Bashang, the most convenient way is by bus. The drive will take about 5 hours.

6. Accommodation advice

Vocational villages and hotels are mainly located at Jixie Forest Farm and Red Hill Military Horse Farm. It’s better to book the hotel in advance of two weeks in July and August, or else you may have to stay overnight at home-style hotels with poor housing conditions.

7 Days Bashang Grassland Photography Tour

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Itinerary Details Day by Day

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