Jiuzhaigou Photography Tour, Jiuzhaigou Photo Travel Tips

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Travel News: Jiuzhaigou is fully open to tourists now, including the beautiful Panda Sea, Swan Sea and Wild Forest and other attractions. 2) Travelers can now travel to Jiuzhaigou by train now, which is much cheaper than flight tour. Book a valuable Jiuzhaigou tour package with China Discovery now!; 3) The cable way at Huanglong National Park will be temporarily closed for maintenance from December 1st to December 25th 2024, and travelers hike approximately 2-3 hours from the base to the top.

Most Beautiful Waterscape in China, World Natural Heritage Sites, 5A National Park, Fairytale Land... Jiuzhaigou is worthy any of these reputations. That is why Jiuzhaigou is regarded as the paradise for photography. Every photographer comes on an impulse, and leaves on a satisfaction.

Jiuzhaigou is located in northern Sichuan, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Region, and can be reached by flight and car. Over 108 lakes, 3 groups of waterfalls, vast wild forests and giant high snow mountains intersperse on three long stretching valleys: Shuzheng Valley, Rize Valley and Zechawang Valley, which allows you to take endless materials and angles to shoot.

Currently, a tourist can only visit Jiuzhaigou National Park once in 45 days, so the sightseeing on Day 3 will be combined into Day 2. This Jiuzhaigou photography tour can also be customized depending on what photos you want to take, and on the weather condition when you go. Feel free to tell your interests and ideas to your personal travel consultants!

Basic Photography Info

Travel Route: Chengdu / Huanglong / Jiuzhaigou

Travel Length: 4 Days

Tour Code: CD-PTJZT-04

Tour Price: $430

Tour Type: Private Tour

Departure: You Choose (you may plan it according to the best season and time.)

Trip Itinerary & Price Guide
Photography Guide
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Itinerary Details Day by Day

Day 1 Chengdu - Huanglong - Jiuzhaigou Valley

This morning, take a morning high speed train (about 1.5~2 hrs) to Huanglongjiuzhai Station (黄龙九寨站). Upon arrival, you will be greeted by our local tour guide and driver who will then transfer you to Huanglong National Park directly (about 28 km/less than 1 hr).

Situated in the Minshan Mountains in northwestern Sichuan Province, Huanglong Valley has one of three most outstanding travertine lake terraces in the world, which is 3.6 kilometers long, and lies 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 geological evolution for thousands of years, 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 gain 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.

Day 2 Jiuzhaigou Valley ( B )

Today, you will visit and take photos in Shuzheng Valley and Zechawa Valley.

Entering the gate of Jiuzhaigou National Park, you will first be welcomed by Shuzheng Valley. The first site for shooting is the Reed Sea where dense plateau reeds sticking in a large pure lake. Going deeper, there are sightseeing sites Flaming Sea, Shuzheng Seas, Shuzheng Waterfall, Tiger Sea and Rhinoceros Sea, etc. The end of Shuzheng Valley locates the famous Nuorilang Waterfall which is 270 meters wide and 24.5 meters high.

After lunch, take sightseeing bus from Nuorilang to the end of Zechawa Valley to Visiting Long Lake, Five-color Lake, then take sightseeing bus back to the entrance of Jiuzhaigou for accommodation.

Day 3 Jiuzhaigou Valley ( B )

Today's highlight is the most beautiful valleys of Jiuzhaigou - Rize Valley. After breakfast, you will take a sightseeing bus to the end of Rize Valley, then start your photowork while enjoy some leisure walking. With a total length of 18km, the route links Nuorilang and virgin forests. Here are all colors of the lakes like a kaleidoscope, fairyland tranquil and abstruse, mystic mirror. Waterfalls here have the tallest drop. Beaches look like treasure house. Virgin forest reach to the sky...luckily, these all fabulous landscape are yours to keep in your camera.

Last, take the sighseeing bus to the entrance for accommodation.

Day 4 Jiuzhaigou Valley Departure ( B ): After breakfast, your guide will pick you up from the hotel to catch your scheduled train/flight to Chengdu or other destination. Before that, you can take a rest at the hotel or go for a walk nearby.

Jiuzhaigou Photography Guide

Jiuzhaigou is a feast for photographers, and you will be fascinated by the new picture opportunities every few meters. It actually is a vast area, and every valley has its own features. Since photography is a time-consuming process, so it is impossible to shoot all highlights in a single day. So we suggest you divide your trip into two days’ photography – one day to shoot Shuzheng and Zechawang Valley, and another day to visit the most beautiful Rize Valley. Because all three valleys stretch from south to north, the sunlight is great for good photography all the daytime and don’t need to seek for low-angle sunlight even in summer.

Best Season for Jiuzhaigou Photography

Jiuzhaigou Valley is a beautiful palace you can visit in all the year around. But if you want to shoot it at its most brilliant time, just visit Jiuzhaigou Valley in autumn (September ~ October) when you will be fascinated by the new picture opportunities every few meters. The forests present most attractive color,especially in mid-October to early November. You can shot a perfect scene with yellow, scarlet, golden, orange and re hues. The seaweed at the bottom of the lakes also takes on a strong huge. In late autumn, the scattered fallen leaves in the lakes provided interesting contrast with the deep blues and turquoises of the water. Shot from above, it is just like the color of autumn is poured into the water.

Summer and winter are two good seasons to take a photography tour in Jiuzhaigou when all attractions are available for visiting. In summer days, the plentiful water replenishes every rivers, lakes and waterfall for you to enjoy the stunning waterscape. While the prosperous forests and flowers are the best setoffs of waterscape. Some photographers like to take some spectacular scenes in winter when the waterfalls are frozen, lakes are half frozen, forests are covered by heaven snow.

Note: Autumn is also the peak season for travelers so you need to an early bird to enter the scenic area and avoid the crowds.

Best Sites for Photography

Shuzheng Valley

Highlights: Nuorilang Waterfall, Reed Lake, Rhinoceros Sea, Shuzheng Waterfall

Recommended Route: Reed Sea – Shunzheng Sea –Shuzheng Waterfall - Rhinoceros Sea – Tiger Sea – Nuorilang Waterfall

Entering the gate of Jiuzhaigou National Park, you will first be welcomed by Shuzheng Valley. It is suggested to take photos from the western highway to shoot eastern scenes in the morning with a dark background light which is helpful to highlight an individual scene. The first site for shooting is the Reed Sea where dense plateau reeds sticking in a large pure lake. Go deeper and you will meet with more attractions for nice shot. 9:00 AM of summer and autumn days is the best time to find the view that morning sunlight shine on the lake. Going deeper, there are sightseeing sites Flaming Sea, Shuzheng Seas, Shuzheng Waterfall, Tiger Sea and Rhinoceros Sea, the best hours for photography are: Flaming Sea(9:00~10:00), Shuzheng Seas(9:30), Shuzheng Waterfall(11:00), Tiger Sea(11:00) and Rhinoceros Sea(9:30). The end of Shuzheng Valley locates the famous Nuorilang Waterfall which is 270 meters wide and 24.5 meters high. Only the time between 10:00 and 12:00 is the best time to get the perfect scene with enough light.

Zechawang Valley

Highlights: Five-color Pond, Long Lake

Recommended Routes: Long Lake – Five-color Pond

Zechawang Valley has fewer attractions to see. The best highlights are Long Lake and Five-color Pond which both locate at the end of the valley. You can take scenic bus immediately to the end of valley to take photos. The best scenery of Long Lake is the reflection of snow mountains and forests in the calm surface of lake. The Five-color Lake is a graceful lake which is famous for its bright and distinct colors. It is so clean that the cobbles in the bottom of lake can be seen glittering under sunlight. The inverted reflection of the nearby woods and colorful scenery makes the lake very taste that the cameras like. The shooting of Zechawang Valley is usually arranged in the afternoon after the Shuzheng Valley.

Rize Valley

Highlights: Five-flower Sea, Mirror Lake, Pearl Beach

Recommended Routes: Mirror Lake – Five–flower Lake - Pearl Beach Waterfalls – Five-flower Lake

Rize Valley is the God-given place which is perfect for photography with perfect presentation of mother nature – a fairy land tranquil and dynamic. Here you can see lakes like a mystic mirror, waterfalls with the tallest drop, virgin forest with different colors, snow mountains dominating in the sky…

The main spots for photo shooting are Mirror Sea, Pearl Beach, Five-flower Sea, Swan Sea and so on. To get the best scene of Mirror Lake, you have to reach there to catch the best hour (08:00) when the lake is really like a mirror without winds. Rich sunlight is helpful to take some steric and bright photos of Pearl Beach Waterfalls, so the best time is from 10:00 to 14:00 when the sun slants onto the waterfalls. The Five-flower Sea is regarded as one of the best landscape in Jiuzhaigou for its tranvertine in the bottom and colorful algae. There are two recommended spots to shoot. One is to take some close near-shots from the lake side around 9:00. Another is to build a panoramic scene around 16:00 from a giant stone called Tiger’s Month on the higher mountain. During the long interval, you can go to visit other sites, such as Swan Sea, Panda Sea, Jianzhu Sea, etc.

Tips from Our Experts

1. Framing of waterfalls and streams in Jiuzhaigou

Waterfalls and streams are two important scenery types in Jiuzhaigou. Generally, far-shot is suitable for shooting a waterfall to catch a full view of tall drops of water. Mid-shot and near-shot are recommended to record the detailed beauty of dreams.

2. Photography in cloudy weather condition

Don’t worry about the possible cloudy weather. In fact, the scattering light in the cloudy days is helpful to show the gradations of color, especially the dash area. But remember to keep your framing from sky.

3. Use of slow shutter

You can use slow shutter to take some incredible waterscape photos which is full of dynamic sentiment, such as the floating refection on the lake, moving streams, slashing waterfall, etc.

4. Transfer advice

You can flight to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu, Chongqing, Xian, Kunming, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, etc. Of course Chengdu is the most popular gateway to Jiuzhaigou with frequent flight schedule. There are also highways from Chengdu and Lanzhou to Jiuzhaigou, which takes both about 10 hours to get o Jiuzhaigou.

5. Accommodation advice

Jiuzhaigou offer pleasant accommodation ranging from economy class to luxury class. International hotel brands, such as Sheraton, Intercontinental, etc.

For more photography advice in Jiuzhaigou, you can feel free to contact us and we are here ready to help!

Recommended other China tours you may like

6 Days Guilin In-depth Photography Tour including Xianggong Mountain Guilin / Longsheng / Guilin / Yangshuo / Guilin

4 Days Daocheng Yading Photography Tour Chengdu / Daocheng

6 Days Hongyuan & Ruoergai Photography Tour Chengdu / Huanglong / Jiuzhaigou / Ruoergai / Langmusi / Tangke / Hongyuan

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