5 Days Jiuzhaigou Ruoergai Superb Scenery Tour

Day 1 Chengdu - Hongyuan - Ruoergai (L)

Today's highlight: Waqie Pagoda Forest, The First Bend of Yellow River

Today you will take a morning flight (about 1 hr) from Chengdu to Hongyuan in Aba Prefecture of Sichuan Province. Upon arrival at the airport, you will be picked up by local tour guide and driver, then set out for the driving around 3 hours to Ruoergai County. Make a stop at Waqie Town 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. Keep driving about two hours, you will arrive at the First Bend of Yellow River 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. After the photo time, keep driving about 1.5 hours to Ruoergai County for accommodation.

• First Bend of Yellow River
• Beautiful Chuanzhusi Town

Day 2 Ruoergai - Chuanzhusi (B)

Today's highlights: Ruoergai Grassland, Flower Lake

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 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.

After lunch, it's time to harry on with the scenic driving to Chuanzhusi to approach the brightest star in Aba Prefecture area - Jiuzhaigou. You will drive southward through the beautiful prairie, and get to Chuanzhusi Town (2900 m)for accommodation.

• Huahu Lake (Flower Lake) in July
• Beautiful Ruoergai Grassland
• Hongyuan Ruoergai Grassland

Day 3 Chuanzhusi - Huanglong - Jiuzhaigou (B, L)

Today's highlights: 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.

• Huanglong National Park Landscape
• Huanglong National Park

Day 4 Jiuzhaigou Valley (B)

Today's highlights: Jiuzhaigou's three vallyes - Shuzheng Valley, Zechawa Valley and Rize 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.

• Jiuzhaigou in autumn - world of colors
• Nuorilang Waterfall is the most beautiful waterfall in Jiuzhaigou

Day 5 Jiuzhaigou Departure (B)

Train station/airport drop off

Today is free for you until your tour guide and driver escort you to train station/airport in time for the scheduled train/flight to Chengdu or other destination.

Next destination ideas: 1) By Air: there are daily flights to Chengdu, and weekly flights (which may be subject to cancellation in low seasons) to Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing, and Shanghai. 2) By train: you can take a train to Chengdu and some other stations along Sichuan-Qinghai Railway; 3) By Land: if you want to extend your trip from Jiuzhaigou, you can travel northward to Hongyuan, Ruoergai, Langmusi, even Gansu and Qinghai Provinces.