China
Five days from Chengdu through the Tibetan villages of Danba and the grasslands of Tagong, returning along the old Tea Horse Road
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The moments that make this journey unforgettable.
China Tour Overview
Five days from Chengdu through the Tibetan villages of Danba and the grasslands of Tagong, returning along the old Tea Horse Road
Five days and four nights, privately guided, in a loop from Chengdu into the Tibetan highlands of western Sichuan and back. The pandas of Wolong and the Four Sisters peaks lead to the stone villages and watchtowers of Danba and the grasslands and monasteries of Tagong, with a morning at a herding family's summer pasture. The return runs over the Zheduo pass through Kangding and Luding to Shangli, an old stop on the Tea Horse Road, and ends with tea in a Pengzhen teahouse before central Chengdu. A short journey with nights up to around 3,700 metres.
Western Sichuan: Danba to the Tea Road
An early start from Chengdu into the mountains to the Wolong reserve and the Shenshuping panda base, a breeding and research centre inside the UNESCO-listed Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries.
Then through the Balang Shan tunnel to Siguniang, the Four Sisters, whose highest peak, Yaomei, reaches 6,250 metres, and an afternoon walk in the Shuangqiao valley below them. Around 221 km and four hours of driving.
Meals -
Down into the Danba valley, home of the Gyarong Tibetans, stopping at the Wori manor, the former residence of a local hereditary chieftain.
Then Jiaju, a village of red, white and black stone houses scattered across a steep hillside, named by a Chinese travel magazine among the most beautiful in the country, and Zhonglu at sunset, with its old stone watchtowers and orchards. Around 110 km and two and a half hours of driving.
Meals B
A morning at Suopo, where tall stone watchtowers, some centuries old, rise above the village houses. Then up onto the plateau to the Huiyuan Temple, built in 1729 under the Qing, where the 7th Dalai Lama lived for several years in the 1730s.
On to Tagong, whose monastery holds a statue of the Buddha said to be a companion to the Jowo in Lhasa, then the Gyergo nunnery and a great field of carved mani stones. If the sky is clear, the day ends with sunset on Gongga Shan, 7,556 metres, and Zhara Lhatse, 5,820 metres. Around 190 km and four and a half hours of driving.
Meals B
A morning with a herding family at their summer pasture above Tagong, to share butter tea, see how the yak herds are kept and hear about life on the grasslands, with a view of Zhara Lhatse that few visitors see.
Then east over the Zheduo pass, at around 4,300 metres, to Kangding, the old tea-trading town that has long been the meeting point of Tibetan and Han Chinese worlds, and on to Luding and its iron chain bridge over the Dadu, built in 1705 and known too for a famous crossing by the Red Army in 1935. The day ends in Shangli, near Ya'an. Around 330 km and six hours on the road.
Meals B
A morning in Shangli, a former stop on the Tea Horse Road, where porters once set out carrying bricks of Ya'an tea on their backs over the mountains towards Tibet. Its lanes of wooden houses, old bridges and stone archways follow the river.
On the way back, a stop at the Guanyinge teahouse in Pengzhen, set in an old temple hall where locals have gathered for decades to drink tea, play cards and talk. The journey ends in central Chengdu in the afternoon. Around 170 km of driving.
Meals B
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Support
Everything you need to know before your journey. Cannot find what you are looking for? Get in touch and we will help.
How the five days fit together.
It starts in Chengdu on the morning of Day 1 and ends back in central Chengdu in the afternoon of Day 5. Plan to arrive in Chengdu the day before, and we can book that night for you.
No. It is private, for your party only, with your own English-speaking guide, driver and vehicle, on the dates you choose.
Yes. Day 4 combines the morning on the pasture with a long drive east. A second night in Tagong gives a full day with the herders and on the grasslands, making it six days in all. Ask us and we will build it in.
No. These Tibetan areas of Sichuan are outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, so only a China visa is needed.
The middle of the trip is high.
Siguniang is around 3,200 metres and Tagong around 3,730 metres, and the Zheduo pass on Day 4 is around 4,300 metres. Most people manage well, but breathlessness and poor sleep are common on the first high nights. Talk to your doctor before booking if you have heart or lung conditions.
Read this before booking.
Breakfast from Day 2 to Day 5. Lunch and dinner are not included, and your guide will recommend places to eat along the way.
It depends on your passport, and the China visa is not included. We confirm the current requirement for your nationality before anything is booked.
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