2021 National Day Gannan and Jiuzhaigou Self-Drive Tour (Fully Updated)

📍 Jiuzhaigou · 👁 2 reads · ❤️ 158 likes

I was chatting with a friend and mentioned that I hadn't been on a trip for a long time.

He stared at me wide-eyed and said, 'Weren't you away for over ten days during National Day? You had a blast! We didn't even leave Guangdong Province!' 😝

I admitted my mistake—no more excuses to be lazy. I had to hand in my travel notes quickly!

You might find it strange that my car was left parked in Lanzhou for two months. Well... our original plan was to drive the Duku Highway in Xinjiang during the summer break, following the Silk Road route. But when the pandemic hit, everything was put on hold. By then, the car had already been shipped, so it had to wait quietly in Lanzhou. Two months passed, and it became clear that Xinjiang was off the table. So I decided to use the National Day holiday to drive the car back.

As soon as I got off the plane, I felt the desolation of the northwest—the mountains on both sides were bare. Amid a valley, we found our dust-covered 'tiger car.' Poor thing! Dashuge immediately jumped in to give it a thorough wash from top to bottom.

After washing the car, we found a nearby restaurant to fill our stomachs. Ma Dahu Zi was a decent choice.

With the car clean and a bit of rest, since it was still early, Dashuge and I headed to the Yellow River for a stroll.

To avoid parking hassles, we two 'old guys' decided to go green. In about fifteen minutes, we reached the Yellow River. The scenic paths along the Lanzhou section of the Mother River are quite well built, changing my previous impression of Lanzhou as a gray, dusty city with poor roads.

As we walked along the river, I noticed very few people cycling. When we reached Zhongshan Bridge, we were the only two riding—feeling a bit lonely. Then I suddenly spotted a sign: 'No Bicycles.' No wonder everyone was giving us strange looks.

Zhongshan Bridge is the first bridge built over the Yellow River. To protect it, only pedestrians are allowed now. In the evening, with the lights, it has a unique charm. After nightfall, we wandered to the nearby pedestrian street, Zhangye Road. It seems pedestrian streets all over China follow the same pattern—nothing too appealing. So we found a place to eat. The hand-grabbed lamb ribs at Ma Laoliu are worth recommending, but the grilled meat at the adjacent Yaozige was just average.

Today's itinerary: Lanzhou → Labrang Monastery (250 km) → Sangke Grassland → Langmusi (180 km)

The previous day in Lanzhou was for rest. Today officially begins the Gannan journey. As an important part of the Silk Road and the Tang-Tubo Ancient Road, Gannan not only boasts beautiful alpine grasslands but also rich Tibetan Buddhist culture—both scenery and human history.

**Labrang Monastery:** Known as the 'World's Tibetan Academy,' it has the most complete Tibetan Buddhist system in China. When we went, the main hall was not open, so we could only walk around the longest prayer wheel corridor. The monastery is not the golden, dazzling Tibetan style I had imagined; the orderly monks' quarters instead gave a sense of tranquility.

**Sangke Grassland:** Leaving Labrang, we entered a dozens-of-kilometers-long grassland scenic road. We had planned to find the so-called one of the world's top ten wild luxury campsites (Nordam) to have a coffee and act chic. But as we drove, we were captivated by the vast grassland and blue sky, and forgot about playing pretentious 😂. Forgive me! If you have time, you can still go and feel it, but staying overnight is unnecessary—it's super expensive. At meal time, we chose a small stream, lit a fire, cooked noodles, and fulfilled the wish of a grassland picnic.

Along the way, there might be some side roads leading tourists to so-called attractions that charge fees. We ignored them all; just enjoying the roadside scenery was enough.

**Gahai Grassland:** The last scenic area we passed before nightfall. Against the sunset, golden waves of grass gently rolled, dotted with herds of fat cattle and sheep. Ah, delicious! 😍 On this national-level scenic road, be sure not to speed—speed limit 40-60 km/h—we got a 6-point penalty...

Alpine grassland: if the daytime highlight was the grassland, the evening focus must be the mountains. Soon after leaving Gahai, I started to get a headache—altitude sickness! And the scary part was that I hadn't booked a hotel! First, because the road conditions for the day were unclear—we didn't know how far we could go. Plus, accommodation in Gannan is generally mediocre, and prices during National Day were exorbitant. So we decided to play it by ear; we had camping gear in the car, so the worst case was to camp.

By the time we reached the vicinity of Langmusi Town, it was completely dark. Several camping spots marked on Baidu didn't exist at all. The small inns along the road didn't appeal to us. Thank goodness, right before my headache exploded, we found a so-called campsite. It was actually just a parking lot, where a family of four was negotiating with the car wash owner to borrow water and electricity. We hit it off, paid the owner 40 yuan, and set up camp by a building, using two cars as a barrier. We crashed into bed. Wow, that night was really cold—only 4 or 5 degrees Celsius. Later, many other cars arrived, all saying that nearby accommodations were fully booked.

Below is a picture of our campsite. At least it was on concrete—decent conditions.

The next morning, we toured Langmusi Town, known as the 'Little Switzerland of the East.' Maybe it was the wrong season, but no matter how much I used my imagination, I couldn't relate it to Switzerland. However, Langmusi Monastery itself is much more luxurious than Labrang—all golden at first glance. Due to the weather, I couldn't capture its opulence in photos. 😜

Maybe in spring or summer, with some green, it would look much better.

After visiting Langmusi, we had a bowl of beef noodle soup with no beef (just noodles) on the main street, then set off for Jiuzhaigou. On the way, we encountered sheep going to work...

**Gannan Grassland Travel Tips:**

1. Very suitable for self-driving. Excellent road conditions. Drive and play as you go, very pleasant. Just pay attention to speed limit signs.

2. Accommodation in Gannan is generally mediocre. Even in towns, most are small inns. But if you're doing a loop, you have to stop overnight midway. Along grassland roads, there are some yurt homestays, and near the Sichuan border, there are starry-sky tent campsites. But personally, I feel the hygiene conditions are poor, so it's best to bring your own sleeping bag. As for bathrooms, no need to explain—those in the know, know. 🤪

3. Besides enjoying grassland scenery, you can also experience galloping on horses. There are many horse ranches along the way; you can give it a try. Unfortunately, Dashuge has a cleanliness obsession and thought the ranches were too dirty, so we skipped them all.

I won't describe the beauty of Jiuzhaigou in words; any description would be redundant.

Instead, I'll write about other interesting things.

For example, choosing to go to Jiuzhaigou during National Day was both an extremely risky and a brilliant decision. Remember the family of four we camped with in Langmusi? They were from Mianyang, Sichuan. When they heard we were going to Jiuzhaigou, they shook their heads and said, 'It's all people! A few years ago, the ticket office was almost crushed!' That scared us, but we had no choice but to go ahead. In the end, it turned out to be a brilliant decision. Because after the big earthquake four years ago, Jiuzhaigou had been resting and recovering. This was its first full opening, and with proper reservation arrangements, the number of visitors wasn't that high.

To go from Gannan to Jiuzhaigou, you first cross the Zoige Grassland. The scenery along the way is also beautiful. The closer to Sichuan, the denser the vegetation on both sides of the road. If you have time, you can also visit Huanglong before entering Jiuzhaigou. Road conditions are very good. We arrived at Jiuzhaigou County in five to six hours. Note: Jiuzhaigou County is about half an hour's drive from the main entrance of Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area. When booking hotels, make sure to check the location.

We arrived at the county town after 5 PM, checked in, and then strolled around. I don't know if all the tourists were crowded in the scenic area, but the streets were very quiet, with few people. We found the most bustling restaurant on the street, 'Rural Impression,' and tried some very authentic local dishes. Good taste, fair price, recommended.

**Some tips for Jiuzhaigou travel:**

1. Try to arrange two days for Jiuzhaigou. Its attractions are distributed in a Y-shape. Although there are shuttle buses, doing it all in one day is very tiring and rushed. By spreading it over two days, you don't have to queue up at 5-6 AM. We entered the scenic area around 9 AM both days, and from entrance to boarding the bus, it took only 5 minutes—very relaxed. On the second day, we took the Changhai line and finished by around 2 PM, leaving half a day free.

2. When booking a hotel, try to choose one right at the entrance of the scenic area (e.g., Sheraton or Atour) to save travel and parking time. The highway from the county to the entrance often has landslides. On the second day, we wasted half an hour waiting for fallen rocks to be cleared. We stayed at the InterContinental this time, thinking it was close, but it was actually about 20 minutes away. The rooms were spacious. I forgot my swimsuit, so I missed the so-called hot springs—you can try them if you go. There is a tent campsite at Luneng Hui, which looked beautiful, but they don't allow bringing your own tents, so we had to skip.

3. Jiuzhaigou now has very good management. There is only one visitor center for food. No need to buy food online in advance; you can choose at Nuorilang Center slowly. I must give credit to Chinese people—our quality has improved a lot. In such a large scenic area, there was barely any litter, and the restrooms were clean and tidy. Great!

After leaving Jiuzhaigou around 2 PM, we drove straight to Chongqing. Wow, whether it was Baidu's problem or ours, the national highway at the border of Gansu and Sichuan was extremely difficult—poor road conditions. We didn't get on the expressway until 7 PM. I sincerely admire Dashuge for driving solo for five hours nonstop. He later recalled that the road was so bad that we had to get on the expressway before dark, so he didn't dare stop—otherwise, we would have been stranded in the wilderness. Finally, we arrived in Chongqing, the 'Fog City,' at 1 AM. Exhausted.

The next day, we slept in, wandered around at noon, and ate at the trendy air-raid shelter hotpot restaurant. In the evening, we had to visit the iconic Hongyadong. Hongyadong only looks good with its lights on, so we hung out at a nearby café to kill time.

But Hongyadong is only good for a distant view, not up close. The shops inside are messy—mostly street stalls and snack stands—not appealing to us. After taking photos, we quickly left.

Heading south, after Chongqing, the last stop before returning to Guangdong was Guilin. Even though it was a stopover, we couldn't miss it. We chose to stay in a park opposite Elephant Trunk Hill, and while having breakfast, we also appreciated the Guilin landscape. This trip was considered perfectly concluded. Thank you, Dashuge, for accompanying me all the way. See you next year.

**Travelogue Directory:**

1. First Arrival in Lanzhou

2. Strolling in Lanzhou

3. Into Gannan

4. Wandering on the Grassland

5. The Enchanting Jiuzhaigou

6. Spicy Chongqing

7. Leisurely Guilin