The Ruoergai Grassland is located in Sichuan Province and is a very magical grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. You can experience different grassland culture and atmosphere, which is quite different from the Mongolian grasslands in the north. Below, I will share the best route map and detailed travel guide for the Ruoergai Grassland.
I. Best Time
Best Season: May – October.
Summer and autumn are the best seasons. At this time, the grassland is lush with grass and flowers bloom, making it vibrant and colorful.
II. Best Route
Located in the region enclosed by Aba in Sichuan, Guozhi in Qinghai and Maqu in Gansu, you can visit Jiuzhaigou, Zagana, Lianbao Yeze, Langmusi and other scenic spots along the way while driving through the Ruoergai Grassland. It takes 5-7 days to drive through the Ruoergai Grassland and there are 3 self-driving loop routes.
1. Northern Sichuan Grand Loop
Starting from Chengdu, you drive upstream along the Minjiang River, passing by Diexi Lake and Songpan Ancient Town, visit Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong; then you pass by Western Pasture and Flower Lake and visit the first bend of the Yellow River in Tangke; then you enjoy the wetland scenery of the Ruoergai Grassland to the Hongyuan Grassland; finally, you return to Chengdu via Gulu Valley.
Route Information: 1500km, 5 days, itinerary “Chengdu—Chuanzhu Temple—Jiuzhaigou—Tangke—Gulu Valley—Chengdu”, main attractions “Jiuzhaigou, Ruoergai, Huanglong”.
2. Chengdu Gannan Loop
Starting from Chengdu, you drive to Wenchuan, Maerkang and Seda in Western Sichuan, and then along Guozhi in Qinghai to Maqu in Gansu, visit Langmusi and Zagana, then go through Ruoergai, Wachetalin and back to Chengdu. You can stay in Chuanzhu Temple for a day to visit Jiuzhaigou along the way.
Route Information: 1800km, 7 days, itinerary “Chengdu—Guanyinqiao Town—Seda—Guozhi—Langmusi—Diebu—Tangke—Chengdu”, main attractions “Seda, Nianbaoyuze, Zagana, Ruoergai”.
3. Lanzhou Gannan Loop
Starting from Lanzhou, you drive from Hezuo, Diebu to Zagana, then along Ruoergai, Tangke to the south, passing by Hongyuan Grassland, Aba, visit Lianbao Yeze, and finally return to Lanzhou from Guozhi, Maqu, Langmusi and Labrang Temple.
Route Information: 1600km, 5 days, itinerary “Lanzhou—Zagana—Tangke—Aba—Langmusi—Lanzhou”, representative attractions “Labrang Temple, Gahai, Zagana, Ruoergai, Lianbao Yeze”.
4. Route Through
The above 3 routes are all loop routes for self-driving in the Ruoergai Grassland: Northern Sichuan Gannan, Western Sichuan Gannan, Lanzhou Gannan. Many self-driving tourists travel to Qinghai, Xinjiang and other places, they will travel from Chengdu to Lanzhou via Gannan. At this time, you can arrange your itinerary according to the following routes.
Route Information: 1900km, 7 days, itinerary “Chengdu—Chuanzhu Temple—Jiuzhaigou—Tangke—Aba—Diebu—Langmusi—Lanzhou”, representative attractions “Jiuzhaigou, Ruoergai, Lianbao Yeze, Zagana”.
China’s six most beautiful grasslands are: Hulunbuir Eastern Grassland, Ili Grassland, Xilin Gol Grassland, Western Sichuan Alpine Grassland, Nagqu Alpine Grassland and Qilian Mountain Grassland. Although Ruoergai is not included in the list, the scenery is not inferior to any of them.
III. Simple Travelogue
Vast and boundless, with green grass like a blanket spread out; open and vast, with the sky within reach. When I first arrived at the Ruoergai Grassland, I was refreshed and invigorated, the air was cold, and in the distance, I could hear the simple laughter of Tibetan children.
I guess this is what grasslands are all about. We stand here, watching the sunset, watching the clouds roll by, feeling the vastness of heaven and earth, only ourselves and the wind exist in the world. It’s completely opposite to the busy day and night in the city, where people rush and jostle. This is a pure land, a pure belief without a trace of worldly taint.
Escaping from the bustling city, coming here feels like finding a paradise. After a few days, I leave reluctantly, returning to the suffocating air of the city.
You excitedly tell everyone that you saw the grassland. But the grassland quietly shakes its head at you, “Sorry, you didn’t see it, you only saw another you.”
You haven’t seen the grassland at all.
The sky is blue, the air is clear, the grass is green, every picture you take is a beautiful scene of paradise. This is Ruoergai, one of the three major wetlands in China.
Most tourists choose to visit the grasslands in the summer, a summer paradise with pleasant weather, but the most beautiful time of the year for the Ruoergai Grassland is June, when flowers bloom everywhere. The flowers begin to wither in July. The Dazha Temple Town in Ruoergai County is nearly 600km from Chengdu, the biggest expense is transportation. You need to hire a car to tour around Ruoergai, it takes at least 3 days to enjoy yourself, the cost per person is around 700 yuan. The elevation of Ruoergai County is 3500 meters, even in the summer, you should bring warm clothing.
The accommodation conditions in the Ruoergai Grassland are relatively ordinary, there are more choices in the county town. The price of a small hotel is around 100 yuan. If you are driving yourself, you can include Maqu, Luqu, Zhuoni in Gannan and Hongyuan, Songpan in Sichuan for your tour.
When you pass a mountain, you know that beyond it, there will be a whole new landscape, whether it is more magnificent or more desolate than the other side of the mountain, the stunning sight or the difference when you pass it will become one of the most unforgettable memories of your life. And the grassland, do you know what you will see when you go deep into it? It’s still the grassland. The occasional yellow wildflowers dotting the landscape are beautiful, but just now, you’ve seen them countless times along the way.
Imagine walking across a desert.
The same scenery appears over and over again, you feel like you are walking across an endless wasteland, but the scenery is limited. Repetition, endless repetition. Slowly walking through this desert, you are just one of the travelers, there is no land under your feet that belongs to you. It stands tall and proud, telling you that this journey is destined to be lonely.
How does this desolation, this tranquility, this silence compare to the grassland? You might say, the grassland is more alive than the desert. Yes, the herds of yak, the green grass in Ruoergai are more alive than the wasteland. But what if you need to graze your cattle in the depths of the grassland for half a year?
The tour bus headed deeper into the grassland, the people on the bus gradually tired of the scenery along the way and turned their attention to the inside of the bus, either joking and laughing or feeling sleepy. At this moment, the tour bus turned a corner, and I saw a herd of yaks scattered across the hillside, and an old herdsman.
The herdsman was dressed in dim clothes, leaning against a cow, hunched over, looking down, chewing on a piece of dry food in his hand.
Turning back to look inside the bus, the inside and outside of the bus seemed to be two isolated worlds.
Inside the bus, there was a lot of noise and chatter, like our complicated lives. Every smile, every word whispered, becomes a different little factor, interspersed with all sorts of new things. But the man outside, one with time and space, seemed to freeze there, forming a still picture.
Our lives are filled with fame, desire, arguments, and complexity; while he will be here, counting the sunrises and sunsets, only wearing a straw hat when it rains, and unable to put himself in a building made of concrete and steel at night. After six months, he will trample the grass under his feet into a yellow color, and then return home with the cattle from all over the grassland. From beginning to end, clean and pure, with no other thoughts.
The people on the Ruoergai Grassland have lived like this for generations. Their lives are as monotonous and pure as walking through a desert, but their hearts are filled with the roar and waves of the sea.
Initially, we gave richness to the plains, vastness to the plateau, but we gave plainness to the grassland. The people on the grassland, with this piece of land that is not fertile, graze their cattle, pray and live. Their hearts are as broad as the sea, as inclusive as the sea, as calm as the sea. When it’s cold, they dance around the fire, when they’re happy, they sing. They chant sutras, spin prayer wheels, eat roasted mutton and drink barley wine.
The sea embraces all things, so there is life; the grassland embraces all things, so it accepts all cultures. Nowadays, the Tibetan area is very different from the Tibetan area I remember. When I travel, when I go to a Tibetan family, they will let you put butter tea on your table, try some wild vegetables and dry food that the herdsmen carry with them, do their rituals, and dance their traditional dances.
But when you ask them carefully, their young people eat the same food as us, their homes have large-screen LCD TVs, and they are woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of their phones to watch an exciting football match. The tour guide said sadly that they haven’t sung and danced around the campfire after dinner for a long time. As Han and Tibetan cultures blend together, their past way of life is gradually disappearing.
Looking out the window, the herdsman has disappeared from sight, leaving only a few stray yaks. The tour guide is a Tibetan, he keeps talking, talking about the Tibetan area, talking about the culture, talking about him and the Tibetan area, talking about you and me. The yaks and their roots, civilization and their future, both must be complementary and move forward together.
No matter what, change is the norm, a beautiful change that is as inclusive as the sea is always better than strong resistance. There will be more stories in the future, there will be more beautiful grasslands in the future.
I took a picture at a small Tibetan Buddhist temple. Two devout believers supported each other, slowly walking across this vast grassland, finally reaching their destination at dusk. Facing the cool wind and the sun, they have been through a bumpy and long and tedious journey.
The temple door opened, asking no questions about where they came from or why they came, it will cleanse you of your worldly desires and dust. The stories in your heart, the beliefs of generations, are all in this unchanging grassland, while your heart is filled with the surging waves of the sea.
The temple door closed, everything returned to silence. Like the blending of cultures, it is finally embraced by the grassland.
The earth is like sand, the people are like the sea. That’s the story of the grassland in my heart.
Human beings should respect nature! Protect the natural environment! Maintain ecological balance! Compared with developed countries, our country is indeed very lacking in terms of protecting the natural environment! This is a great film, it’s so real and touching, why criticize it? At least it can raise people’s awareness of environmental protection, which is a good start.
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