updated on July, 2023
Latest news: 1) Huanglong National Park is now not closed in winter days, but the cable car will not operate. 2) The entrance ticket of Huanglong National Park must be pre-ordered on the official internet of Aba Tourism with real name and valid passport in advance. At present the Aba Tourism Website doesn't allow foreign visitors to book online. We can book tickets for you.
Huanglong Park is located in Xuebaoding Mountains and is a park of cluster of calcium lakes. Huanglong's large-scale, wonderfully-structured, and colorful surfaced travertine landscape. It is known as a wonderland on earth by its rare karst landform. Huanglong is famous for the wonders of turquoise lakes, snow-capped mountains, and wild forests, plus a small ancient Huanglong temple. The park of Huanglong is usually referred as Huanglong Valley, a north-south going valley that is 3.6 kilometers long. The park is in a terraced field. It was listed on the World Natural Heritage List in 1992. In addition to alpine landscapes, various forest ecosystems can be found here, as well as limestone formations, waterfalls . The area is also home to many endangered animals, including giant pandas and the Sichuan snub-nose golden monkey.
Huanglong Park is located 110km south to the park of Jiuzhaigou and around 25km west to the nearest town Chuanzhusi. It is 40km south to the airport of Jiuzhaigou. There is public bus starting from Chengdu that can get you to Chuanzhusi and from Chuanzhusi one needs to hire a local transfer to get to Huanglong. One can get a taxi to Huanglong Park from Jiuzhaigou Airport. Sichuan Travel Guide offers local transfer service in Huanglong and Jiuzhaigou. You can check out our airport transfer service here.
The best season to see Huanglong is from May to November each year. The busy travel seasons are July, August and October. One can choose to travel by the shoulder seasons to avoid the crowd (May, June, September and November) since it can be really crowded during the busy season. Traveling in low season you will see much less crowd yet the views are also amazing. From December to the next April Huanglong is closed due to dried up lakes and ponds in the park.
The tickets of Huanglong are tentatively scheduled for peak season and off-season.
Peak season (June 1 to December 15): Entrance ticket: 170 yuan / person, upway cable car ticket: 80 yuan / person, golf car: 20 yuan/ person.
Off-season (December 16 to May 31): Entrance ticket: 70 yuan / person, upway cable car ticket: 80 yuan / person, golf car: 20 yuan/ person.
All tickets of Huanglong are digitalized and haven’t been made easy for foreign travelers (2023). We offer Huanglong park tickets booking service, please follow the link to check details.
Maximum daily capacity of visitors: 25000 visitors
Business Hours: 08:00~16:30
Recommended time of visit: 3-6h
Altitude Range: 3600m-3200m
Huanglong Cable Car: Normally a visit to Huanglong starts by a cable car ride up and then use the golf car to the 5-color pond and then walk down to visit more lakes along the boardwalk down. One can use Cable car for both ways but will need to use the golf car back to the cable way station and then use cable car to go down.
Huanglong in-park Golf Car (mini bus): From 2022 in Huanglong Park there is park minibus available inside the park after the cable car to save the formerly 40 minutes walk to the five-color-pond. This car ride costs 20 yuan per person and takes only 5 minutes. Using the car for single way and round way cost the same, 20 yuan.
A visit to Huanglong is usually combined with a visit to Jiuzhaigou. Normally people plan for 2–4 days for a trip to both Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong. Huanglong is a minor sightseeing place than Jiuzhaigou because it is very close to Jiuzhaigou therefore many trips to Jiuzhaigou will cover this place as well since it worth a visit because of its beautiful calcium lakes even though it’s a much smaller park than Jiuzhaigou. Comparing to the nearby Munigou, Huanglong is more unique and many think it’s more beautiful than Munigou.
The classic and most popular way of visiting Huanglong Park starts by using the cable car going up and then followed by the golf car ride to the top. From the end of the golf car terminal one walks up for around 800m to the very end of the valley that is also a high point to see great views of the 5-color lake. It is also the best place to take photos of 5-color pond of Huanglong so please don’t skip this 800m walking since it is the best part of Huanglong even though it involves walking up a little on the boardwalk stairs. After the visit by the 5-color pond, most visitors will walk down following the boardwalk for around 4km and see the other lakes/waterfalls along the way out. This 4km is all the way down on boardwalk and easy to navigate with well-marked signs.
Please note you will be walking down from around 3600m to 3200m and if you don’t have good knees then this part of walking may be too much pressure on you and recommend you to go back the same way using the golf car and then cable car back down to the base instead of walking down. By doing this you won’t be able to see the smaller lakes on the way down, and you will also need to pay for the cable car that goes down the way, it costs another 40 yuan per person, and normally it is not included in any organized tours. To use the golf car going back to the cable car station you don’t need to pay again if you used it when getting in.
For any active visitors who with to walk up and then walk down then please plan sufficient time for around 5-6 hours and if you like photographing then please plan it longer. Please note hiking here in Huanglong is not the same when you do at low altitude place. Walking will be between 3200m and 3600m. People who choose to walk up need to check into the park by the usual exit and not the cable car check in entrance. Doing hiking up and down will use the same way.
The altitude of Huanglong Park is between 3600m and 3200m. It is considered to be highland and oxygen level is much lower than that of Jiuzhaigou Park (where mostly below 3000m or even 2600m that you won’t feel too much difference than usual). But please be aware in Huanglong Park it is a different place and there is risk of getting mountain sickness and there has been incident of people suffering from mountain sickness while visiting. Please be aware of this and make precautions in accordance such as taking AMS medicines, keep yourself hydrated, etc.
There are food shops inside Huanglong Park but they are limited. You may find food available by Huanglogn Temple. There are total 2 places where you can find food shops with simple instant noodles, bottled water and other snacks. You are recommended to bring snacks, drinking water by yourself and recommended to bring some energy snacks since it involves walking for long hours. There maybe place where you can re-fill your flask but it is not certain that these water stations are available in all seasons.
There is no place to stay overnight inside the park. By the base of Huanglong Park there is a big and comfortable hotel called Se’ercuo Hotel that is in business and one can choose to stay here for early start and easy access to the entrance of the park. 10km east down the road in the village of Huanglong there are also some hostels and small hotels available to stay overnight. Huanglong Village has an elevation of around 2700m. Many of the visitors will have one night stay by the town 25km to the west in Chuanzhusi. Chuanzhusi is a tourist town developed mainly for tourism and has many options on hotels. Elevation of Chuanzhusi is at 3000m. A town south to Chuanzhusi is Songpan Town, also a good choice for overnight with plenty options on hotels. Songpan has an elevation of 2800m and it is around 15km south to Chuanzhusi. In Songpan and Chuanzhusi there are plenty of restaurants available.
Route: Chengdu - Jiuzhaigou - Chengdu
Route: Chengdu - Jiuzhaigou
Route: Chengdu - Jiuzhaigou
