Traveling in Daocheng Yading one will often encounter one question of where to stay. The park of Yading is located in Shangrila Town of Daocheng County in Garze Prefecture. There are total 3 places one can/may stay during a trip to Daocheng Yading. Without studying a map one can easily be confused of where is a suitable place to stay while visiting to Daocheng Yading.
Daocheng is the name of the county, a bigger place of where Yading Park is located. It is a good place with a lot choices of hotels, restaurants, closer drive to Yading Airport (1h) than from Yading Park (nearly 3h). Daocheng is still 1h45min drive from Yading park but we often recommend Daocheng County as a better overnight place for any early flight departure from Yading Airport due to shorter drive so to avoid super early start. For people who does trip by flight in/out of Yading. Staying one night in Daocheng will add on to your travel experience as the town of Daocheng itself is a more authentic Tibetan Town than the Shangrila Town (Riwa, the base of Yading) that is usually seen as full of travelers. The elevation of Daocheng is 3700m.
Shangrila Town (or Shangrila Zhen, or formerly known as Riwa) is the base of Yading park and usually the best place to stay for any visit to Daocheng Yading in terms of lower elevation by 2800m. This altitude allows people who fly in to acclimate properly and recover from the stress on sudden rise of altitude by when landing by Yading airport (above 4400m). It is critical to avoid sleeping too high for the 1st night for people who arrive to high altitude in a short amount of time such as when flying in. Shangrila Town has plenty of choices on hotels and restaurants. It feels Tibetan style but mostly you’ll see more people there are travelers like yourself because the whole town is rebuilt into a tourist town in the last 20 years. Shangrila Town is the best choice to stay while traveling in Yading due to its lower altitude, many choices on hotels, restaurants, closer access to the park of Yading Entrance in about 8km either by bus or taxi.
Yading Village is a also good choice of where to stay while traveling in Yading. Yading Village is located inside the park of Yading that one needs to enter before 3pm each day and use tourist bus to get to. There are around 20 hotels located in Yading village, a cluster of hotels 5km before the tourist bus terminal. Yading village is at the elevation of 4000m. It has around 20 hotels total and with very limited shops and nothing else. It has been built into a tourist village that most people you see in Yading village are travelers. Please do not expect this is a village with largely Tibetan people population. It is more like a village full of visitors. Yading Village has excellent views of mountains in Yading such as Chenrezig, Chenardorje. Yading village is recommended for whoever enjoys nature and mountain views, photographer. But please be aware of the high altitude especially when you arrive this place by flying and it can pose high risk of mountain sickness by staying here the first night. We recommend you to stay here only after you acclimated.
Please note for trip planning, because some flights arrive in the morning and one can actually make the best use of his time by driving to Shangrila after landing, and then check in to the park of Yading before closing time (usually before 3pm) and use the hotels inside the park of Yading by Yading village on the same day. This way of travel saves time but it poses high risk of mountain sickness on yourself because the elevation of Yading village is at almost 4000m.
Please also note Yading Village is not near any of the sites inside Yading park. One will still need to use a mandatory bus to cover the 5km to the bus terminal (same terminal when visitors arrive from Shangrila Town) and then tour from there like everyone else.
Most travelers have questions of choosing either staying in Shangrila Town of Yading Village. Below are our helpful advice.
No. The earliest bus departs Shangrila Tourist Center (by Shangrila Town) is as early as 6am (7am in winter and spring) and arrives Longtongba (bus terminal) within 1 hour, while the first bus from Yading Village starts by 7:30am (8am in winter and spring) and arrive Longtongba (same bus terminal) in 10 minutes. Using bus from Yading Village, long waiting is inevitable and often it will take more than 10 minutes to get to the bus terminal from your hotel in Yading.
Yes and No.
Yes:1, the overall walking to bus is shorter; 2, it’s less stressful by allowing you to end your day earlier by the end of your day trip that your bus ride is only 10min and no need to ride the 1h long journey back to Shangrila Town.
No: 1, its higher elevation may make your sleep harder, and may make you suffer from AMS; 2, the hotel, food and shopping choices are very limited; 3, you’ll need to think about your luggage, more planning is needed, you’ll then either waste time on re-packing, storing your luggage to hotel first before your visit or pack light so to avoid wasting time due to the complication of tourist bus using in Yading Park. Please note some people do not plan this well and end up wasting more time.
1, stay in Shangrila Town, having an early start, this avoids the trouble with your luggage, and you’ll still be earlier than people who start from Yading village. (think it this way, you’ll have to wake up earlier but you’ll save time re-packing by not staying in yading village).
2, for people who fly out, having one night in Daocheng (maybe before you fly out) not only makes your next day drive to airport shorter, but also gains your travel experience due to the real Tibetan population there, other than Yading Village and Shangrila Town that are mostly travelers.
3, photographers who wishes to have sunset/sunrise views are recommended to stay in Yading village especially when you are staying multiple nights there then the trouble is worth.
