Garze Travel Guide and Tour Packages

Importance News - Garze is currently open to foreign visitors including expats in China. You are wecome to contact us for detailed travel requirements on foreign visitors.

Garze here refers to Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture that includes Kangding, Tagong, Hailuogou, Minya Konka, Daocheng Yadng, Ganzi, Derge, Sertar, Yarchen Gar, Genyen, etc. Garze is in general the western part of Sichuan that has most of the highland Tibetan Views of big mountains, stunning glaciers, beautiful lakes, national parks and Tibetan Culture. Garze is a large area in terms of traveling and long drives are usually involved while traveling here. Hiking and trekking is one of the popular way of traveling while in Garze. There are well-marked parks such as Hailuogou Glacier Park, Mugetso Park, Yading Park and Tsopu Park, as well as wild land such as Minya Konka mountains, Tagong Grassland, Yala Mountain, Genyen Mountains, Gangga Mountains, Chola Mountains, Danba Village, etc.

Daocheng Yading in Autumn

Kangding is the frontier town and capital city of Garze. Kangding is used as a stopover place/base for visits and expeditions to Minya Konka, Tagong Grassland, Mt. Yala and even Danba. Kangding is one of the biggest cities in traditional Tibetan area. Historically it was an important business center between China and Tibet on the Tea-horse-road. Datseto is the former name of Kangding.

Minya Konka (Gonggashan) is a big area to explore including its north and its west. Gonggashan is a group of mountains in western Sichuan in Ganzi Tibetan Prefecture. Its highest point is the top of a 7556-meter mountain Mount Gongga, which is called the king of Sichuan Mountains. Gonggashan is home to many big mountains over 5000 and 6000 meters, big glaciers, primitive forests, beautiful alpine valleys, Tibetan nomads people and a very fine adventure travel destination, once listed as one of the top 10 hiking destinations in China.

Daocheng Yading is a famous tourist site which is also honored as “the last pure land on this blue star”. Its highlights include three holy mountains: Mount Chenrezig (6032m), with Jampayang (5958m), Chenadorje(5958m) and three lakes: Milk Lake, 5-color Lake, Pearl Lake. All these sites together form the spectacular landform and stunning scenery in Yading.

Garze is home to also Yarchen Gar, the biggest Nunnery in Tibetn and Larung Gar, the biggest Buddhist School in Tibet.

Hailuogou is a glacier national park located southeast of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is by the east face of Mount Gongga(Miya Konka) at the east boundary of Eastern Tibetan Plateau. Inside this park there are hanging glaciers, hundreds of ice caves, giant icefalls and quiet forest.

Danba is the hometown of Jiarong Tibetans in Sichuan Province. It boasts for its many stone watchtowers” Diaolou” and one of the most beautiful Tibetan villages in China called Jiaju and Zhonglu. Danba is also one of the highlighted tourist attractions in Sichuan Province.

Garze is also home to some less-explored wildland including Genyen and Derge.

Recommended length of visiting: 2-20 days;

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  Tsopu Park

  Tsopu Park is also called Tsopugou (Tsopu Valley), or Zhopu Valley, Zhopu Lake. It is a valley with monasteries and beautiful lakes and mountains. From 2020 it has been built into a tourist park that an entrance fee is requried to visit and has a more organized visiting.

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  Ganzi

  Ganzi is far and its beauty is usually not mentioned a lot in many travel books. Ganzi has a wild mountain range called Gangga. In Ganzi there is also a holy mountain called Kawalori, one of the least explore big mountains in Sichuan.

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  Sky Burial

  Sky Burial is a traditional funeral of Tibetan People. It is a series of ceremonies dedicated to the deceased people mainly include feeding the dead body to the vultures after ceremonial chanting.

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  Luding

  Luding is the first town into Garze from Chengdu. The famous Hailuogou Glacier Park and Yanzigou Valley are in Luding. Luding is home to some of the best Minya Konka view spots in Sichuan. Luding is home to Dadu River and the mountains on both sides: Daxueshan Mountain Range and Jiajinshan Mountain Range.

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