City: Gansu
Top Things to do in Gansu
Top Hotels in Gansu
- 1. 7 Days Premium Lanzhou Xiguan Shizi Zhongshan Bridge
- 2. Home Inn (Lanzhou Pedestrain Street)
- 3. 7 Days Inn (Lanzhou Jingning Road)
- 4. Dunhuang Guest House
- 5. Xihu Yinfeng Hotel
- 6. New Victory Hotel
- 7. Sunshine Plaza Hotel
- 8. Zugong Building Hotel
- 9. Ningwozhuang Hotel
- 10. Home Inn (Lanzhou Yongchang Road)
Countries
Top 5 Things to do Adventurous in Gansu, China
Gansu (Chinese: 甘肃, Tibetan: ཀན་སུའུ་ Kan su'u) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northwest of the country.
Restaurants in Gansu
1. Langmusi Tibetan Horse Trekking-Day Tour
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 56 reviews
Venturing face-to-face with Amdo Tibetan nomads is an electrifying once in a lifetime experience while trekking through their age-old grasslands.
2. Maiji Shan Caves
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 125 reviews
Reviewed By garyr0bertb - China, null
I visited Maijishan Grottos in December 2020 as I wanted to see the area in snow and avoid the huge summer crowds. I have visited hundreds of places in China (an Australian working in Guangzhou) and this is undoubtedly one of my top 3 favourites. I think ‘grottos’ is a more apt name than caves as the openings in the cliff face are quite small. Maijishan is one of the four famous grottos of China, the others being Mogao, Yungang, and Longmen – all in different provinces. One does not have to be a Buddhist, or even spiritual to appreciate the awesomeness, craftsmanship and cultural value of these grottos. The eagle-eyed will see an evolution of styles spanning the dynasties and centuries. Visiting Maijishan needs preparation and some of the information I found on websites seems now to be incorrect. I flew from Guangzhou to Lanzhou for a week. I took a taxi from my hotel to Lanzhou West Train Station; then caught the high speed train from Lanzhou West Station at 7.05am and arriving at Tianshui South Station at 8.33am (159RMB for 1st class ticket one way). I walked to the far end of the station and descended two escalators to the bus station in the basement. I waited about 40 minutes and caught BUS 60 to the entrance of the Maijishan site. Bus 60 is a tourist shuttle bus costing 7 RMB each way. I think there are only 2 morning buses in winter but more in other seasons. Once arriving at the site, pay 80RMB to enter, then choose to walk to Maiji Mountain (It took me 20 minutes walking briskly uphill along a road) or take a small electric vehicle (there will be a small charge). Walk up a steep set of stone stairs to the second admission gate. Here you just show your ticket and enter OR pay extra for a private tour in which extra grottos will be open for viewing. I chose not to have a private tour as it was a minimum of 600 RMB per grotto and in winter, there are no English-speaking guides. I caught the 2pm shuttle bus back to the station, and then the 4.05pm high speed train to Lanzhou. By 6.30pm I was sipping craft beers near the Zhengning Night Market and editing my photos. I was totally amazed at the technology of the ‘out-of-cliff walkways’ (totally safe I think), the view of the valleys and mountains, and of course the hundreds of Buddha-clad grottos. Most of the grottos are protected by metal gauze; however, I placed my iPhone camera in a gap and took oodles of great photos. I also had a downloaded guide of the grottos and read this beforehand. There are a few larger, gauzeless grottos open all the time, and these had amazing sculptures and murals depicting a thousand years of evolving Buddhist history. I won’t provide any details of the sculptures as I think these need to be discovered. A few tips if travelling privately from Lanzhou: # Best to use the high speed train – forget slow trains and buses as these leave little time to explore the mountain; remember to use the special entry and exit channel by showing your passport and train ticket # have the correct names of the high speed stations in Chinese characters for the taxi drivers etc # book the high speed train tickets in advance – use a Chinese travel agency or a Chinese friend who can book and pay online # bring your passport, and your mobile phone with the latest Health Record for the province (if travelling in 2021) # bring water and snacks, comfortable walking shoes to negotiate the stairs and walkways, and appropriate clothes for the season # don’t whinge if many of the grottos are protected by gauze as cultural heritage is more important than photo addictions; there are c. 200 grottos and 7000 sculptures – you do not need to see them all! # take it slow and easy on the steep stairs and on the overhang walkways; be conscious of people around you in tight spaces # avoid Chinese national holidays at all cost
3. Yellow River Stone Forest of Jingtai
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 22 reviews
Reviewed By WorldGlutton - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Our tour bus took 3.5 hrs travelling from Zhongwei to Jingtai to visit its Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Spot. Driving along the mountain to the Scenic Spot, views of the valley, river , buildings and forest down below was spectacularly scenic. Arriving at Scenic Spot Tourist Center, while our guide purchased tickets for our journey to Yellow River Hoodoo National Geopark, many were busy buying souvenirs and fruits from the stalls located around the Center building. A wall with carvings and signage “Synopsis About Yellow River Hoodoo National Geopark" gives tourists an impression of what they expect to see at the Stone Forest. There is also a Helipad for tourist who likes a ride in the helicopter to enjoy magnificent birdeye views from above over the Longwan Valley, desert, oasis and farmlands. From here ,Tourist Center bus took us up to another car park where we changed into battery car to proceed to their VIP Farm House for lunch. This Farm House is basically a homestay for tourists too. Food served is typically homecooked and tasted good. After lunch, the battery car took us to the wharf area. We were divided into group of 3 to a sheep skin raft. There are no proper seats on these rafts, we have to sit back to back on a timber platform for support as it drifted down the river. The raft basically drifted downstream and the oarsman control it's direction. On completion, it is hauled upstream & conveyed upstream by trucks for the next use. After a nerve wrecking raft ride, we finally arrived at Yellow River Hoodoo National Geopark which is supposedly the Yellow River Stone Forest. At the entrance, one side are numerous open donkey carts, the other side are horses. Tourists could choose their preference of ride into the uneven narrow road between the rock ravine formations. We went on the donkey cart, the mule moved slowly giving us time to appreciate the beautiful and unique rock formation carved by forces of nature - wind, water & erosion. We were amazed by the fitness of the aged donkey handler, she walked the mule in one direction for maybe 2 miles up but she did ask for permission to jump on the cart for its return trip. After this tour, we boarded the motorboat back to the harbor, Here we took the battery car to the bus, and headed up to the Tourist Center parking lot to take our Tour bus back to Lanzhou. It was physically and exhaustive day, nevertheless we did enjoy the activities . It is enriching and interesting to experience their local lives at Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Spot, more especially the sheep skin raft ride !!!!!
4. Zhangye Danxia Geopark
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 294 reviews
Reviewed By 246StephenC
This is a UNESCO Geopark. Like most of the national parks, you will gather at a central point and take a bus into the park. There are four stops in all. You should make it a point to alight and walk around at each of the stops as they offer different views of the park. The biggest stop is the second one. There is the largest platform from which you can walk around and have a true panoramic view of the surrounding area. The fourth stop offers the best photo opportunities. It brings you closest to the multi colored rocks and this is a must visit stop for all visitors. Just be warned that there will be plenty of tourists and they’ll be crowding around looking for a photo opportunity as well. While some say that the best time to visit is at sunrise or sunset, we found the view in the afternoon to be good as well.
5. Mingsha Shan - Echoing-Sand Mountain
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 437 reviews
Reviewed By AZCasualTraveler - Mesa, United States
Mingsha (Echo Sand) Dunes is a must see place to visit while in the Dunhuang China area - in addition to visiting the Mogao Grottoes (Caves). The backdrop scenery of the HUGE sand dunes is quite stunning - closely rivaling the Sahara Sand Dunes in Morocco. In addition to the scenery of the Dunes, another must thing to do is the camel ride through the desert here. It was fun riding the camel and with the backdrop scenery of the Dunes, fantastic photo can be had with this activity. Another popular activity here is hiking up a giant sand dune hill that is specially set-up for the climb up. there are specially made steps that are tied together to make it easier for hiking or walking up the sand dune - nice! Also, there is the Crescent Moon Lake area that is also located in this same area for the camel ride and sand dune hiking. The Crescent Moon Lake is not very large (due to drought conditions, I am told), but is still quite picturesque to have this lake in the desert area - like an oasis in the desert. I believe that this "oasis" in the desert possibly served just that - a water oasis during the China Silk Road crossing. Very worth while visit.
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