Western Sichuan · On-road · Rental or own bike
Fifteen days that take in both halves of Kham - the monastery north around Dege and Yarchen Gar, and the mountain south at Litang and Yading, where three holy peaks stand over the last valleys before Yunnan.
The ride
Kham has two characters. North of Garze the monasteries take over - Dege and its printing house, Pelyul on its hillside, and Yarchen Gar, where twenty thousand nuns live on a river island. South of Litang it becomes mountain country, thinning out towards Yunnan until the three holy peaks of Yading rise at the end of the road.
This loop rides both. It opens gently with pandas at Wolong and the Four Sisters mountain, climbs through Danba and Tagong into the Khampa north, then turns south through Xinlong to the hidden Tsoka monastery on its jade-coloured lake, and on to Litang at 4,014 m - the highest town on the route and birthplace of the Seventh Dalai Lama.
A full day is given to walking in Yading, then a long ride home over Zheduo Pass at 4,298 m via Xinduqiao and Kangding. Private tour with a Tibetan tour guide and a support vehicle; no Tibet permit needed.
Where it goes, and how high you sleep
The blue line is the road as actually ridden. Click a stop to open its day.
Arrive Chengdu
Arrive in Chengdu. In the afternoon the Wide and Narrow Alleys, and a covered-bowl tea in the People’s Park - the tea culture here is known across China.
Medical · motorcycle license
A short physical examination and your temporary Chinese driving license.
Chengdu → Dujiangyan → Wolong → Siguniang Shan
Straight to the Wolong National Nature Reserve, a UNESCO biosphere of 200,000 hectares. The Shenshuping base holds around fifty giant pandas. Then the Balang Shan tunnel and up to Siguniang Shan town, with the Four Sisters at sunset from Maobiliang.
Siguniang Shan → Shuangqiao → Wori Tusi → Danba
Sunrise over Siguniang for the early risers, then a soft hike in the Shuangqiao valley. Past the Wori Tusi Manor and down to Danba, where the Gyarong Tibetans live and the village of Jiaju - called the most beautiful in China - climbs the valley side in red, white and black.
Danba → Suopo towers → Bamei → Tagong
Danba is the kingdom of a thousand towers; the clay-and-stone blockhouses at Suopo have stood a thousand years. Via Bamei and the Huiyuan Temple to Tagong, and the Sakya monastery of Lhagang, which holds a Jowo Shakyamuni image said to have been left by Princess Wencheng. Gyergo Nunnery, the great mani wall, and Zhara Lhatse (5,820 m) at sunset.
Tagong → Luhuo → Kasa Lake → Garze
North to Garze - in Tibetan, “white and beautiful” - the real cultural and religious center for the Tibetans of Sichuan, by way of Luhuo and Kasa Lake. The Han-Chinese Monastery of 1274 is the oldest building in the town, Han and Tibetan architecture in one place.
Garze → Dargye → Manigango → Yilhun Lhatso → Dege
The monks of Garze Monastery debate at around nine. Then west past Dargye (Gelug, 1642) and Manigango at 3,866 m to Yilhun Lhatso, 4,017 m below Chola Mountain - spruce and azalea round a lake with white-lipped deer in the reserve. Through the Chola tunnel and the Keluodong rock frescoes into Dege.
Dege → Printing House → Pelyul
The Dege Printing House, largest in the Tibetan world and still working from woodblocks, and Dege Gonchen, a Sakya monastery of 1448. In the afternoon to Pelyul and its Nyingma monastery, best seen from the hillside opposite.
Pelyul → Yarchen Gar → Garze
Back east by way of Yarchen Gar at 4,000 m - around twenty thousand nuns on a river island, the largest place of meditation for women in the world. Up to the Padmasambhava statue for the panorama, then across the bridge onto Juemu Island among the wooden huts.
Garze → Xinlong → Tsoka → Litang
South through Xinlong to Tsoka Monastery and Tsoka Lake in Mari village - three square kilometers of water the Tibetans call “the black lake among rubble”, holding the sky and the red and white monastery on its surface. On to Litang at 4,014 m, home of the Seventh Dalai Lama and, in high summer, of a seven-day horse-racing festival.
Litang → Mt Haizi → Daocheng → Shangri-La Town
Litang Monastery in the morning - Bön before it became Gelug under the Third Dalai Lama in 1580, and now the largest Gelug house in southern Kham. Over Mt Haizi and past Daocheng to the Yading gateway, beneath Chenresig (6,032 m), Jambeyang and Chanadorje (both 5,958 m).
Yading → Chonggu → Luorong pasture
A full day in the reserve on foot. From Longlongba to Chonggu Monastery, on to Xiannairi with Dumu Lake at its foot, and up to the Luorong pasture held between all three holy peaks - scenery that stands comparison with Yosemite.
Yading → Daocheng → Litang → Yajiang → Xinduqiao
The long one. Back over the passes through Litang and Yajiang to Xinduqiao, where the northern and southern arms of the Sichuan-Tibet highway meet. From the viewing platform, Gongga Shan at 7,556 m if the weather holds.
Xinduqiao → Zheduo Pass → Kangding → Chengdu
Over Zheduo Pass at 4,298 m and down into Kangding, capital of the Garze prefecture, where the bikes go back. From there it is 266 km by road to Chengdu.
The fine print, in plain words
See it to believe it
Photography by Liu Bin · Greatway field archive
Dates & enquiry
Private departures on your dates, roughly April to October. Tell us when you're free and how many are riding - our motorbike travel consultant will get back to you within 24 hours.
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