Live Your Best Lives
The Northwest Legend: Gansu-Qinghai Grand Loop, once a top-rated route on China-TravelNote, has helped 33,000 people realize their Northwest travel dreams since its inaugural tour more than a decade ago. In 2024, it once again topped the China-TravelNote list of long-distance routes. Over the past year, we've guided over 3,000 tourists on this legendary Northwest route.
Behind the popularity of the Gansu-Qinghai Ring Line is a spiritual migration to escape from "urban anxiety".
@Mo青
The city roads are bustling with traffic, and the trains on the underground are transporting "you and me" to work;
In this city of reinforced concrete, in order to calm their anxiety and lingering emotions, people choose to "burn incense" between work and career advancement, looking for a support.
They are fascinated to travel from the city to distant places.
On one side are the "chosen workers" in the cubicles of office buildings,
On one side is the "freedom of no man's land" in the northwest Gobi Desert,
Behind everyone's voting with their feet, a silent spiritual revolution is unfolding.
When "involution" meets "wilderness", the Northwest becomes the antidote for modern people.
@Mo青
What magical power does the Northwest have that attracts so many people?
Is it the vast Gobi Desert? Is it the ancient city wall?
Is it the exquisite murals? Is it the gorgeous Danxia?
Or the majestic snow-capped mountains and the vast grasslands?
Everyone has their own answer...
After feeling aesthetic fatigue with the "refined life", the roughness of the Northwest has become a unique luxury, and the desolate feeling helps to establish a dialogue with oneself.
@Wu Dan
When the vehicle enters the Qaidam Basin, it will stay in Delingha, a city located on the edge of the basin, at night.
@Asen
Walking on the street under the starlight, the altitude of more than 3,000 meters makes the summer night cool. Facing the sparse crowds and the rows of low-rise buildings on the street, and looking out at the vast desert Gobi in the distance, I can't help but recall what Haizi wrote in his "Diary":
Sister, I am in Delingha tonight, the night is shrouded
Sister, I only have the Gobi Desert tonight
At the end of the grassland, I have nothing in my hands
If you're in Delingha, I recommend visiting the Haizi Poetry Memorial Hall. Afterward, have dinner and stroll through this small northwestern city, feeling the beauty of its melancholy and desolate backdrop.
When you come to the depths of the Qaidam Basin, it is hard to imagine that this was once a huge lake 10 times the size of Qinghai Lake!
@Hasselblad
We walk on the earth, like small shrimps and fishes swimming at the bottom of a lake.
@Hasselblad
The ancient large lake dried up, the small lakes continued to evaporate, and the salt content in the water increased.
This has created lakes of different colors and Yardang landforms formed after being "shaped" by strong winds.
🔻Dachaidan Emerald Lake
@Zhou Chao
🔻Water Yadan
@Hasselblad
Standing in front of the "Devil City" of Nanbaxian, the insignificance of human beings and the grandeur of nature form an extreme contrast.
@Mo青
The weather in the northwest changes rapidly. Because it is located in the plateau area, the climate here changes unpredictably. It may be sunny one second and stormy the next. Therefore, when looking at the weather forecast in the northwest, only the temperature is accurate.
🔻The weather is changeable at Qinghai Lake
@Mo青
@Li Zetao
Many times when we were driving on the road, the gloomy weather outside the window always made us worry about the next trip, but sometimes when we climbed over a mountain and passed through a tunnel, the sky in front of us presented a completely different scene.
This feeling of being out of control frees me from the shackles of a rigid plan. As one travel blogger put it, "In the northwest, only by learning to accept the unexpected can you truly understand what freedom is."
"Why should the Qiang flute blame the willows? The spring breeze doesn't reach Yumen Pass."
"I urge you to drink another cup of wine, for there will be no friends west of Yangguan Pass."
@Asen
I saw an article from Xinhua News Agency, in which the author Liang Tiantian described: "You must go to Gansu!"
"Perhaps the poems of Wang Zhihuan and Wang Wei are melancholy, but they cannot resist our curiosity about the ancient frontier. A grain of sand on Mingsha Mountain, a drop of water in Crescent Moon Lake, hides the thoughts of countless people who have come and gone... The endless Gobi Desert, filled with dust and a few camel thorns, a world of only one person. I understand the ancients' homesickness when they were at the frontier."
©Mo Qing
The desolation of the Northwest holds a vast, majestic beauty. The vast Gobi Desert, ravaged by wind and sand, is devoid of human habitation. Sand dunes undulate across the boundless desert, as if time has stood still. Barren mountains stretch endlessly, silently guarding this land. In this desolate landscape, the insignificance of humankind contrasts sharply with the grandeur of nature, leaving one feeling a profoundly moving power.
©Wu Dan
In the northwest, there are no KPIs and 996s, only the snow of Qilian Mountains, the wind of Qinghai Lake, and the eternal gaze in the Mogao Grottoes murals.
🔻Snow in Qilian Mountains
@Mo青
🔻The wind of Qinghai Lake
@Yanggu
🔻Dunhuang murals
@小六
Perhaps, the essence of the Northwest's boom is a collective awakening in the face of the dilemma of urban civilization: what we need is not escape, but to regain the alienated essence of life.
The 735 caves of Mogao Grottoes are not only art palaces and cultural treasures, but also a "spiritual clinic" spanning thousands of years.
@Evening Breeze
That year, a Taoist priest discovered the splendid Chinese civilization in a cave;
That day, a monk saw the Buddha's light on Mount Sanwei;
That time, a painter saw a picture album at a bookstall in Paris;
At that moment, I stood in front of the Mogao Grottoes and recalled the lives of countless people.
@Yixue
"A hundred feet of strict pass marks the western sky, and the soldiers who have marched for thousands of miles stop their horses."
@Wu Dan
This is the western starting point of the Ming Great Wall. I have learned from textbooks since childhood that it is known as "the most magnificent pass in the world."
At this moment, tourists can transform themselves into ancient merchants, get stamps and certificates verified under the city wall, and listen to the legend of the "Dingcheng Bricks".
The title of "China's most beautiful Danxia landform" is no exaggeration. The variety of colors is enough to amaze you.
@Xixi classmate
There are many viewing platforms here, and if I were to recommend one, it would definitely be the sunset viewing platform - when the last ray of sunlight before sunset shines on the Danxia, the mountain is covered with a new layer of color.
History is not a specimen, but an antidote. The Silk Road is more than just a road; it represents a journey through time and space, a fusion of history and culture, and a symbiosis of nature and humanity.
On this road, you will meet a wider world and a different self.
The ultimate value of the Northwest is not escape, but reconstruction.
This summer, if you are still trapped in the "Truman Show" in the city, why not go to the northwest with You Xiaoxia and conduct a sober "human experiment".
@Mo青
In 2025, Xiaoxia upgraded the two most popular Gansu-Qinghai loop lines!!!
We've abandoned some of the poorly reviewed hotels we've reviewed in previous years and upgraded some of our preferred hotels. We've also selected 4-Diamond hotels for 2 nights, making your trip even more comfortable.
As the hottest IP in the loop, Dunhuang, we will stay here for two nights. We can not only watch the performance of "See You Again Dunhuang", go to the Dunhuang Night Market to pan for gold, but also participate in a concert for 10,000 people at Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Lake.
@dessert
You can also take a small train like the one in "Spirited Away" to reach the depths of the salt lake, and ride along the edge of Qinghai Lake.
We will also watch two sunsets on the Silk Road, wait for the sunset on Mingsha Mountain, and wait for the most beautiful moment of the day at Zhangye Colorful Danxia.
@Asen
If this is your first time in Northwest China, I recommend
👉Northwest Legend·Classic丨Gansu-Qinghai Grand Loop 8 Days
8 days and 7 nights | Depart from Lanzhou and end in Xining, the first choice for the Northwest Grand Loop
This is a journey around "Qinghai Lake - Chaka Salt Lake - Dunhuang - Jiayuguan - Zhangye Colorful Danxia - Menyuan"
If you want to play more deeply, I recommend
👉Northwest Legends·In-depth丨Gansu-Qinghai Grand Loop + Qilian & Yadan 9-Day Tour
9 days and 8 nights | Xining distribution center is more in-depth
One day longer than the classic route
In addition to the scenic spots described in the classic route (except Yangguan), the in-depth route also includes a variety of check-in spots such as the Nanbaxian Ghost City, Water Yadan, Qilian Snow Mountain, Tibetan monasteries, as well as Jinsha Bay/Ta'er Temple
When people choose to step on this land again and again, the answer is self-evident—
The healing power of the Northwest is not only in its scenery,
It also forces people to face the most fundamental issues of survival.
Between desolation and prosperity, wildness and civilization, loneliness and noise,
Find your coordinates again.
