5-Day 4-Night Qinghai-Gansu Grand Loop Travel Guide

Northwest Qinghai-Gansu Grand Loop 5-Day Itinerary:
D1: Xining → Riyue Mountain → Qinghai Lake → Chaka Salt Lake → Delingha
D2: Delingha → 315 U-shaped Highway → Emerald Lake → Dunhuang → Desert Camping
D3: Dunhuang → Mogao Caves → Singing Sand Dunes & Crescent Spring → Dunhuang
D4: Dunhuang → Jiayuguan Pass → Zhangye Danxia Rainbow Mountains → Zhangye
D5: Zhangye → Qilian Grasslands → Gangshika Snow Peak → Menyuan Rapeseed Flowers → Xining

📜Packing Checklist: ID card, military officer ID, student ID, camera, charger, power bank, selfie stick, cold medicine, motion sickness pills, altitude sickness medicine, mosquito repellent, band-aids, masks, sunglasses, umbrella, small amount of cash, phone lanyard, 3-in-1 windbreaker or light down jacket (large temperature difference between day and night), etc.

🚗About Transportation:
We'll first gather in Xining from various locations, then charter a vehicle (car + driver) for independent travel. The cost includes fuel, tolls, and guide services, while meals and accommodation are self-paid (including the driver's).

💰About Costs:
Our group of 4 chartered an SUV for about 1000+ RMB per person. Accommodation for 4 nights was around 600 RMB per person (twin room), food about 500 RMB, various tickets around 600 RMB, with round-trip transportation costs varying by individual circumstances, totaling approximately 4000 RMB.

⭐️Attraction Recommendations:
🌊Qinghai Lake: Having visited three times, each season offers different scenery. July-September is Qinghai's most beautiful period - blue skies, white clouds, grasslands, yaks, and rapeseed flowers... truly a breathtaking masterpiece left on earth.

🫧Chaka Salt Lake: "Chaka" means salt pond in Tibetan. At an average altitude of 3,059m covering 154km², it was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road, hailed as "China's Mirror of the Sky."

🌼Singing Sand Dunes & Crescent Spring: As described in "Cultural Journey of Hardship": "Vast deserts and flowing waters are common in this world. Only this oasis in the desert, this tranquility amid sandstorms, this beauty in desolation, this sudden drop behind high dunes, truly captures nature's rhythm and craftsmanship, intoxicating the soul."

🛕Dunhuang Mogao Caves: A dream into Dunhuang, a glance spanning millennia. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, it showcases the rise and fall of ancient Chinese Buddhist culture and witnesses the historical development and cultural exchanges of the Silk Road. "I am your fleeting moment, you are my thousand years."

🏯Jiayuguan Pass: "The First and Greatest Pass Under Heaven," the most impregnable fortress along the Hexi Corridor.

🌈Zhangye Danxia Landform: Recognized by "Chinese National Geography" as one of "China's Seven Most Beautiful Danxia Landforms."

🌵If you love romance, this place isn't barren🌱
🎨The Great Northwest is a vibrant, colorful dream