The Best Way to Explore Labah River - 2 Days 1 Night

🎫: 50¥
🏞️ Day 1 - Self-drive from Chengdu directly to Labah River
🚶 East Route 2h - After check-in, we strolled along the forest path
Planned to walk to Luming Hotel but it started drizzling halfway
Turned back to the hotel at the restroom spot
This easy hiking trail is gentle and very suitable for family walks
The scenery along the way is quite nice
There are photo spots - Tree of Life 🌳 and S-shaped trail (highly recommend taking photos 📷)
🏨 - Blue Crystal Hotel
Highly recommend booking a room with a window facing outside
Initially booked a room with a window facing the courtyard, no air conditioning and very stuffy
Finally, the staff helped upgrade to a Deer Viewing & Monkey Watching room 🐒
The hotel is generally old but still one of the better hotels in the scenic area
The beds are on the firmer side, very friendly for those who prefer hard beds
(: Rarely had such a good sleep in a hotel
The staff attitude was not bad as some reviews say, actually quite good
You can see deer 🦌 roaming at night

🚠 Day 2 - Head straight to the summit! Heart Lake
🎫 - Sightseeing bus 35¥ Cable car 90¥
🚶 West Route 5.5h - Early morning at 7:15 after hotel breakfast
Depart for Hetao Ping Visitor Center
(: Strongly recommend everyone to start early
Otherwise, too many people and cars will affect the experience

Before 8:30 departure - Take the first sightseeing bus 🚌 to the tunnel lower station
Around 9:30 - Take the first cable car to the upper station
The weather was still good with sun and sea of clouds ☁️
Climb the wire stairs continuously, wild strawberries 🍓 along the way
They are quite plump and sweet; the strawberry stems have thorns that can prick your hand
This section is relatively easy to walk; every spring there are large patches of alpine rhododendrons
10:00 - Arrive at the mid-way viewing platform, highly recommend taking lots of photos
The staff said it’s been a long time since they saw good weather with sea of clouds + sunshine
From here, it takes 40 minutes to reach the summit Heart Lake, but only 15 minutes to come down
If you have mild altitude sickness, it’s recommended to stop here
Continue climbing the wire stairs; altitude and distance markers are posted throughout
The staff advised to stop immediately if feeling dizzy or headache
We rested every 100m climbed; as we climbed higher, the fog thickened and temperature dropped, so bring a jacket
Finally reached the mountain lake at 3800 meters altitude, already fogged up and hard to see
Who actually saw the Heart Lake on a clear day!
Climbing up was quite a workout (abstract Heart Lake)
12:30 Return by cable car to the lower station, stop at Hug Coffee
Then check in at other scenic spots
- 🪨 Red Stone Beach, where there are monkeys 🐒 and deer 🦌
Be careful here, monkeys will snatch food, don’t take food out
- 🌺 Rhododendron Lake
- 🦌 Deer Pool
Here, old monkeys that snatch food kept following us
If lucky, you can see deer
14:00 Arrive at the visitor center to collect medals 🏅
Then head back to Ya’an city for food
Prepare to mark Mount Mengding on Day 3!