Silk Road Photo Gallery
Shuimo Danxia National Park (Part 1)

Just beyond Lanzhou's suburbs is a natural attraction well worth visiting. In fact, it was the main reason why I ended up including this city on the itinerary. Shuimo Danxia was formed about 150 million years ago during the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. The red sandstone was eroded into the colourful mountain landscapes we see today.

The site is vast but they have set up a lot of paths and routes so you will not be hiking in the wild.

Prices vary with the most expensive SVIP ticket (288 yuan) including private transport so you can travel the entire loop in luxury. The standard fare (80 yuan) requires you to change various types of transport and there are gaps in between where you need to walk, and you won't be able to see the full loop with a large section of the park not reachable at all. Even with the cheaper standard ticket, I doubt you can see all that is available on a ticket in a full day either as the hiking paths are long and you have to backtrack to catch the transport out.

After the initial coach ride (#1), you need to walk about 10 minutes down the road to the next intersection. On the right side, there are smaller train-like buses (#2) that will go uphill on the narrow road to the observation point (#3) and starting point for the long hike (#4).

On the smaller train-like buses, take to the left side as the scenery opens up shortly after departure.

The large observation area (#3) sits at an altitude of 1959m above sea level and gives you an overview of the surrounding colourful mountains.

The red bridge and path in the distance is the long hike ahead. With the standard ticket, you need to backtrack to here and return the same way you came.

The long hike is along paved sections but there is a long staircase going down the mountain to the photogenic red Ruyi Bridge.

The minivans in the distance are for the SVIP expensive ticket holders. Standard ticket holders cannot use them and have to return the way they came.

The path then flattens out and the boardwalk offers spectacular views of the mountains, which are a lot more closer to you now than up at the observation area. I only walked a short section of it and didn't bother to climb up the first mountain as the lunch hour was approaching and I needed to backtrack to explore the other sections of the park.

I was already quite impressed by now but the rest of the park has more to show.