Natural site · GANSU · UNESCO
Zhangye Danxia (Rainbow Mountains)
张掖丹霞 · Zhāngyè Dānxiá
About
UNESCO-listed multicoloured sandstone hills in northwest Gansu. Stripes of red, orange, yellow and white from cretaceous sediment layers.
The Zhangye Danxia landform is a 510 km² geological park where iron-and-trace-mineral-stained sandstone and conglomerate layers, deposited in the Cretaceous, were uplifted and eroded into a stripe-painted ridge landscape. UNESCO-listed in 2010 (as part of China Danxia). Four marked viewpoints along the entrance road; sunrise and sunset transform the colour saturation. Often combined with Jiayuguan Pass and Dunhuang on a Hexi Corridor Silk Road trip.
How to get there
HSR Lanzhou or Dunhuang to Zhangye West, then taxi.
When to visit
May–October. Sunrise or sunset for the colour.
Other attractions in Dunhuang
Itineraries featuring this site
- Gansu and Ningxia — Yinchuan, Lanzhou, Zhangye, Jiayuguan and Dunhuang, 7 days
7d · Seven days across two northwest provinces — the Hui Muslim city of Yinchuan, Yellow River Lanzhou, the Danxia rainbow hills, Jiayuguan Fort and the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang.
- Silk Road — Xi'an, Lanzhou, Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang
10d · The Hexi Corridor: Xi'an east-to-west by HSR through the Buddhist cave-temples and Silk Road forts.
- Silk Road — Xi'an to Kashgar, 14 days
14d · The full Hexi Corridor route from Xi'an west through Lanzhou, Dunhuang and the Taklamakan edge to Turpan and Kashgar — the historical Silk Road across northwest China.
- First-timer China — 21 days with northwest Silk Road extension
21d · Three weeks across China: the classic eastern cities, a Yunnan highland loop, and a Silk Road extension through Gansu into the northwest — covering the range of what China actually contains.
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