3 days
Day 1: Xining — Kumbum Monastery, Dongguan Mosque. Day 2: Qinghai Lake — Erlangjian, Bird Island, Chaka Salt Lake. Day 3: Mengyuan rapeseed fields (in July) or return.
Province · Tibetan Plateau
青海省 · Qīnghǎi Shěng — capital Xining, qinghai (tibetan-influenced — yak meat, butter tea, tsampa — plus hui muslim halal noodles and lamb).
History & character
Qinghai sits on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and includes the source regions of three of Asia's greatest rivers — the Yellow, the Yangtze, and the Mekong. The province is named after Qinghai Lake (Kokonor in Mongolian, Tso Ngonpo in Tibetan), the largest saltwater lake in China, situated at 3,200m.
Historically, the region has been a meeting ground of Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui Muslim, and Han Chinese populations. The Kumbum (Ta'er) Monastery near Xining is one of the six great Gelug-school monasteries and the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school. The Tu and Salar are small ethnic minorities concentrated in this region; the Salar trace their origin to a 14th-century migration from Samarkand.
The 21st century has brought heavy investment in solar power (the Qaidam Basin's lithium and brine resources are exceptional), the Qinghai–Tibet Railway, and a thin tourism industry built around Qinghai Lake's bird island, the Chaka salt flats, and the Mengda Tianchi alpine lake. Yushu in the south is the gateway for Sanjiangyuan National Park, the headwater region for the three rivers.
When to visit
June–early September is the strong window — wildflowers around Qinghai Lake bloom in July. Other times of year are cold and many roads close. Acclimatise to altitude carefully; Xining is at 2,300m, the lake at 3,200m.
How to get there
Xining Caojiabao (XNN) is the main airport. HSR from Lanzhou 1h, from Beijing 8h. The Qinghai–Tibet Railway to Lhasa starts here — 21h, oxygen-supplemented.
Key attractions
All attractions →More attractions in Qinghai
Sample itineraries
Day 1: Xining — Kumbum Monastery, Dongguan Mosque. Day 2: Qinghai Lake — Erlangjian, Bird Island, Chaka Salt Lake. Day 3: Mengyuan rapeseed fields (in July) or return.
Add the Qinghai–Tibet Railway journey to Lhasa, Yushu prefecture (Jiegu town, Princess Wencheng Temple), Mengda Tianchi.
Dishes of Qinghai
Yunnan's daily flatbread — a thick wheat or rice-flour round cooked on a griddle and eaten plain or stuffed.
Cold poached chicken shredded by hand, dressed in chilli oil, sesame paste and Sichuan peppercorn.
Fish slices submerged in a deep pool of chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns. Served bubbling.
The original mala hotpot — a simmering cauldron of beef tallow, Pixian doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn for communal dipping.
Chongqing's signature breakfast noodle — wheat noodles in a fierce chilli-oil-and-pepper soup.
Thin Yunnan rice noodles served with a scalding bone broth and a spread of raw toppings to cook at the table.
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