10 Landscapes

Every Landscape China Has

China spans four climate zones and every major landform on Earth. Here's how they form, where to see them, and the single best spot for each.

10 Landscapes

The 10 Landform Families

China spans four climate zones and every major landform on Earth. Here's how to make sense of it.

Karst

Tower-like limestone peaks, caves and lazy rivers

Guilin · Yangshuo · Yunnan Stone Forest

Karst is the landscape you already know — the cone-shaped limestone peaks rising out of jade-green rivers that appear on every Chinese painting and banknote. It forms when mildly acidic rainwater slowly dissolves soluble limestone over millions of years, leaving behind towers, caves and underground rivers.

Best spots to visit

Guilin & Yangshuo

Apr–Nov

The classic karst scene. Cruise the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo, then rent a bike and ride through rice paddies, or float a bamboo raft down the Yulong River.

Cruise, cycling, bamboo raft

Full guide

Yunnan Stone Forest

Year-round

A UNESCO-listed forest of jagged limestone pinnacles near Kunming — some 30m tall — threaded with stone paths, caves and Yi minority villages.

Walking trails

Full guide

Wulong Karst

Apr–Oct

Giant natural bridges, sinkholes and caves near Chongqing — an otherworldly backdrop used in films, and one of the largest karst systems on Earth.

Hiking, cave tours

Best way to visit

Best way: Boat or raft is the classic way in — but renting a bike in Yangshuo gets you closer and away from the tour buses.

Danxia

Rainbow-striped red cliffs that look painted

Zhangye · Danxia Mountain · Langshan

Danxia is China's most photogenic oddity — layered red sandstone carved by erosion into stripes of crimson, orange and cream that look airbrushed. The landform is named after the Danxia Mountains in Guangdong, but the most famous example is Zhangye's 'Rainbow Mountains'.

Best spots to visit

Zhangye Danxia

Year-round

The Rainbow Mountains — vast ridges of striped red, yellow and green rock in Gansu. Colors are most saturated just after sunrise and before sunset.

Boardwalks, viewpoints

Danxia Mountain

Oct–Dec

The landform's namesake near Shaoguan, Guangdong — red cliffs, stone pillars and subtropical forest, with boat rides along the Jin River below.

Hiking, river boat

Langshan

Apr–Oct

A quieter World Heritage danxia of red peaks and a dramatic river-cut gorge in Hunan, far from the Zhangye crowds.

Hiking

Best way to visit

Best way: Visit at golden hour — low sun brings out the strata. Zhangye's boardwalks make it easy, but hiring a driver lets you beat the crowds.

Mountains

Granite spires, cloud seas and sacred summits

Granite peaks of Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) in Anhui, China

Huangshan · Zhangjiajie · Fanjing

China's scenic and sacred mountains are a category of their own — granite spires wreathed in cloud, stone staircases climbing to temples on the summit, and sunrises people wake in the dark to see. Some are pilgrimage sites; others are pure geology.

Best spots to visit

Huangshan

Year-round

The 'loveliest mountain of China' — granite pines, grotesque rocks, hot springs and a famous sea of clouds. UNESCO-listed and the direct inspiration for classical ink painting.

Cable car + summit trails

Zhangjiajie

Apr–Nov

3,000 quartz-sandstone pillars rising out of subtropical forest — the 'floating mountains' of Avatar. Includes the world's tallest outdoor elevator and a glass-bottomed bridge.

Elevator, glass bridge, trails

Full guide

Fanjingshan

Apr–Nov

A dramatic twin-peaked summit topped by Buddhist temples, reached by a near-vertical staircase above a sea of clouds in Guizhou.

Staircase hike

Best way to visit

Best way: Plan at least one summit sunrise — it is the single best mountain experience in China. Cable cars save your legs, but queues are long in peak season.

Lakes

Turquoise alpine lakes and crystal-clear pools

Napa Lake wetland meadow near Shangri-La in Yunnan, China

Jiuzhaigou · Qinghai Lake · Kanas

China's alpine lakes are unlike anything at sea level — turquoise, emerald and sapphire pools formed by glacial runoff and mineral deposits, often framed by snow peaks. They are the country's most photographed water.

Best spots to visit

Jiuzhaigou

Sep–Oct

A UNESCO valley of over 100 tiered lakes and waterfalls in every shade of blue and green, backed by snow mountains and Tibetan villages.

Boardwalk + shuttle bus

Qinghai Lake

Jun–Aug

China's largest lake — a vast saltwater mirror ringed by yellow rapeseed fields in summer, and a key stop on the Qinghai–Tibet route.

Cycling, driving loop

Kanas

Sep–Oct

An emerald mountain lake in the far-northwest Altai, famous for autumn birch and larch forests and the mythical 'Kanas monster'.

Boat, boardwalks, viewpoints

Best way to visit

Best way: Go in autumn for maximum color, and arrive at opening time — alpine lakes are calmest and most reflective before the wind picks up.

Deserts

Singing dunes, oases and Silk Road silence

Crescent Lake oasis in the Mingsha dunes of Dunhuang, China

Dunhuang · Badain Jaran · Taklimakan

China's deserts are the sands of the ancient Silk Road — rolling dune fields, 'singing' sands, oasis lakes and the ruins of caravan towns. They stretch across the northwest from Gansu to Xinjiang.

Best spots to visit

Dunhuang & Mingsha Shan

Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

The 'Singing Sand Dunes' rising behind a crescent-shaped oasis lake, gateway to the Mogao Caves' thousand-year-old Buddhist art.

Camel ride, sandboarding, sunset

Full guide

Badain Jaran

May–Oct

The world's tallest stationary dunes — some 500m — hiding over 100 spring-fed lakes in Inner Mongolia, sacred to local herders.

4WD desert tour

Taklimakan

Apr–Oct

One of Earth's largest sandy deserts, crossed by a remote desert highway — a vast, empty sea of dunes in Xinjiang.

Desert highway drive

Best way to visit

Best way: Go at dawn or dusk when the sand glows and temperatures drop — and always take a licensed driver into the dunes.

Grasslands

Endless steppe, galloping horses and yurts

Highland grassland of Shangri-La in Yunnan, China

Hulunbuir · Zoige · Bayanbulak

China's northern steppe is where the country turns green and endless — rolling grassland dotted with grazing sheep, galloping horses and white Mongolian yurts, under skies that seem to go on forever.

Best spots to visit

Hulunbuir

Jun–Aug

China's largest and lushest prairie in Inner Mongolia, along the Russian border — rivers, birch forests and horse-riding camps.

Horse riding, yurt stays

Zoige

Jun–Aug

A high-altitude 'jade' grassland on the Sichuan–Gansu border, dotted with wildflowers, yaks and the first bend of the Yellow River.

Scenic drives, horse riding

Bayanbulak

Jun–Sep

A vast alpine meadow in Xinjiang famous for its 'Nine Bends' river viewpoint at sunset and its wild swans.

Sunset viewpoints

Best way to visit

Best way: Go in summer (June–August) when the grass is greenest, and stay overnight in a yurt to catch a star-filled sky.

Glaciers

Ice falls, snow peaks and thermal springs

Glacier and snow peaks of Hailuogou in Sichuan, China

Hailuogou · Rongbuk · Meili Snow

China's glaciers are the frozen spine of its highest ranges — blue ice falls tumbling between peaks and snow mountains that mark the Roof of the World. Several are accessible at unusually low altitude.

Best spots to visit

Hailuogou

Nov–Apr

A rare low-altitude glacier in Sichuan with a 1,000m ice fall, reached by cable car and paired with natural hot springs.

Cable car, hot springs

Rongbuk Glacier

Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

The glacier below Everest's north face in Tibet — the closest most travelers ever get to the world's highest peak.

Base-camp road

Meili Snow Mountain

Oct–Mar

A sacred 6,740m peak range in Yunnan known for the 'sunrise on golden mountain' effect over Kawagebo.

Viewpoints

Best way to visit

Best way: Winter and early spring give the clearest glacier views — summer clouds often hide the peaks.

Forests

Ancient woodlands, bamboo seas and rainforest

Tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, China

Shennongjia · Xishuangbanna · Shunan

China's forests range from the misty primeval woodlands of the center to the last tropical rainforest in the south — refuges for pandas, golden monkeys and wild elephants.

Best spots to visit

Shennongjia

May–Oct

A mysterious UNESCO-listed primeval forest in Hubei — deep canyons, cloud forest and the golden snub-nosed monkey.

Trails, monkey viewing

Xishuangbanna

Nov–Apr

China's only tropical rainforest in southern Yunnan — wild Asian elephants, tea mountains and Dai culture.

Botanical gardens, elephant valley

Full guide

Shunan Bamboo Sea

Year-round

A 120 km² ocean of emerald bamboo in Sichuan, crisscrossed by quiet paths, waterfalls and a lake to boat across.

Walking, boating

Best way to visit

Best way: Visit Shennongjia in autumn for mist and color; Xishuangbanna in winter for dry, cool jungle weather.

Wetlands

Bird sanctuaries, marshes and river deltas

Wetland lakes of Pudacuo National Park in Shangri-La, China

Yellow River Delta · Zoige Marshes

China's wetlands are the meeting of water and land — river deltas, marshes and reed beds that rank among the world's most important stopovers for migratory birds.

Best spots to visit

Yellow River Delta

Sep–Nov

Where the Yellow River empties into the Bohai Sea — a UNESCO-listed sanctuary for migratory birds, and a 'red carpet' of suaeda plants each autumn.

Boardwalks, birdwatching

Zoige Marshes

Jun–Aug

High-altitude peat bogs on the Tibetan plateau — the source of the Yellow River and home to black-necked cranes.

Birdwatching

Yancheng

Nov–Feb

Coastal wetlands in Jiangsu protecting the red-crowned crane and the endangered milu deer.

Crane viewing

Best way to visit

Best way: Bring binoculars and go in migration season — autumn (Sep–Nov) is peak for birds and the red suaeda carpet.

Plateau

The Roof of the World — high plains and peaks

Tibet · Shangri-La · Hoh Xil

The Tibetan Plateau — the 'Roof of the World' — is a world apart: high plains at 4,000m, turquoise sacred lakes, glacier-topped ranges and monasteries clinging to cliffs. Altitude is part of the experience.

Best spots to visit

Lhasa & Tibet

May–Oct

The plateau's cultural heart — Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple, and the turquoise lakes and passes of the high Himalaya.

Sightseeing, overland drives

Full guide

Shangri-La

Apr–Nov

A Tibetan town at 3,200m in Yunnan — Songzanlin Monastery, alpine lakes and snow-capped gorges of the Meili range.

Monastery visits, hiking

Full guide

Hoh Xil

Jun–Sep

A vast, empty UNESCO wilderness in Qinghai — home to the Tibetan antelope and one of the wildest places left in China.

Overland traverse

Best way to visit

Best way: Acclimatize first (one night at ~3,000m), go May–October to avoid snow, and carry a warm layer even in summer.