3-Day Tour of Hailuogou Glacier Park and Mengding Mountain

3 Days Private Tour Chengdu – Ya’an - Luding – Moxi Town – Hailuogou Glacier Park - Ya’an – Mengding Mountain - Chengdu

Departing from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, we drive westward to Hailuogou, the lowest marine glacier in Asia. Hailuogou Glacier Park, located on the east slope of Gongga Mountain (Minya Konka, 7556 m, "king of peaks in Sichuan"), is the highest mountain on the eastern edge of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau. There are also vegetation zone with integral ecosystem and virgin forest, scattered with hot springs hidden in the forests. A large number of rare wild animals and birds thrive here.

On the way, we will visit Luding Bridge and Mengding Mountain. Luding Iron Chain Bridge is an important hub on the ancient tea horse road, where the Chinese Red Army combated during the Long March. Over 2000 years ago in the Western Han Dynasty, the founder of Mengding Mountain tea, Wu Lizhen began to domesticate wild tea trees in Mengding Mountain, thus started the history of artificial tea planting.

Itinerary

Itinerary
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DAY
1

Chengdu - Ya'an - Luding - Moxi town

Luding Bridge, Catholic Church in Moxi Town

After breakfast drive from Chengdu via the famous rain city Ya'an and Luding to Moxi town (1600 meters above sea level). On the way visit Luding Iron Chain Bridge. The bridge on the Dadu River is a treasure of Chinese ancient architecture. It was built in the 44th year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (1705) in order to enhance the connection with Tibetan culture. On May 29th, 1935, the Chinese Red Army reached Luding Bridge during the Long March. Facing a hail of bullets, the Chinese Red Army, with 22 warriors as the pioneers of the commando, destroyed the bridge’s guards in one fell swoop, which is an important historical monument of the Communist Party of China. Moxi town is the inhabited area of Han, Yi and Tibetan Nationalities. Take a walk around Moxi Town, visit the Catholic Church built by French since 1918, and enter the camp where the Red Army under the leadership of Mao Zedong and other leaders lived when they passed by during the Long March in 1935.

360 km
5 hours 46 minutes
Overnight at Yili Yunshan Hostel

Luding Bridge

DAY
2

Hailuogou Glacier Park

Explore the lowest marine glacier of Asia

In the morning set out from hotel by shuttle bus, pass through camp 1 (1940 m) and camp 2 (2580 m) to camp 3 (2940 m). Along the way, enjoy the glacier, ice waterfall, canyon and virgin forest of Hailuogou Valley. Camp 3 is an ideal location to enjoy the spectacular panoramic view of Mt. Gongga (Minya Konka) at sunrise. You have to get up very early to do that and the best time is around 06:40 in spring and summer and around 07:20 in autumn and winter. Climbing from camp 3 uphill along the path through the black pine forest to the glacier viewing platform (3200 m), it’s about 3 km and takes around 2 hours. You can also take a cable car from camp 3 to camp 4 (3600 m), where you can enjoy a better view of the glacier. You can enjoy the spectacular Large Icefall (1100 meters high and 1080 meters wide) at a close distance as well, and when the weather is good, you can see the main peak of Gongga Mountain (7556 m)!

Overnight at Yili Yunshan Hostel

Breakfast

Hailuogou Glacier Park

DAY
3

Moxi Town - Ya'an - Chengdu

Mengding Mountain, the birthplace of world tea culture

After breakfast drive back to Chengdu. On the way visit Mengding Mountain near Ya'an. It is the birthplace of world tea culture and the earliest place recorded in Chinese history to plant tea artificially.

343 km
5 hours 22 minutes

Breakfast

Mengding Mountain

Photo by Liu Bin

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