A Wonderland - JiuZhaiGou Sichuan China
The "Fairy Land on Earth" is the name given to
JiuZhaiGou by people whoever been to there. It has the most stunning and
natural beautiful scenes in Sichuan prefecture. Some people will address
it as Sichuan JiuZhaiGou. The exact location of JiuZhaiGou is situated at 2000-4300 meters above sea level in JiuZhaiGou
country of Arba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Northwestern
Sichuan. It is also one of the main water source of JiuLingJiang River in
YangTze River system.
As one of the top 5A scenic tourist places in China, JiZhaiGou is famous
of its crystal clear alpine lakes, waterfalls, rivers, beaches, snow
covered mountain peaks, forests and the most unique one is the very local
Tibetan customs that ones must try. JiuZhaiGou also crowned with the name
"Fairy Tale World' as the scenics changes as season changes; spring with
full bloom of mountain flowers, summer with extremely healthy greenery
scene, authum with rainbow colors view and winter with crystal white
mountains. Later in 1992, JiuZhaiGou was approved by UNESCO as one of the
world natural heritage and it was designated into the Man and Biosphere
Network of UNESCO in 1997.
JiuZhaiGou terrain is very unique, all of the interesting scenic places
are located along the "Y-shape" valley which covers 720 square kilometers
that consists of NuoRiLang Gully and its two branches ZeChaWa and RiZe.
There are roughly 118 crystal clear lakes that host at least 10 millions
year old high altitude water creatures, 17 waterfalls, many calcium
sediments based beaches and all kinds of fauna and flora. As for its high
altitude and thick forest setup, it develops fresh air and many ioniser
for refreshing tourist mind and breathing system. The bright sunshine
brings the most wonderful scene changed throughout the day with many
different effects and colors reflection on lakes and mountains. Hence
JiuZhaiGou is a very ideal place for vocations and sightseeing.
Brief Introduction on Scenic Areas
Walking around in a 720 squares kilometers is not an easy job, you may get
lost easily without some guides. Here are some brief information and
proposal in the 5 main scenic areas for you to start an exciting
JiuZhaiGou nature exploration.
1. Treasureed Mirror Cliff scenic zone: Start at lower part of ShuZheng
gully, there are couple of interesting view like Zharu Tibetan temple,
Potted landscape Lake, Reed marshes, and etc.
2. ShuZheng scenic zone: Here consist of many lakes like Sparkling lake, ShuZheng Alpine lakes, Laying Dragon lake, and Rhino Lake at the upper
gully region.
3. RiZhe scenic zone: It has the most anstonshing and unique beauty of
JiuZhaiGou all in here, start with NuoRiLang waterfall, Mirror lake, RiZe
lake, Pearl Shoal waterfall, Five Color lake, Panda lake and waterfall,
and Arrow Bamboo lake.
4. Primary Forests scenic zone: At the upper part of RiZe
gully where Swan lake, Grass lake, Sword Rock Spring and Primary Forests
lay here.
5. Long lake scenic zone: Here consist of Colorful Pool, Long Lake and
Seasonal Lakes.
Travel Tips
Main scenic spots are scatter around three Y shape gullies - ShuZheng,
RiZhe, and ZeChaWa. Need at least a full day to finish 1 gully, advice to
plan 3-5 days in JiuZhaiGuo for a fruitful travel experience.
Distance for each of this three gullies:
1. Entrance of JiuZhaiGuo scenic gate to NuoRiLang - about 15km
2. NuoRiLang to ChangHai and Colorful Pool lake - about 18km
3. NuoRilang to FangCao lake (Primary Florest) - about 18km
For light travelers that wish to cover the whole JiuZhaiGuo scenic area
is impossible but with the free scenic coaches running around the areas
can bring you to couple of key scenic spots in a day. Just wait at any key
scenic point, the coaches will arrive in between 10-15 minutes depends on
travel seasons.
The weather in JiuZhaiGuo with average temperature:
Spring: 4.4 degree celcius (Feb), 9.3 degree celcius (Mar), 14.1 degree
celcius (Apr)
Summer; 17.2 degree celcius (May), 19.7 degree celcius (Jun), 22.2 degree
celcius (Jul)
Authum: 21.8 degree celcius (Aug), 17.5 degree celcius (Sept), 13.2 degree
celcius (Oct)
Winter: 7.7 degree celcius (Nov), 3.0 degree celcius (Dec), 1.7 degree
celcius (Jan)
Local Specialties
Food: JiuZhaiGuo Roasted sheep, Hairy Beef steak, Mixed Noodles, Potato
Cake, Barley Wine and etc.
Products: Fritillary bulbs, Sichuan caterpillar fungus, musk, Chinese
prickly ash, edibl fungus, wild fern, Maowen apples, Qiang embroidery and
Tibetan folk handicrafts.
Accommodations
5 Star:
Jiuzhai Paradise Hotel
The specialty is the whole hotel is covered by glass
in an area of 10000 meter squares of lobby, another 10000 meter squares of
hot spring spa with swimming pools, conference rooms, few international
and local restaurants, night club and bar, local Qiang clam buildings with
the surroundings of ancient forests. Total build up area of 150000 meter
squares. Distance from JiuHuang Airport is only 60 km, and just 20 km
apart from JiuZhaiGou.
Room rates - RMB 900 to RMB 2000 (On-line booking)
Jiuzhaigou Sheraton International Hotel
It is located at 1800 meters above sea level, just
about 2 km away from Jiuzhaigou National Park. Again it is another hotel
surrounded with by green moutains and crystal clear blue water. The most
unique of this hotel is it based on Qiang and Tibetan architecture design
throughout the whole hotel.
Room rates - RMB 1000 - RMB 2000 (on-line booking)
4 Star
Jiuzhaigou Wooden House Hotel (Own and operated by
local tourism authority)
It is located at Jiuzhaigou ZhangZha city Moon Bay
which is just 3 km away from Jiuzhaigou scenic park entrance, 4 km away
from main centre city. It specialty is at its no gated compound that
directly access to the surrounding nature with lakes, mountains, the
tranquility of nature. But only limited with 25 rooms.
Room Rate - RMB 280 - RMB 600 (on-line booking)
How To Get There
By Air:
ChengDu Airport - HuangLong Airport (IATA: JZH) with Sichuan Airlines,
China Eastern, South China Airways and Air China.
Shanghai/Beijing/Hangzhou/ - Jiuhuang Airport with Sichuan Airlines.
By Road:
Public Coaches: Daily 2 to 3 departures from Xinnamen and Chadianzi bus
terminal at Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou.
Ticket price: RMB 110 - RMB 150.
Taxi: Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou or Jiuzhaigou to Chengdu cost around RMB 1200
- RMB 1500 per cab.
Ticket Information
Peak Season:
Entrance Ticket: RMB 220 (Adult), RMB 170 (Seniors, Students)
Bus Ticket: RMB 90 (one day)
Low Season:
Entrance Ticket: RMB 80 (Adult), RMB 70 (Seniors, Students)
Bus Ticket: RMB 80 (one day)
Winter 2nd day entry ticket: RMB 20 (need to punch in the first day entry)
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