Yading Nature Reserve | Yading National Park

Yading National Park or Yading Nature Reserve is located in Riwa also called Shangri-la town of Daocheng county in Sichuan Province.  It is a mountain sanctuary and major Tibetan pilgrimage site with highest altitude of 4700m above sea level. 

The gate of this national park and the actual sightseeing area are far apart from each other. You need to take the park bus (which fee is included in the entrance ticket ) right after you enter the entry gate. From entry gate to the Chonggu Temple takes about an hour on the bus. First you will ascending up on a high mountain then start descend in the deep valley through  some local Tibetan villages.

One of the village is called Yading village (Nyingdang). The Yading Park is named after this village. The bus may stop at this village to pick up tourists. If you want to explore the village, you can get out here but most tourists will drive all the way to Chonggu Monastery which is the start point of the park sightseeing. Even if you get off the bus in Yading village, you can still catch any other bus to continue your trip in the park.

Once you get to final destination which is the start point of the park sightseeing. You have two routes options. There is small loop for short park visit which takes 2-3 hours, this is particularly design for people who can’t walk in high altitude or those of whom only have limited visiting time. The other one is to most popular route which take you to the Risumgonpo Mountain, Glacier and the beautiful lakes.

At the Chonggu Temple, first you can across the Ochu River and walk to Chonggu Temple, It’s a Temple with yard, the first floor of the temple is monk assembly hall and the second floor display some statues of Buddha and Thangkas.  Afterwards,  you have two options to get the the mountains and lakes. First option is the most popular choice which is to ride on the park eco-bus to reach horse riding camp costs extra 80Y per person for return. This is a 9km ride takes about half an hour, after take off the eco bus, then you need to walk the last leg of the route 5km and takes about 3 hours. As you can image 5km takes 3 hours,

it is the most difficult part of the hike with very steep slopes. If you feel concern about this 3km, you can stay at the horse riding camp where you can see the snow capped mountains, glacier and river with beautiful wooden walk way in the marshland. If you want to go to the lakes but still concern about the walk, you can also hire a horse to take you half of the route and complete the rest on the foot.  The second option is to walk from start point all the way to the 5 color Lake and Milk Lake which is about 16km and takes 4-5 hours. When I and my clients were there, we walked both way without taking eco bus or horse.

If you are a trekker, hiker or walker, this won’t be  too difficult.  The return(up and down)walking distance is 34km. The walkway is made of wooden and metal bridges over the Ochu river, it is a nice and smooth walkway until you meet other tourists who took eco-bus instead of walk. From there, then everyone walk together for the rest of the hike.  I recommend this hike start from Chonggu Monastery, you are likely the only one who is taking this walkway, we didn’t see single Chinese tourists taking this route, so we are totally alone both ways). The scenery on the walkway is so beautiful, peaceful and calm.

You are walking through forest, rocky mountains, rivers and if you are lucky, sometimes you can see wildlife in the forest. I personally think it is one of the highlight of the park. Though most people missed it due to take eco-bus, but again I recommend this walk.

These mountains are holy mountains for local Tibetans, The three main peaks are seen as emanations of Rigsum Gonpo, the lords of Three Families. These three deities are Chenrisig (Skt: Avalokiteshvara), Japeyang (Skt: Manjushri) and Chaknadorje (Vajrapani). These three deities are symbolically represents the body, speech and mind aspects of the Buddha of all times. Among these mountains, the snow capped mountain of Chenrezig / Avalokiteshvara being the highest peak at 6032 meters above sea level.

There are three alpine lakes at the bottom of these snow capped mountains inside the park.

The First Lake is Dolma Lhatso Lake located south of Chonggu Monastery. It’s a beautiful lake in the middle of forests. 

The second Lake is Tendrig Tso Lake or Five Colored Lake located halfway up on the mountains.

The third Lake is OSom Tso Lake or Milk Lake at the bottom of Chenrezig mountain. These the second and third lakes are close by with 1 km away from each other.

 There are few 2-4 days trekking inside the park. Though trekking is not the popular activities inside this park, but if you choose to do trek, then the Mount Chenresig Kora (circumambulation) is the best.

Accommodation in Yading Park. There are accommodations both inside and outside of the park. The most common, convenient and popular one is to stay in Shangri-la town which is at altitude of 2900m above sea level and it is a newly built town full of hotels and restaurants. All types of accommodation from budget hotel to 3 star hotel is available in this place. If you want to stay in Yading, then this place will be your first choice and make sure to stay close to the entrance gate. So you can even walk to the entrance gate in the early morning without driving up there.

There are also guesthouses inside the Yading Park both in the Yading village as well as nearby Chonggu Monastery. The only disadvantage of staying inside is that you can’t drive inside the park, you need to take scheduled bus which is not convenient if you have big luggage and the bus only drop you off on the road and you need to walk to the guesthouses on your own. Despite this disadvantage, if you don’t mind the hassle, it is interesting experience in this quiet village surrounded by virgin forests.  

The hotel price are from 100CNY– 600CNY, depends on the level of hotel and travel season.

Yading National Park Entrance ticket: 120CNY per person

Park Bus fee: 120CNY per person

Eco bus fee: 80CNY per person