10 Days in Bijie

The 2019 Chengdu-Guiyang HSR stops at Bijie and Dafang; the museum introduces the Ming-era Yi leader Shexiang, who died in 1396, and the rebuilt Yi-heritage town beside it.

1. bijie shexiang museum
2. bijie muege ancient town

The wild belt stretches some 50 kilometres across 125.8 square kilometres of hills; the bloom runs from late March through April, with the Puding and Jinpo viewing loops.

1. bijie baili azalea

About 90 minutes south-east, the 12.1-kilometre cave system walks some 6.6 kilometres of chambers and a canyon mouth with a natural skylight.

1. bijie zhijin cave
2. bijie zhijin grand canyon

A slow day of wet-market breakfasts, buckwheat snacks and a riverfront nap before the western block.

1. bijie city markets

Two and a half hours west to the 2,170-metre plateau lake, a national reserve since 1992 — from November to March around 2,000 black-necked cranes winter on the shallows. Overnight in Weining.

1. bijie caohai reserve

At Hezhang county, the 2,777-metre summit is the highest point of Guizhou; in August and September the wild chive meadows of the Da platform turn violet on the drive back.

1. bijie jiucaiping

East to Qianxi for the boat stretch of the Wujiang reservoir gorge and the riverside Miao village of Huawu, famous for its embroidered sleeves and cliff-side lanes.

1. bijie wujiang source gallery

An honest neighbour-city day — the summer "cool capital" whose averages run about 19.7 degrees, and the Tuole village of thousand-year ginkgo trees at its best in late October.

1. liupanshui tuole ginkgo village

By rail to the waterfall city — the 77.8-metre, 101-metre-wide fall behind its water-curtain cave, an honest day in the neighbour prefecture Anshun.

1. huangguoshu waterfall

A wet-market breakfast of buckwheat cakes and mutton soup, a slow loop of the riverfront, then the HSR from Bijie station.

1. bijie city markets