5 Days in Lanzhou

Settle in, cross the 1909 bridge at dusk, climb White Pagoda Hill for the night view and finish among the Ming-style waterwheels; Lanzhou beef noodles in the 1915 Ma Baozi tradition make the first breakfast.

1. Zhongshan Bridge
2. lanzhou white pagoda hill
3. lanzhou waterwheel garden

The free museum keeps the 34.5-centimetre Bronze Galloping Horse unearthed near Wuwei in 1969; later walk Binhe Road to the 1986 Mother sculpture, then laozao at the night market made famous by a 2012 TV series.

1. lanzhou gansu provincial museum
2. lanzhou yellow river mother sculpture
3. lanzhou zhengning road night market

About 45 kilometres southeast in Yuzhong County, twin forested peaks near 2,500 metres, the Yunlong bridge and halls that sheltered the relics of Genghis Khan from 1939 until 1954 — a green counterpoint to the brown river.

1. lanzhou xinglong mountain

Morning boardwalks among the ochre ridges of the ink Danxia on the city's northwest edge, afternoon under pear trees in Shichuan, many of them more than 300 years old in a broad bend of the river.

1. lanzhou ink danxia
2. lanzhou shichuan pear orchard

Temple courts and five springs under the Huo Qubing legend, the 2,129-metre Lanshan lookout by cable car, then the roughly 40-kilometre riverside line one last time before the train or the 70-kilometre ride to the airport.

1. lanzhou wuquan mountain park
2. lanzhou lanshan park
3. lanzhou yellow river style line