7 Days in Yushu

Fly into Batang Airport (about 3,900 m); keep the first day short — the monastery on the ridge, then the museum's account of the 2010 quake, magnitude 7.1, and the town rebuilt after it.

1. yushu jiegu monastery
2. yushu prefecture museum

The mani mound has grown since 1715 past 200 million carved stones; herder camps dot the grassland toward the airport at about 4,000 m, and July brings the horse-racing festival.

1. yushu gyanak mani
2. yushu batang grassland

The gorge 20 km south holds a cliff carving about 1,300 years old; the stream of Leba Gorge is lined with prayer stones — take the loop unhurried at this altitude.

1. yushu princess wencheng temple
2. yushu leba gorge

The Tongtian carries the Yangtze some 800 km from the sources; the Three-River-Source monument stands by the old ferry crossing, inside the national park that started its pilot in 2016.

1. yushu tongtian river
2. yushu sanjiangyuan monument

About 70 km west near 4,200 m, the wetlands shelter breeding black-necked cranes from May to September; bring binoculars and stay on the marked tracks.

1. yushu longbaotan reserve

A roughly 3-hour drive southwest into Nangqian County — honest note, still Yushu Prefecture but a full valley day, where the upper Lancang (Mekong) cuts between forested slopes and hillside monasteries; overnight in the county town at about 3,600 m.

1. yushu nangqian valley

Back over the passes to Batang Airport for the roughly 2-hour flight to Xining, which sits at about 2,275 m — a gentler night before onward trains or flights.

1. xining