Genyen Travel – Planning Ideas

Whiling traveling to Genyen you need to know what you can plan to visit and what you can skip according to your style and time of visit. To visit Genyen, normally you will be on a hiking trip as it is the best way to see its beauty. While when you travel there, you can also choose to visit tourist attractions or have short visits along the way to Genyen including Kangding, Litang. Here you can find useful information and suggestions of ways of traveling on planning your trip to Genyen.

Hiking and Trekking

Travel to Genyen involves hiking. The hikings at Genyen are with flexible dates that can suit into different time schedules travelers have.

If you only have limited time for Genyen or this is just a travel by visit on your tour, you can just drive from Litang all the way to the New Nigong Monastery located by the base of Mt. Genyen. The drive will take about 3 hours only with the newly constructed road. Although a walk into the valley to see the original Nigong Monastery is recommended. This walk takes only 1 hour from the new Nigong Monastery and will walk the same way back. And you will also drive the same way back, which makes this visit a day/side visit from Litang.

To do an inner kora trek in Genyen, you will need a minimum of 8 to 9 days in total from Chengdu. The Inner Kora Trek of Genyen is not much walked and a new trek. It starts from the east range in the valley near Mt. Kaimailong and walk into the valley with open hot springs (the Hot Spring Valley), and traverse over a 5000 meters mountain pass before walk to the valley east to Mt. Genyen. The walking itself requires a 4 to 5 days time. This trek summarizes the best part and the wildest parts of Genyen Massif. If someone is looking for a completely wild trek, this is the best option.

The Outer Kora of Genyen is the big loop walking around the Genyen Massif. To do an outer Kora Trek in Genyen, it requires a minimum of 12 days from Chengdu. The trek starts from the Nigong Monastery and goes clockwise all the way to Maoya Prairie. The walking takes 7 to 8 days in total. It is one of the longest treks in Sichuan and also one of the most beautiful ones.

Both treks use Litang as a stopover places and both treks involve camping and walking at or over 4000 meters at elevation. Basically Genyen Treks are difficult treks.

Below is a hiking map of Genyen including the important locations and villages, the hiking routes and campsites, the elevations and mountain passes.