Hiking in Kangding

Kangding iis the capital city of Garze Tibetan Prefecture. It is one of the big Tibetan towns in Sichuan and the first stop from the traditional China to traditional Tibet. Kangding refers to a large area of land that includes a lot of beautiful places including Mount Gongga, Tagong Grassland, Mt. Yala and Hailuogou. One can do multi-day treks in the mountains of Mt. Gongga or Mt. Yala, or short hikings in Hailuogou or Tagong Grassland. Kangding town itself is just a town and a base, supply center or stopover place for these trekking trips. Please read detailed travel information on our Minya Konka Trek. Mt. Yala Hiking goes into the tranquil valleys and by turquoise lakes as well as the holy mountain of Yala itself and ends by Tagong Grassland.

Where is Kangding

A hiking trip to Kangding usually starts from Chengdu by driving. The drive takes about 3-4 hours at present (2023). There are scheduled buses departing Chengdu at Xinnanmen to Kangding every hour until noon. The drive itself is also interesting as the landscape will change from farming plains into mountain valleys. Elevation in Chengdu is at about 500 meters and elevation in Kangding is at about 2500 meters. Although there is also an airplane you can take from Chengdu every morning to Kangding. The flight takes about 40 minutes and it arrives at Kangding airport at the elevation of about 4200 meters. It is a lot of elevation gain in such a short time. If using the flight, you will need another 1.5 hours’ transfer from the airport down to Kangding. It doesn’t save much time comparing to driving. Please read more on how to get to Kangding from Chengdu by driving.

When is the Best Time to Hike in Kangding

The best season to hike in Kangding is from May to October although sometimes April and November are also available. December to the next March is the winter in Kangding. Hiking in Kangding may not be available during winter time as the snow may block the walking trail at the high pass where usually the elevation is very high. Summer and autumn is the best time to do a hiking in Kangding. July and Agust are not cold and the mountains are green and flowers are blooming. Fall is also a good season as the mountain valleys will turn into golden colors. But hiking in Kangding in fall, the weather maybe a little cold especially during night time when usually it will drop below zero. Kangding has the most rain in June and July but this is comparing to other seasons. Overall Kangding has very dry weather. Temperature changes a lot when you are in the mountains at high elevation. Please read more details on Kangding Weather and Climate.

How to Plan a Hiking Trip to Kangding

Duration and Transfer

Around Kangding there are the magnificent Minya Konka, Buddhist town of Tagong, Mugecuo Lake and Mount Yala. You can aim for longer treks such as Minya Konka, or medium and lodge hikings by Minya Konka West and on Tagong Grassland, or simply do some light hikings on a road trip and include visits/hikes in Kangding while there. The tourist parks around Kangding also provides some short hikes with good views. These parks include Hailuogou and Yanzigou Park, Mugetso Park. Depending on your travel style you can plan as short as 1 or 2 days by Kangding or as long as 7-10 days in this area to do hiking. Here we have listed our recommendations of the best hiking exprience in/around Kangding for you.

Minya Konka Trek

Minya Konka is top 10 treks in China. A trekking trip to Minya Konka normally needs about a week and it is a serious camping trekking. In a Minya Konka trekking, you can see the many snow-capped peaks including Minya Konka, alpine views of Tibetan landscape, nomads Tibetan people, glaciers and Tibetan Monasteries. 

Mt. Yala to Tagong Grassland Trek

Mt. Yala to Tagong Grassland Hiking is an adventure to see both nature and culture of Kham Tibet. Sichuan is a big place and there are a lot yet to be explored. A hiking trip from Mt. Yala to Tagong Grassland is a well-paced camping hiking with a medium difficulty. Please read our 8-Day Kangding Mt. Yala Trekking Tour.

Tagong Grassland Hiking

Tagong Grassland brings you to authentic and wild nomadic part of Sichuan. Tagong is truely a hidden gem of Sichuan. The landscape in Tagong is rolling grassland that you barely see with open views everywhere. This makes travelers’ hiking at this place fairly easy and the hiking itself is pleasant. A hiking trip connects the monasteries, villages, nomads people and local Buddhist Schools of Tagong.

Short Day Hikes in/around Kangding on a (Circuit) Road Trip

A lot of travelers choose to do a road trip in western Sichuan and stop at each place to visit or to do some hikings at each place. Such trips travel to more places and see different landscape. Please read our 6-Day Wild Sichuan Hiking. Kangding is definately one of such places. It has places of interests such as Minya Konka, Tagong, Mugetso Park, Hailuogou Park that can be considered as places to visit/hike. Short tours/hikes we have summerized/selected for you include: 1-Day Kangding Backdoor Hiking, 1-Day Hailuogou+Yajiageng Tour, 1-Day Mugetso Tour and its upper trail hiking, 2-Day Kangding and Tagong Grassland Leisure Hiking.

Detailed Information about Kangding Mt. Yala to Tagong Grassland Hiking

The following information is for Kangding Mt. Yala to Tagong Grassland Hiking. It does not include hiking information of Minya Konka or Tagong Grassland, please find links above and go to their each specific page.

Kangding Mt. Yala to Tagong Hiking trip is not a well-known hiking among visitors to Sichuan but it is a really beautiful hiking adventure. A suggested hiking itinerary has 5 days of hiking going in from Kangding and coming out at Tagong Grassland, visiting totally wild valleys and authentic Buddhist shrine of Tagong. It is a very good hiking vacation for families too suited for people from 12 to 60 y/o. You won’t miss nature as well as culture essentials of Kangding. The campsites are all very nice and the walking is not very strenuous.

The hiking is in total 5 days and the driving from Chengdu to Kangding it is better to plan it as one day. After the hiking, you will end in Tagong and from Tagong it is 400km away from Chengdu. From Tagong you can either drive for 1 hour to the airport to catch the flight back to Chengdu or drive back to Chengdu in1 day via Kangding . There is also a shorter version of this Kangding Hiking which is total 3 days’ hiking. This hiking will skip the high mountain pass to save two days and of course will skip some good views. From 2021 a tourist park of Mt. Yala is set up and this hiking was not available for a while but since 2022 it is available again.

Elevation and Walking Distance

A hiking trip from Kangding to Tagong Grassland via Mt. Yala starts from 40km north of the town of Kangding at Zhonggucun at the elevation of 3100 meters. In this total 5-day walking, the ascent is in total about 2000 meters and total descent is about 1500 meters. Among the walking days, the difficult day is the day that you will need to walk up for 700 meters over the 4800-m mountain pass and walk down for 800 meters to Tagong Grassland . Daily walking distance is about 12km.

Terrain and Trails

The walking trails are former caravan trails used by local people. It was part of Tea-horse road trails in ancient times. The trails are basically very fine trails except if it may be wet in summer, some sections can be a little muddy. And there are also some small rivers you need to cross if you are hiking in summer time, because usually in the summer the rivers become bigger and the former bridges will be probably destroyed already. The trails in the valleys are fine horse trails but the trail by the pass at elevation over 4500+ meter maybe rocky and can be slippery, that you need to be careful while walking on this. These trails are used by local nomad people all the time and there are no dangerous sections. Except the day you will hike over the pass that will be steep, the rest days you will be walking on gradual terrains overall.

Mountain Sickness

Travelers to do this Hiking will have the possibility of having mountain sickness. In Kangding the elevation is at about 2500 meters and at the hiking start point in Zhonggucun, the elevation is at about 3100 meters. It is better to acclimatize yourself in Kangding one night and go higher slowly. The highest point of this hiking is at around 4800 meters on fourth day of hiking. This Kangding hiking is not a strenuous one but the elevation are quite high so you need to be aware this while hiking. The precautions you can consider to minimize the chance of suffering from mountain sickness include drink a lot of water, keep warm and try to eat healthy before you go. Avoiding yourself getting a cold is essential as the temperature changes quickly from day time to night time.

Physical Requirement

A Kangding Mt. Yala and Tagong Hiking trip is not long and strenuous but fun and enjoyable. The difficulty level is medium considering the elevation and walking distance. But you still need to be fit enough to do this hiking. You can always consult your doctor before you go if you have never been to this height before. Experienced hikers also need to be aware of the walking. On the hiking passing the pass, it involves three to four hours of walking up and after the pass it is another 3 to 4 hours of walking down. It will be a lot of pressure on your knees.

Luggage and Porters

Chengdu is the stopover city for a Kangding Hiking trip. You can leave things you don’t need for the hiking and come back to collect them after the hiking. In this hiking if you don’t use flight to go back you can also leave your things behind in Kangding since driving back will pass Kangding too. A Kangding hiking trip uses packhorses as porters. A pack horse can carry up 40kg to 50kg of bags. Usually you can hire the horse at Zhonggucun at the hiking start location. A horse man will usually be assigned to the horse to watch the horse and feed the horse. So they don’t rent horse solely because they need to bring back the horse from end of the hiking. From a local perspective, a horse carrying luggage is different as a horse carrying a human. Carrying a human will usually cost more money as a human is heavier and needs more care. Not every horse is friendly so when you need or want to use a horse to ride, the horsemen will give you a horse that is considered mild-tempered and strong.

The Camping

The campsites of Kangding Yala and Tagong Hiking are very good campsites. Kangding Hiking is a well paced hiking and the campsites suggested are best-selected campsites. The campsites are basically very flat and spacious, with easy access to water. Except the camping night on the other side of the pass, the rest nights you can have a campfire lit by the campsite (camp fire is not allowed anymore in the wild since 2019). The second night you will be camping by the foot of Mount Yala where you have full views of the mountain by the camp. The other night’s campsite is close to some open and wild hot springs. These hot springs are natural hot springs and you can soak yourself into the pond if you feel good. Along the hiking trail your cell phones will loose signal and at the campsites there are no electricity at all. You will have a few nights without modern life and without any connection with the outside world.

While camping, you need to be aware of the yaks. There are a lot of yaks there especially in summer. They are not very smart but they are interested in the food you have by your tent. They have very good smell as well. They like salt very much so anything that contains salt they can smell it. Former hikers had experience that the whole campsite was destroyed by the yaks overnight because they were not careful enough and left the kitchen open. Normally if you keep your food covered it should be fine. Please read more details on Kandging Yala to Tagong Camping.

Kangding Hking Packing list

trekking boots, trekking hat, Jacket/windbreaker, Base layer/T-shirt, Walking trousers, Thermals, Fleece, Socks

Backpack, -15C down Sleeping bag, Water bottle, Walking poles

Waterproof, Sunglasses, Sun block, headlamp, Toiletries

Camera, Cell phone, batteries

First-aid kit, Personal medications

Eat and Drink, Accommodations

A hiking of Kangding Mt. Yala and Tagong will go into the wild where there are no shops nor people living in there. You will be camping and hiking in the wild for total 5 days before you see shops or restaurants. In an arranged tour, food will be provided for you usually. Please avoid drinking water directly from the streams. There are plenty of streams along the hiking trail but there are also a lot of animals there so the water is not clean for drinking. You can prepare mountain food that you are used to. Food available in the mountain are usually local Sichuan food include stir fries of pork, vegetables, rice sometimes noodles, soup. Please read more on accommodation information in Kangding.

Read more details on travel guide and information of Kangding , Tagong , Mt. Gongga