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Ngawa Travel Guide

Ngawa (Sichuan Aba) Travel Guide and Tour Packages

Importance News - Ngawa is currently open to foreign visitors including expats in China. You are welcome to contact us for detailed travel requirements on foreign visitors.

Ngawa is the Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. Ngawa is called Aba in Tibetan and Chinese. Ngawa Prefecture is home to many famous parks and natural wonders of Sichuan including Jiuzhaigou Park, Huanglong Park, Siguniang Parks, Dagu Glaciers, Nyenpo Yurtse, Bipenggou Park, Munigou, Songpinggou, Zoige Grassland, Langmusi, Wolong Panda Base, Barkam, etc. A large part of Ngawa Prefecture is in Tibetan Plateau and most people live in Ngawa are Tibetan People. Ngawa is a vast area in terms of traveling and usually long hours of driving are inevitable while traveling here. Hiking and trekking is one of the popular way of traveling in Ngawa especially in Siguniang Parks.

Ngawa Travel and Tours

Jiuzhaigou Park of Ngawa

Jiuzhaigou Park

Jiuzhaigou is one of the best places to see the beauty of our mother nature. It is famous for having the most beautiful water views in China. The ancient Tibetan village in the valley is another attractive feature of Jiuzhaigou. There is a saying popular among travelers - ” One doesn’t want to see any other water landscape after visiting Jiuzhaigou”. There are 108 plateau lakes, together with many streams, waterfalls, rivers and beaches, form a colorful and peaceful picture. Travelers use six phrases to describe the features of Jiuzhaigou: green lakes, superimposed waterfalls, colorful forests, pure snow mountains, impressive Tibetan custom, and blue ice.

Huanglong Park

Huanglong is famous for the "four wonders" of Colorful lakes, snow mountains, canyons and wild forests, plus beach currents, ancient temples and folk customs as "seven wonders". The main landscape is concentrated in the Huanglong Valley, which is about 3.6 kilometers long. Huanglong's large-scale, wonderfully-structured, and colorful surface travertine landscape is the main scenery, and it is known as a wonderland on earth by its rare karst landforms.

Mt. Siguniang (Four Sisters Mountain)

Mount Siguniang is a massif of mountains very close to a big city Chengdu. Within half day’s drive you can get there. Mount Siguniang is named “The Oriental Alps” due to its close resembles of the real Alps. It was used by local people to try to drive more visitors. Mount Siguniang is a very beautiful and awe-inspiring place. It is one of the most popular adventure travel destinations in China and loved by many active travelers.

Nyenpo Yurtse (Lianbao Yeze)

Nyenpo Yurtse is a geological park with dozens of beautiful lakes and amazing mountains. It is believed by local Golog Tibetans to be their origin place and a glory of the King Gesar. The highest point of Nyenpo Yurtse is 5369 meters above sea level, and it is also the highest point of Bayan Har Mountains, the separation of the Yangtze and Yellow River in China. Nyenpo Yurtse covers an area of 8spkm and is called “the rock mountains” by local Tibetan people. It was listed as a national geological park due to its uniquely-formed mountains and rocks.

Bipenggou Park

Bipenggou is a very popular tourist attraction in Sichuan all year round. It is famous for its beautiful natural ecological landscape and excellent ecological environment. There are many wild forests, rhododendrons, primitive forest, high snow-covered peaks, flying waterfalls, and stunning glaciers. Bipenggou is connected to the beautiful back side of Mount Siguniang (Four Girls Mountain).

Ngawa is home to also Zoige, the biggest Grassland in Sichuan and Langmusi, an important Buddhist Shrine in Tibet.

Recommended length of visiting: 2-10 days;

Ngawa Travel Guide and Tours
  • Sichuan Travel

    Munigou

    Munigou Park is a park of beautiful lakes, waterscape, forest located in Songpan near Huanglong Park. The elevation of the park is between 2800m and 4000m. It takes around 20 minutes drive from Songpan to the park. The main attractions in Munigou include Zhaga Waterfall, Erdaohai, Muni Forest, Mingjing Lake, Baihua Lake, Moon Lake, Swan Lake, Rhino Lake, etc.

  • Sichuan Travel

    Songpinggou

    Songpinggou is a park of turquoise lakes and colorful forests located in NW of Maoxian County in Ngawa Prefecture. The highlights of the park include the mountains in the background (Fugui Mountain and Lion Mountain), lakes (5-color lakes, lower and upper Diexi Lakes), formation of the landscape and waterscape, forest (red and yellow forest in autumn), Yu'er Village and forest.

  • Sichuan Travel

    Dagu Glacier Park

    Dagu Glacier Park is a park of nature including glacier, wild animals, lakes, mountains and forest. Dagu Glacier Park is located in Heishui County, Ngawa Prefecture 320km northwest to Chengdu. Dagu Glacier Park is a well-built park.

  • Sichuan Travel

    Qizanggou

    Qizanggou or Qizang Valley is a wild place of turquoise lakes, rocky mountains, primitive forest. Qizanggou valley is located next to Huanglong Park near Jiuzhaigou Airport in Ngawa Prefecture in northern Sichuan. Qizanggou Valley has several other valleys including Kaka Valley, Awon VAlley and Hongxing Valley.

MORE THINGS TO DO

Getting There and Around

Ngawa is also a vast area and population is small.

Travel to Ngawa By Car

Usually between different places it involves long hours of driving. The roads are often winding and most of it is mountain road. On a land tour it's inevitable to have long hours in a car and driving over high altitude (over 4000m) passes. Since 2010 the roads in Ngawa have improved a lot but still not as good as many other places in China. Now the drive from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou still takes 8-9 hours (2021). Traffic jam is highly possible at certain locations or during holidays. Road construction, road restriction and roads shut off due to landslide are highly possible during certain season. Alternative roads usually not available. The road's elevation is between 1000m and 4000m.

Travel to Ngawa By Air

Flights are also available in some places in Ngawa. There are total two airports in Ngawa: Jiuzhaigou Airport, Hongyuan Airport. Direct flights available from Chengdu, Chongqing (seasonal), Xian (Seasonal), Shanghai and Guangzhou. Some people do use flight in and flight out to save the long drive especially for people traveling to places such as Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong and then from there onto Zoige and Langmusi.

Useful Ngawa Travel Tips

Gathered below is the most useful travel guide to Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Prefecture. Important travel information of Ngawa includes travel season and climate, high altitude tips, travel tips for planning in Ngawa, accommodation and food issues about traveling to Ngawa.

Travel Season

Ngawa is also affected by the warm current from its south and east, so it has rainy days in summer from June to September while dry and cold winter from November to next March. October is usually thought to be the best time to travel to see mountains, and June/July is the best season to see the grassland in Aba, Zoige and Hongyuan.

High Altitude

The whole Ngawa is a high altitude place. Many parks and towns where hotels are located are at over 2000 meters or even 3000m. Visitors traveling to Ngawa must be aware of the high altitude and take precautions in accordance. Jiuzhaigou is at 2000m, Huanglong is at 3200m, Bipenggou is at 3400m, base of Siguniang is at 3100m.

Accommodation and Food

A large part of Ngawa are still less-developed places with lots of modern facilities not yet available at present. Except Jiuzhaigou, the accommodations are often with limited options, some without elevator and some without comfortable rooms.

Planning Ideas

Ngawa is one of the best places to see nature but without too hard travel in China. Jiuzhaigou Park is one of the top 5 places in China to travel to. Wolong is the hometown of pandas. Mt. Siguniang is one of the best places to do trekking in China. There are also wilder places such as Qizanggou, Zoige, Nyenpo Yurtse etc.

Ngawa Tour Packages - Ngawa Adventures

View below the best-selected tour packages of Ngawa. Included are the classic ground tour to Jiuzhaigou, lodge-based circuit tour from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou and Zoige, and the adventure trek tour to Mount Siguniang Dafeng!

  • Ngawa Tour 2024&2025

    Jiuzhaigou Tour by Train from Chengdu - 3 Days

    This tour starts by the train station of Chengdu. You will use train to travel to Jiuzhaigou and visit the park of Jiuzhaigou for a full day before using train back to Chengdu. It will be total three days (2.5 days) saving time and money while not missing anything.

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  • Bipenggou Tour 2024&2025

    Bipenggou and Siguniang Circuit Tour - 3 Days

    This is a short adventure tour into the big mountains of Qionglaishan with visits to Siguniang (four sister mountains) and Bipenggou. With 3 or 4 days time you will have the chance to see snow-capped mountains, deep and wild valleys with highland forest and river/lake views. In summer you will have views of green mountains, in autumn you will see golden foliage, and in winter snow...

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  • Ngawa Tour 2024&2025

    Northern Sichuan Adventure Tour– 9 days

    Ground tour based Northern Sichuan Adventure tour is a well-organized adventure into the most stunning national parks of China, Jiuzhaigou and the vast grassland of Zoige along with the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine of Langmusi. This is a well-paced adventure designed to enjoy the authentic views and culture.

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