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Some notes from a trip to Jiuzhaigou last year. Maybe you can pick up a few ideas:
Songpan – Traffic Hotel attached to bus station. Sgl 15Y. Shared bathrm but exc shower. Have a large choice of diff sized rooms – my 5 companions got a huge comfortable 5 bed dorm with priv bath for 15 each.
Heard mixed reports about horse treks (all depends on how lucky you are with your guides), so I just did a few walks myself.
Destination: temple sitting high above town. Ask Emma (Emma’s Kitchen – rec) to point out track which starts on left bank of stream 30m s of Emma’s Kitchen. As block of houses ends after 100m, walk a further 60/70m then turn sharp left up the steep path all the way to the temple. Descend via path just to left of temple as u look towards town. You emerge in Muslim Quarter near covered bridge.
From temple you can work out another interesting route along mountain ridges across the valley.
Songpan_Jiuzhaighou 7am, 11 am, (2pm?) 28Y 3 hrs
Research name of a hotel and tell bus driver to drop u nearby. Otherwise he’ll drop u off either at park entrance or at bus station, which makes for a long walk back. Long distance bus station is 1km beyond the park entrance and 1.5km beyond main town.
500m before park entrance try Jiuzhaighou Garden Hotel 70Y sgl priv bath (but was full when I went)
You Yuan Binguan back of shop directly opp Jiuzhaighou Garden Hotel 50Y sgl priv bath but no hot water. Owner friendly, helpful but not a word of Engl. Will bring bucket hot water for you and was constantly filling tea thermos. I never managed to educate him on foreigners’ preference for ice cold beer though “peejo bingde”. Someone else on this forum recommended Jiuzhaighou IYH (
http://www.gogojz.com/eng_index.asp).
Entrance fee 220Y (170Y for pensioners and students) plus 90Y for unlimited bus usage, but no-one checks, and the buses won’t stop for u anyway unless you’re waiting at the crowded main tourist spots.
Jiuzhaighou National Park was a “beautiful disappointment”. It is incredibly beautiful, but I was disappointed that I was 20 yrs too late and had to share it with 1000s of other tourists per day.
However, here’s the secret to avoid the hordes of tour groups!
Day 1. Be at the park entrance at 6:40 am. Be first in line to buy your ticket and endorse it with free computer ID photo for 2 days usage. Be the first through the turnstiles at 7am and the first off the bus at the most popular tourist spot Panda Lake or Panda Falls. Be the first to start walking northwards to Nuorilang Falls. You’ll start hitting a few groups of tourists, but it’s better than later in the day when you’ll be involved in a rugby scrum just to get a photo of the falls. At Nuorilang take a bus to Long Lake and Multicoloured Lake. Then bus back to Nuorilang and change to bus for Primeval Forest at the end of the park. Walk downhill from there to Panda Lake where you started in the morning, and call it a day. The crowds will be out in force by then.
Day 2 Be the first through the turnstiles again at 7am. Get off at Nuorilang Falls and walk back towards the park entrance – it was as though I had the entire park to myself. Only met 4 people coming the other way, but there must have been 10,000 about 20 minutes behind me. Bus back up to Long Lake and walk back towards Nuorilang along quiet walkways that not many frequent. That’s quite a long day… keep your eye on park closing time and last buses 5:30pm
Shuzheng Village is just one great Tibetan theme park selling tacky souvenirs. Stick to the nature trails.
IMHO I can’t see the point of trying to find accom in Shuzheng Village overnight. It’s illegal (although I doubt they’d deport u for it). You’ve got to hide from rangers between 5:30 pm (park closes) and 7am, when you could be enjoying a nice beer, meal and stroll in Jiuzhaighou town. You’ve got to carry your pack around with u for all or part of the day as I saw a couple of travellers doing. The uncertainty and hassle of finding accom. You will still not be first at some of the more popular spots as outlined above because to cover the whole park you have to rely on the busses to cover those large distances anyway to get you there before the hordes arrive while you’re wasting time finding a lodge.
Whereas if you’re canny as outlined above you can virtually have the park to yourself legally for 2 days anyway.
On the other hand, I CAN see the point if you’re a truly adventurous squatter and stay in the park for a week… no-one checks tickets in the park or when u exit (unless of course u make yourself conspicuous to a ranger in some way). If you have a discreet bivvy and are self sufficient, it would be magic to wander off through the forest into some hidden gully and experience the stillness of the park in the evening. The walkway near Mirror Lake seemed unfrequented (u could slip off into the forest there. Also between Nuorilang and Long Lake -18km of walkway that not many people use)
I was there in early July. The park is supposed to be at its best in the less popular spring and autumn. Of course avoid Oct 1-10, May 1-10. Judge for yourself: from following ave temps C and rainfall in mm
jan -1 15
feb 3 24
mar 4 35
apr 9 42
may 11 87
jun 14 96
jul 16 104
aug 17 82
sep 12 76
oct 8 53
nov 2 25
dec 2 19
Bus Jiuzhaighou_Chengdu 6:40 am (10.5hrs) 110Y. Arrives Xinnamen bus station. Taxis cheap 5Y flagfall then 1.4Y/km
