1

There is an airport in Kangding, although I've never seen it. It's quite a way out since the city is sandwiched between mountains on all sides. Supposed to be the second highest airport in the world, at 4,280m.

I just looked on ctrip.com, and found no direct flights between Chengdu and Kangding. If Sichuan Airlines doesn't fly there you may be out of luck. I traveled by bus from Chengdu to Kangding and beyond a few times in the past, and don't remember the trip to Kangding being 12 hours. More like 8, and the road is mostly pretty good, unlike the roads from Kangding to Litang, which are pretty bumpy.

2

Maybe no flights in Winter which is why nothing is showing up.

If you go to ctrip.com, you can 'chat' online with an 'operator'. They are usually pretty helpful.

3

According to Chinese booking websites it should be a morning flight only by China Eastern with the flight number MU5443 taking off at 06:50. However, there seem to be no flights at the moment, and you cannot buy tickets for spring or summer too.

The bus takes about 7 hours and not 12. But there maybe traffic jams or landslides if you have bad luck.

4

Think this flight only operates May through October, and maybe only once or twice a week, likely scheduled for morning. Sometimes there may be flights in April and November, subject to weather cancellation. I think your mid-April trip to Kangding by flight is very iffy. If you cannot do overland, perhaps change destination. Another alternative is to break up the overland trip from Chengdu with a day/night in Ya'an--you can visit the Panda Reserve there, maybe a tea plantation. Then continue on the next day by a different bus.

Note that Kangding and points west can be subject to closure to foreigners, without notice. You'll have to get real-time information once in Chengdu. If Kangding is closed, it's unlikely you would be allowed to board a flight to KGT, and you may be refused tickets on the public bus beyond Ya'an. However, even in times when there are official closures, foreigners in private vehicles (car/driver) can usually manage to make it through.

5

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27552107@N08/sets/72157624580576033/ We drove past the Kangding Airport which looked to be very basic on our way from Kangding to Tagong and it is from memory a couple of hours from Kangding. At that time the road back to Kangding would have been far worse than the road from Chengdu to Kangding which was very good (and also very scenic). From memory, it only took us about 6 hours to Kangding. I have a bad back as well, and the tolet on the bus was much more of a hazard than the condition of the road. The bus stopped for about 15 mins half way.

Sorry - I can't work oput how to insert a link to just one photo. There are 2 photos of the Äirport"in this set.

Edited by: anneo

Edited by: anneo

6

I don't see the photos of the airport in that set, did you forget to include them?

7

It is really only the runway that you can see and I didn't realise it was the airport until I got home and had a good look at the photos. I might be wrong, but I thought that I had located it on google maps or the like and it seemed to match where I took the photos. They are the 2 on the left in the third row - Road from Kangding to Tagong.

8

thank you everyone for the useful info. It has helped lot! terrie

9

Sorry about the late reply. There is an airport....it is an hour out of town....and it is the second highest in the world. Closed for the winters and opened in the summers. Feel free to pop us an email at Zhilam Hostel for more inquiries.