Yading and Yarchen Gar

I'm Japanese solo traveller and also planning to travel West Sichuan during 15-24/Sep with following itinerary in case Larung Gar and Sertar are still closed to foreginer :-
1.CTU-Flight-DCY-Air-Yading(亜丁)-Daocheng(稲城)-Litang(理塘)-Yarchen(亜青寺)-Ganzi(甘孜)-Chengdu(成都) or
2.Chengdu-Siguniang shan(四姑娘山)-Danba(丹巴)-Ganzi-Yarchen-Chengdu

I got some information for your itinerary:
-Ganzi and Yarchen Gar is opened to foreign traveler though Larung Gar is still closed.

-Japanese traveller took the Taxi Daocheng airport to Litang with RMB400 in 2017.
-There is shard geep service from Yarchen to Kangding. However not sure if can catch the geep at Litang.

Please let me know once you got more information for above, thanks. , thanks.

Hi!
I'm Japanese solo traveller and also planning to travel West Sichuan during 15-24/Sep with following itinerary in case Larung Gar and Sertar are still closed to foreginer :-
1.CTU-DCY-Yading(亜丁)-Daocheng(稲城)-Litang(理塘)-Yarchen(亜青寺)-Ganzi(甘孜)-Chengdu(成都)

or
2.Chengdu-Siguniang shan(四姑娘山)-Danba(丹巴)-Ganzi-Yarchen-Chengdu

As you know shared minivan and local bus are covering between Daocheng, Litang, Ganzi, Yarchen respectively and you can see more information at Trip Advisor Sichuan Travel Forum.
I got some more information for your itinerary:
-Ganzi and Yarchen Gar is opened to foreign traveler though Larung Gar is still closed.

-Japanese traveller took the Taxi(包車) at Daocheng airport(DCY) to Litang with RMB400 in 2017 but he could not find airport bus(only for Daocheng) nor shared taxi at that time.
-There is shard geep service from Yarchen to Kangding. However not sure if can catch the geep at Litang.

Please let me know once you got more information for your itinerary, thanks.

As far as I know, Yarchen Gar is open to tourists including foreigner, but things might change quickly if something hapended, so double check before you hire a car/driver. Useually people go there via Dege in the north, from Litang to Yarchen Gar is about two hundred something km but I'm not sure the road condition nowadays, better count it for one day. If you leave earlier you can reach there in late afternoon, included few short stop for photo and visiting some temple, scenery along the way is stunning.

There is a place north of Litang called Tuca Lake (near Xinlong) is worth to visit, you can make a round trip like Litang->Yarchen Gar->Tuca Lake->Litang. At lease count three days for this trip, unless you just want to take quick look then leave.

kxpn,
May I ask how to spell in chinese for Tuca lake?
Also Dege for 徳格 and Xinglong for 新竜?

Takahiro, thank you for your advice. I read somewhere that there will soon be an airport built in Ganzi. I was wondering, are you planning on flying out of Ganzi? Or taking the long drive all the way back to Chengdu?

Kxpn, thank you also. I would rather take things slowly, break the trip up, and see as much along the way as possible. Tuca lake looks like a good option.

The road between Yarchen Gar and Tuca Lake might be a bit rough, 4W is better but not necessary. And I don't think Ganzi airport is in operation, not until next year.

@sakakitakahiro, in Chinese: Dege(徳格), Xinlong(新龍 or 新龙), Tuca lake(措卡湖). As I heard Sertar is still off-limits for tourists. Personally I found Yading is better than Siguniang-shan. There is also an option you can consider, if you start from Chengdu your can group up other people to share a car, youth hostels in Chengdu are good places to do that. (I did that last time, joined up with other tourists hired a car from Chengdu to Yading and finished in Shangri-La in Yunnan.) If your time is tight you can leave the group at some point and fly back to Chengdu.

mattweisbard,

Thanks for yours.
Yes, I wiould take shared van or long distance bus back to Chengdu at both itineraries as it takes 2days from
Ganzi/Sertar to Daocheng airport and cannot find advantage for it.
1.CTU-DCY-Air-Yading-Daocheng-Litang-Yarchen-Ganzi-Chengdu
2.Chengdu-Siguniang shan-Danba-Ganzi-Yarchen-Chengdu

Thanks kxpn!
I could not find Tuca lake(措卡湖) in Google map nor Maps.Me. So I may ask local people overthere.

Oh, new airport will be available in near feature. Heard that highway to Sertar and Kangding and railway to
Tibet are under construction. So it's gonna be much easier to travel Western Sichuan near feature.

So far I'm thinking to take route 2 and would visit Yading next time as flights to DCY are only in the early
morning and also it takes 2days from Yading to Ganzi or Yarchen.
I would appreciate if you could guide followings:-
1. Shared taxi/van from Chadianzi to Siguniang shan
-Is available even in the afternoon like (1500-16000hrs) after arriving Chengdu airport 1320hrs?

-Where is exact location whether inside bus terminal or outside of terminal?
2. Shared taxi/van or Bus from Dujiangyan to Siguniang shan
-There is direct bus service between Chengdu airport and Dujiangyan.
-Is there shared taxi/van from Dujiangyan to Siguniang shan?
(If yes, is available in the afternoon like1500-16000hrs?)
-How many buses running to Danba, Xiaojin, Siguniang shan?
3. Heard that 雅康高速 opened this year though currently closed due to land slide.

Do you think bus route between Chengdu and Kangding will be changed via highway before September ?

4. May I know which Hostel you stayed in Chengdu last time? Was it Mrs. Panda?

It is about 30 km southwest Xinlong and approx 120km north of Litang, up on the mountain from Marixiang (麻日乡). Using the Chinese name to search both Google return some result, sadly all in Chinese, but at lease you can look at the pictures.

1. long-distent buses towards Danba (pass through Rilongzhen (日隆)) leave in the morning from Chadianzi Bus Station. As for 'share taxi', they are actually private cars (local called '野的', meaning wild-taxi), not allowed inside the station. They are not run on schedule, usually leave when the car is full. They are used to take a direct route so travel time would be much shorter then bus. According to internet, share taxi charges about CNY150+ per person to Rilongzhen.

2. No idea about shared taxi in Dujiangyan. Bus to Xiaojin depart in early morning, pass through Rilongzhen and Danba.

3. landslide only affect the new built expressway, not the regular road (G318).

4. It was some years ago, I can't remember the name, only remember it's in an alley called Kuanxiangzi (宽巷子).