This article is about the Jiuzhaigou Huanglong travel and flights. You can find some useful information in it if you are booking your Jiuzhaigou flights now.
First, the best time for the Jiuzhaigou Huanglong travel is July,August and September. Jiuzhaigou Huanglong is famous of its beautiful water. You can see the real attractions of Jiuzhaigou Huanglong during this period of time. Another good thing is that you can avoid the gold holidays of China, which means a very crowded Jiuzhaigou Huanglong for the travellers.
If you wanna travel with a travel agency, there are two options to get in: by bus or by air. The bus will start from Chengdu and it takes 2 whole days for the round trip to Jiuzhaigou Huanglong. This is a long trip and you will be exhausted when reaching Jiuzhaigou Huanglong. But the advantage is that you will see the beautiful views in the bus when travelling from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou Huanglong. This can be a very good experience for the people who is been here for the first time. I will recommend you to travel by air. Jiuzhaigou Huanglong has a airport named Jiu Huang Airport. You can save a lot of time if you fly to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu. The Jiu Huang Airport is about 2 hours’ ride from Jiuzhaigou Huanglong. The only disadvantage of this kind of transportation is that the weather of Jiuzhaigou Huanglong is not so good for the planes to take off or land. Lots of tour guides say that it is very common for the plane to delay 6-10 hours. When I visited Jiuzhaigou for the first time, the plane arrived on time and my tour guide who picked me up at the airport said it is a big surprise for him. 🙂 I am not always this lucky. When I left Jiuzhaigou Huanglong, the plane delayed for 5 hours. 🙁
Another choice is the bagpack travelling. Lots of young people like this kind of tours. There are flights connecting Jiuzhaigou Huanglong with many big cities of China (transfer at Chengdu). You can fly to Chengdu first, then transfer to a tourist bus to Jiuzhaigou Huanglong. There are tourist buses heading from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou Huanglong every day and the bus fare is not high (about 100 rmb).
About Jiuzhaigou
Known in English as Jiuzhai Valley it lies at the southern end of the Minshan mountain range, 330 km north of the provincial capital of Chengdu. It is part of the Jiuzhaigou County (formerly Nanping County) in the Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of northwestern Sichuan province, near the Gansu border.
The valley covers at least 240 square km, with some protection organizations giving the area as 600 to 720 square km, with buffer zones covering an additional 400 to 600 square km. Its elevation, depending on the area considered, ranges from 1,998 to 2,140 m (at the mouth of Shuzheng Gully) to 4,558 – 4,764 m (on Mount Ganzigonggai at the top of Zechawa Gully).
The climate is cool temperate with a mean annual temperature of 7.2 C, with means of 1 C in January and 17 C in July. Total annual rainfall is 661 mm, 80% of which occurs between May and October.
Jiuzhaigou is composed of three valleys arranged in a Y shape. The Rize and Zechawa valleys flow from the south and meet at the centre of the site where they form the Shuzheng valley, flowing north to the mouth of the valley. The mountainous watersheds of these gullies are lined with 55 km of roads for shuttle buses, as well as boardwalks and small pavilions. The boardwalks are typically located on the opposite side of the lakes from the road, shielding them from disturbance by passing buses.
Most visitors will first take the shuttle bus to the end of Rize and/or Shuzheng gully, then make their way back downhill by foot on the boardwalks, taking the bus instead when the next site is too distant.
By Shane Lee.