Zhangye Rainbow Mountains Private Tour

After breakfast, your guide and driver will meet you in your hotel lobby and accompany you on an hour-long private car ride to Zhangye Danxia Geopark, a UNESCO Global Geopark that stands as a premier representative of China’s spectacular colored Danxia landform. “Danxia”, which literally means “red clouds”, was coined by geologists to describe this rare landscape of vivid red stone forests and stacked rock masses, shaped by millions of years of water erosion and weathering. 

After arriving, let’s head straight to its core area, Ice Valley Danxia Scenic Area. Ranked among National Geographic’s “Worldwide Top 10 Incredible Geographical Wonders”, it will impress you with its majestic, perilous, and wondrous rocky scenery. Even from afar, it unfolds like a gorgeous cluster of castles, with palace and grid-shaped contours. Given its vast expanse, we’ve included a shuttle bus to take you effortlessly between the main attractions. At Little Western Heaven (Xiaoxitian Scenic Area), get an intimate look at the highlight, “Divine Camel Welcoming Guests”, a typical mature sandstone landform blending reddish brown and white. As the name implies, it strikingly resembles a single-humped camel perched on a cliff and facing the valley. Grand as it appears, it presents a tranquil and humble posture to welcome guests around the world. Continue our visit to Great Western Heaven (Daxitian Scenic Area), where the maroon castle-like sight “Phantom of the Louvre” stands ready for discovery. Its silhouette will remind you of the Louvre Museum in Paris. This naturally carved palace outshines its man-made counterpart, rising nearly 20 meters (66 feet) taller than the real one.

Later, we’ll move to another quintessential Colorful Danxia Scenic Area. Hills here display multicolored rock strata, especially in sunlight, earning them the alias “Rainbow Mountains”. Foodies even jokingly describe them as marbled pork with mixed fat and lean meat. Take the shuttle bus deep into the No.3 Colorful Embroidery Viewing Platform, and you’ll feel like strolling through a natural Danxia art gallery. Ribbons of red, white, and yellow drape over mountainsides as fabulous silk tapestries. Muted bluish-gray ridges deliver the artistic flair of traditional Chinese ink paintings, contrasting sharply with vivid, imposing mountain landscapes. Don’t miss No.4 Colorful Clouds Viewing Platform, the most dazzling viewpoint and premier spot to capture breathtaking sunsets. Revel in the spectacular scene “Mighty Dragon Playing with Fire”, where undulating pale hills stretch like a sacred dragon, with surrounding multicolored rock layers glistening like flickering raging flames.

★ Special Reward: Admire a Stunning Sunset

Accompanied by your guide, enjoy a stunning sunset here, the perfect finale to today’s trip. As sunbeams cascade across the hillsides, the whole mountain is bathed in a soft golden glow, with tones shifting gradually from golden yellow to warm orange and rich crimson, as if a palette on the earth were overturned. Grab your phone or camera without hesitation, for such lights and shadows deserve countless snapshots.

Eventually, your guide and driver will escort you back to your hotel.

Meal: Western buffet breakfast
Accommodation: Ducheng Holiday Hotel (4 stars)

This morning, your guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel and accompany you to Horse Hoof Temple (Mati Temple) in roughly 1.5 hours. Steeped in over 16 centuries of history, the Buddhist temple derives its name from the hoofprints of a mythical horse that once paused here to drink. When looking upward from the foot of the mountain, you’ll marvel at the Thirty-three Heaven Grottoes clinging to the towering crag like a pagoda suspended in mid-air. Let’s hike up the stone steps, and some quite steep and narrow stretches will require you to creep forward on all fours. Outside the grottoes lies a bottomless valley, making every step heart-pounding yet exhilarating. Inside, you can appreciate vibrant murals portraying how the ancients imagined and yearned for the Buddhist paradise, alongside painted clay Buddha figures - some solemn and awe-inspiring, others kind and merciful. At the summit, soak up sweeping natural beauty: cattle and sheep roam freely on the vast grassland like pearls scattered across a green carpet, while tree-covered mountains loom in the distance. Taking in this beautiful view, you may come to realize that reverence for religion and nature motivated ancient craftsmen to carve these grottoes into the sheer cliffs.

In the end, your guide and driver will see you off at the high-speed train station of Zhangye. It is recommended that you book a train departing after 16:00.

Meal: Western buffet breakfast