Labrang Monlam
The Tibetan New Year prayer festival at Labrang Monastery, Xiahe. The biggest religious gathering in Gansu — and the coldest month at 3,200 m.
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Hexi Corridor · Silk Road · China
Exploring Gansu is like stepping into a thousand-year Silk Road scroll — deserts and Gobi, snow peaks and grasslands, Danxia landforms and ancient grotto art, all in one frame.
Explore moreTop things to do
Eight places that justify the route. Gansu is a 1,600 km corridor, not a city break — these are the stops people build a trip around.
735 painted caves cut into a cliff above the Dunquan riverbed.
Tickets →
Singing dunes wrapped around a spring that has not dried in 2,000 years.
Striped sandstone hills that look painted — and change colour by the hour.
Which gate →
The western gate of the Ming wall, alone on the Gobi with mountains behind.
Xiahe · Gannan
Gansu is not only desert. Two hours south of Lanzhou the road climbs into the Tibetan plateau, and Xiahe appears — a valley town built around one of the six great Gelug monasteries, with 3,200 m of altitude and a kilometre-long row of prayer wheels.
The light there is the reason photographers come: thin air, long shadows, and butter-lamp smoke inside the halls. Give it two nights, not one.
Labrang altitude & etiquette guide → · Hexi or Gannan first? →
A river city between red hills — beef noodles at dawn, the Yellow River at dusk.
Entry guide →
A haystack-shaped cliff of clay sculpture and wooden walkways in the Qinling foothills.
East grottoes guide →
Cave temples on a red sandstone gorge, reached by boat up the Yellow River.
Linxia corridor guide →The numbers
Checked against the operator or official channel, with the date each figure was verified.
8 caves + digital film + guide. 6,000 a day, released 30 days ahead.
Full cost tableWhat's on
These are annual fixtures, not listings we sell. Each runs on dates the organiser publishes every year — check their own channel before you build a trip around one.
The 9th Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo, 2–4 November 2026. Museum openings, performances and heritage forums cluster around it — and so do hotel rates. Independent visitor notes inside.
What it means for a trip →The Tibetan New Year prayer festival at Labrang Monastery, Xiahe. The biggest religious gathering in Gansu — and the coldest month at 3,200 m.
Seasonal window onlyThe city's road race runs along the Yellow River. Rooms near the start sell out weeks ahead; dates move year to year.
Seasonal window onlyNomadic horse festivals and Shanglang gatherings across Gannan — the timing follows the grass, not a fixed calendar.
Seasonal window onlyStories of Gansu
Practical pages for people who are booking, not browsing: route choice, ticket windows, visa rules, trains and card fees — with the source next to every number.
All guides
Hexi or Gannan?Which first trip — do not hard-pack both
Dunhuang Cultural Expo2–4 Nov 2026 visitor notes
Mogao Caves ticketsBooking windows, ticket types, name binding
Visa & entryWhy Gansu sits outside 240-hour transit
Lanzhou → DunhuangTrains, flights, and the overnight trick
Paying with a foreign cardAlipay, WeChat Pay, fee rules
Crafts & cultural products
Night-light cups, Tao inkstones, Tianshui lacquer, Qingyang sachets, Lanzhou gourd carving — the real craft traditions, how to judge them, and why we are not opening a shop until the makers and the shipping route are real.
Read the craft guidePlanning
Nothing here is a sales pitch. It is the order we would do it in.
Gansu is excluded from 240-hour visa-free transit. Check the 30-day list or a port visa.
Read the guideMogao releases 30 days ahead at 07:00 China time and sells out. Set the reminder first.
Ticket rulesHexi corridor legs are 300–500 km apart. Trains beat driving for the long ones.
Times & classesBefore you go
Gansu is not covered by China's 240-hour visa-free transit scheme. If your passport is on the unilateral visa-free list you can stay up to 30 days; otherwise you need a visa, or a port visa on arrival at Lanzhou or Dunhuang airport. Full entry guide →
Official channels only: the WeChat mini-program or the official booking site. Type A is CNY 238 for eight caves plus the digital film. Peak-season capacity is 6,000 a day, released 30 days ahead at 07:00 China time. Tickets are bound to the passport used at booking, so resale is useless to you. Ticket guide →
Roughly 7h45m by high-speed train, about 1h50m by air. The train usually wins once you add airport transfers at both ends. Transport guide →
Yes. Alipay and WeChat Pay both accept foreign Visa and Mastercard and should be set up before you land. Smaller vendors still expect the QR code, not the card. Payments guide →
Pick one spine. The Hexi Corridor (Lanzhou–Zhangye–Jiayuguan–Dunhuang) needs about a week; Gannan / Labrang needs four or more days of its own. Do not hard-pack Dunhuang and Xiahe into seven days — you will backtrack and arrive tired. Route choice guide → · Hexi story map →
Often yes when an English group can be formed for your slot, but it is not guaranteed on every ticket. Ask at the digital exhibition centre at check-in; Chinese is the default, and that day's staffing wins. Mogao ticket & commentary notes →
The 9th Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo runs 2–4 November 2026. Mogao keeps its own 30-day booking system — the expo does not replace it — but city hotels and traffic can get tighter. Reasonable to book caves and rooms early; you do not have to attend the expo to visit Dunhuang. Visitor notes →
No. Gannan (Xiahe, Labrang) is in Gansu, not the Tibet Autonomous Region, so the TAR Tibet Travel Permit does not apply. Altitude is still about 3,200 m at Labrang, and monasteries may close for religious events. Labrang guide → · Entry guide →
It depends on the spine. May–June and September–October are strong for Hexi and Dunhuang; July–August is hottest and busiest for Mogao. Gannan grasslands peak in summer but nights stay cold at about 3,200 m — pack layers for desert day–night swings. Best time & packing →
Yes for most Hexi itineraries. The fort is the classic Ming Great Wall western gate and usually fits as a half-day between Zhangye and Dunhuang — not a multi-day base unless you want deeper wall archaeology. Jiayuguan guide →
Yes if Mogao is a morning slot and you keep Mingsha Mountain & Crescent Lake for late afternoon or sunset. Skip a late cave entry if you want a relaxed dune climb. Mingsha guide → · Mogao tickets →
Maijishan is known for painted clay sculpture and wooden cliff walkways near Tianshui on Gansu’s eastern spine; Mogao is famous for desert murals at Dunhuang in the Hexi west. They are not next door — pairing both needs extra rail days. Maijishan guide →
No. Explore Gansu is an independent guide, not a tour operator — we do not sell packages, tickets, or guided tours. Use the planning checklist below, or email hello@exploregansu.com with a practical question. Planning →
Yes. Linxia sits on the Lanzhou–Xiahe corridor as a culture and food stop — or overnight — before climbing toward Labrang. It is not on the Hexi high-speed rail spine. Linxia guide → · Labrang guide →