Nine regions.
One very large plateau.

The deep east edge of the Tibetan plateau

Sichuan is where the most reliable trekking season in China lives. The western half of the province climbs from Chengdu basin haze up to 6,000 m snow peaks in under a day of driving, and the valleys in between hold Tibetan villages, yak pasture and monasteries that have been on the same pilgrimage routes for centuries. It also has the densest concentration of domestic trekking groups in the country — which is exactly why it is the easiest place to join one.

Season

May–June, September–October

Gateway

Chengdu (CTU / TFU)

Altitude

2,600–6,204 m

Explore Sichuan

Three parallel rivers, and the warmest winter trekking in China

Northwest Yunnan packs the Hengduan ranges into a space you can drive across in a day: the Salween, Mekong and Yangtze running side by side between glaciated peaks. It is the one part of high China you can trek in December, and the food alone justifies the trip. Trekking here is more village-to-village than expedition — guesthouse beds, hot springs, and a different language every valley.

Season

October–December, March–May

Gateway

Lijiang (LJG) / Kunming (KMG)

Altitude

1,800–6,740 m

Explore Yunnan

Kora, high passes, and the permit that decides everything

Tibet is the reason many people start looking at China trekking at all. It is also the most paperwork-heavy destination on this site: foreign travellers cannot move independently here, and every itinerary runs on a Tibet Travel Permit issued through a licensed operator. We do not sell permits separately and we do not pretend the process is quick. What we do is put you inside a group that already has a legal itinerary and a registered guide, and tell you exactly what to send us and when.

Season

May–June, September–October

Gateway

Lhasa (LXA) — permit required to board

Altitude

3,600–6,656 m

Explore Tibet

The biggest skies and the longest approaches in China

Xinjiang is a scale problem in the best sense. Distances are enormous, the Tianshan runs for 2,500 km, and the reward is meadow systems and glacier valleys that see almost no foreign walkers. The trade-off is logistics: some of these routes need a domestic flight, a long transfer and a flexible buffer, and a few sit in areas where access rules can change with little notice. We tell you which is which before you book.

Season

June–September

Gateway

Urumqi (URC) / Yining (YIN)

Altitude

500–7,439 m

Explore Xinjiang

High, empty, and culturally Amdo rather than Lhasa

Qinghai sits above 3,000 m almost everywhere, which makes it both spectacular and unforgiving. The trekking here is pilgrimage-shaped: circuits around sacred massifs, through nomad pasture, past glacial lakes that stay frozen into June. Groups are smaller and more Chinese-domestic than in Sichuan, and English is genuinely rare — one of the reasons we run these with a translator rather than pretending otherwise.

Season

June–September

Gateway

Xining (XNN)

Altitude

2,900–6,282 m

Explore Qinghai

Tibetan monastery towns on one side, dunes on the other

Gansu is the most underrated trekking province in China and the easiest one to combine with a cultural itinerary. Zhagana sits in a rock-and-forest valley in Gannan that looks borrowed from Yosemite, with Tibetan farmhouses stacked up the hillside. Two hours east the landscape turns to desert, and the Badain Jaran dunes run higher than most of the world’s sand seas. Spring and autumn are short here; summer is the window.

Season

June–September

Gateway

Lanzhou (LHW) / Hezuo (GXH)

Altitude

1,000–5,800 m

Explore Gansu

Horizon walking, not summit bagging

This is the opposite of a peak trip: days of open grassland, river bends, birch forest and herder camps, with almost no vertical gain. Hulunbuir in late summer is one of the most photogenic landscapes in China and one of the few places where a complete beginner can walk 15 km a day for a week and feel fine. If your group has mixed fitness levels, start here.

Season

July–September

Gateway

Hailar (HLD) / Hohhot (HET)

Altitude

600–1,500 m

Explore Inner Mongolia

Cliff country within reach of a high-speed train

Not every good trek needs a 4,000 m pass. The Taihang range on the Shanxi–Henan border is a wall of sandstone cliffs cut by gorge villages, ladder paths and ridge lines that go on for days. It is reachable by high-speed rail from Beijing or Zhengzhou, needs no altitude acclimatisation, and is where a lot of Chinese weekend trekkers cut their teeth. For international travellers it is the cheapest way to see how domestic trekking in China actually works.

Season

April–May, September–October

Gateway

Zhengzhou (CGO) / Beijing (PEK, PKX)

Altitude

300–1,732 m

Explore Central & East China

Year-round green, no altitude, all humidity

South China trekking is river-and-karst country: limestone towers along the Li River, the Three Gorges rim, subtropical forest in Guizhou and Hubei. Elevations are low, so there is no acclimatisation and no altitude risk — the challenges here are heat, humidity and leeches in the wet season. It is the best region on this site for a December or February departure, and the easiest to bolt onto a city trip.

Season

October–April

Gateway

Guilin (KWL) / Chongqing (CKG) / Wuhan (WUH)

Altitude

50–2,900 m

Explore South China