Sangke Grasslands

Gansu

Expanses of open grassland dotted with Tibetans and their grazing yak herds highlight a trip to the village of Sangke, 14km from Xiahe. Development has turned the area into a bit of a small circus, complete with touristy horse rides and fake yurts, but there is good hiking in the nearby hills and you can keep going to more distant and pristine grasslands in the direction of Amchog.

You can cycle to Sangke from Xiahe in about one hour. A taxi costs ¥50 return, or ¥250 for an English-speaking guide and driver; enquire at Snowy Mountain Cafe. The grasslands are lushest in summer. If you want to spend more time up here, the Nirvana Resort and the Norden Camp are both here.

Suggest an edit to this attraction

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Snowland Art
7.88 MILES
Tucked away down the backstreets of Xiahe not far from Labrang Monastery, Snowland Art is a family-style fine art and handicrafts training school set up…
Labrang Monastery
7.62 MILES
With its succession of squeaking prayer wheels (3km in total), hawks circling overhead and the throb of Tibetan longhorns resonating from the surrounding…
Milarepa Palace Buddhist Temple
29.5 MILES
A towering nine-storey layer cake of a temple, the Milarepa Palace is both deeply steeped in mystery and unusual in the Tibetan world as different…
Ganjia Grasslands
20.55 MILES
The Ganjia Grasslands, 34km from Xiahe, aren’t as pretty as those at nearby Sangke, but there is more to explore. From Xiahe a bumpy road crosses the…
Gongtang Pagoda
7.21 MILES
With an interior splashed with murals and illuminated by a combination of yak-butter candles and electric lamps, the golden 31m-tall Gongtang Pagoda is a…
Barkhang
7.64 MILES
The three-storey Barkhang serves as the monastery’s traditional printing temple. With rows upon rows of more than 20,000 wood blocks for printing, it’s…
Hall of Hayagriva
7.52 MILES
A repository of vivid and bright murals, the hall encapsulates a startlingly fierce 12m-high effigy of Hayagriva – a wrathful manifestation of the usually…
Hermitage Ruins
7.18 MILES
What remains of this hermitage are earthen walls overgrown with nettles, making the real attraction here the view of the town nestled into the mountains…

View more attractions

Nearby Gansu attractions

1. Ngakpa Gompa

6.96 MILES

Visit this small Nyingmapa (Red Hat) school monastery to catch a glimpse of lay monks who wear striking red and white robes and have long, braided hair…

2. Thangka Display Terrace

7 MILES

The best morning views of the monastery come from the Thangka Display Terrace, a popular picnic spot.

3. Nunnery

7.01 MILES

This nunnery is on the hill above the Tibetan part of Xiahe. The outer kora (pilgrim path) begins just to the left of here.

4. Hermitage Ruins

7.18 MILES

What remains of this hermitage are earthen walls overgrown with nettles, making the real attraction here the view of the town nestled into the mountains…

5. Gongtang Pagoda

7.21 MILES

With an interior splashed with murals and illuminated by a combination of yak-butter candles and electric lamps, the golden 31m-tall Gongtang Pagoda is a…

6. Hall of Hayagriva

7.52 MILES

A repository of vivid and bright murals, the hall encapsulates a startlingly fierce 12m-high effigy of Hayagriva – a wrathful manifestation of the usually…

7. Labrang Monastery

7.62 MILES

With its succession of squeaking prayer wheels (3km in total), hawks circling overhead and the throb of Tibetan longhorns resonating from the surrounding…

8. Barkhang

7.64 MILES

The three-storey Barkhang serves as the monastery’s traditional printing temple. With rows upon rows of more than 20,000 wood blocks for printing, it’s…

View more attractions

placement: superzone
path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],

targeting:

{
  "url": "china/gansu/xiahe/attractions/sangke-grasslands/a/poi-sig/1529234/355974",
  "destination": "Gansu",
  "continent": "Asia",
  "country": "China",
  "region": "Gansu",
  "position": "superzone"
}