青海省

Why this place

Qinghai is high plateau at the headwaters of the Yellow, Yangtze and Mekong rivers, with enormous salt lakes, grasslands and Tibetan monasteries. Qinghai Lake is the largest inland salt lake in China, and Kumbum Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism.

What to see

• Qinghai Lake and the rapeseed around it in July
• Kumbum Monastery at Xining, and the Tongren thangka workshops
• Chaka Salt Lake — the reflective 'mirror of the sky'
• The Qaidam basin and its yardang desert landscape
• The Yellow River source region in Golog, and the grasslands at Yushu

What to eat

• Hand-grabbed lamb and the plateau dairy; yak meat and butter tea
• Xining's Hui quarter — beef noodles and lamb, excellently done

How to plan

A week: Xining and Kumbum two, Qinghai Lake and Chaka two, plus Tongren or the south.

Best time

June–September

Practical tips

• Everything here is above 2,200m and much of it above 3,500m — acclimatise and go slowly

Cities 8

西宁市 Xining海东市 Haidong海北藏族自治州 Haibei黄南藏族自治州 Huangnan海南藏族自治州 Hainan果洛藏族自治州 Golog玉树藏族自治州 Yushu海西蒙古族藏族自治州 Haixi