Jiuzhaigou Travel Forum

my friends and i are planning a trip to jiu zhai gou around early september... (we've been trying to plan this for years... hopefully we'll push through this year!)

soooo... is september a good time to be there? e.g. how's the scenery that time? will it be too crowded? what's the weather like by then?

we'll probably just have 4 days off and we won't be joining packaged tours so any recommendations in terms of hotels, itinerary, travel tips, etc. will be very appreciated :)

by the way... how far is huanglong? will we have enough time to squeeze it in our sched?

thanks!

Hi.
I spent 3 days there last year in early october. as it is the beggining of the fall, you guys will should enjoy good weather, although end of summer heatwaves are still possible. the scenary is fantastic, the season's change do add a great splendor and every tree has a different color (usually its a little later -around october), but seeing the sun reflected in the terquoiz pools is great. the croweds horde the vallies by the thousands all year round. you can avoid the masses by walking from spot to spot and not taking the bus - most of the Chinese tourists use the convinency of it and the paths from spot to spot are usually less crowded.

imporant tip about sleeping - the park has about 11 Tibetan villages inside it, and 100 Chinese hotels outside. althou it is not allowed (by the park authorities) to sleep inside the park many families will be happy to host you in their houses. i think the chinese turn a blind eye to this sourrce of extra cash for the villagers, and I estiamte that about a 100 tourists sleep inside the park. tha accomodation is very basic, you are literaly sleeping with the families, but the mutual dinner, the low cost and the great atmosphere are definetly worth it. not to mention the hour you have for yourselves in the morning, befoe the first busses arrive.

Huan long is also beautyful, although much smaller. a visit of this park in not longer than 4 hours, (if you take 400 pictures). i recommend 2.5 days in jiujaygo, a taxi (or bus ride) to huanglong, and a half day visit there.

organized tours from Changdu (Sichuan's capital) can take you to both places in about the same time scale.

enjoy!

windmillsman.

I think it will be crowed at any time except maybe in the middle of the winter. But I was able to sometime getaway form the crowds. Many people just follow their guide's flag so you will find fewer crowds on side paths. I was there mid May 2006 and have some pictures on my Jiuzhaigou page and tips.

I also have pictures of one of the places to stay in side the park as the above reply talked about. Inside the park is very basic, you may like staying outside the park better.

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/9e4cc/22aac2/

The best season for visiting Jiuzhaigou is between October 10-October 30.

It will not be so crowded around early September.

3 hours trip from Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong and you may check my Jiuzhaigou page for all my tips.

Any further questions, feel free to post here and I am glad to exchange my experience with you.

September is a reasonably good time to be there, though Jiuzhaigou is at its best (and most crowded) during the 2nd half of October.
Are you flying directly to Jiuzhaigou from overseas?
You might have time for Huanglong since it's nearer than Jiuzhaigou is, to the Jiuzhaigou airport.