Chuanzhusi Town
川主寺
A transport hub between Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong, home to the airport and high-speed rail station, with a Red Army Long March monument and a Tibetan market. It's a convenient base for connections and for stocking up on altitude-sickness remedies.
Chuanzhusi Town lies in the north of Songpan County at an elevation of about 2,980 m, at the source of the Min River. It sits between Jiuzhaigou (about 90 km), Huanglong (about 45 km) and Songpan Ancient City (about 17 km), and takes its name from Chuanzhusi, a Gelug Tibetan Buddhist monastery in town. Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport (3,448 m above sea level, about 12 km from town) and Huanglong-Jiuzhai Station on the Chengdu–Lanzhou Railway are both nearby, so almost every visitor arriving or leaving by plane or train passes through, and many stay overnight. The town has most of the hotels, Tibetan restaurants, and pharmacies selling oxygen and rhodiola.
Highlights include the Red Army Long March Monument Park (the Red Army regrouped here in 1935 before crossing the grasslands; the bronze Red Army soldier statue on the hill is a landmark of Aba Prefecture, and the climb offers views over the Min River valley), Chuanzhusi Monastery (where you can walk the prayer wheels), the Tibetan–Qiang market (yak jerky, Songpan cordyceps and fritillary bulbs, Tibetan ornaments), and the Source of the Min River viewpoint (about 20 km south of town, where the river begins).
Most travelers spend half a day to a night here. A common pattern is to stay in Chuanzhusi after Jiuzhaigou, visit Huanglong the next morning, then return to town in the afternoon and head to the airport or station, or the reverse. Getting around: the airport has shuttle buses to Chuanzhusi and the Jiuzhaigou entrance; local buses run to the Jiuzhaigou entrance, Huanglong, Songpan, and Chengdu; a private car to Huanglong and back costs about RMB 300–400. Note: at nearly 3,000 m, nights are cold, so confirm your hotel has heating and oxygen; some hotels and restaurants close in winter; food here is pricier than in Chengdu, with yak meat and sour-vegetable noodles as local specialties; the climb to the Long March Monument takes about 30 minutes via steps.
Opening hours
Open all day; Long March Monument grounds 08:00–18:00
Nearby sights
- Red Army Long March Memorial
- Songpan Ancient City
- Munigou Valley
- Huanglong Scenic Area
- Primeval Forest
- Swan Lake & Fragrant Hill Lake
- Long Lake
- Five-Colour Pond