Longnan & Guanegou

Known as the “Jiuzhaigou of Gansu,” Guanegou strings together alpine lakes and waterfalls amid blazing autumn colors, while Hadapu and Lazikou lie on the Long March heritage route.

Guanegou lies in Tanchang County, Longnan City, in southeastern Gansu Province, only about 5 km from the county town, where the eastern Min Mountains meet the western end of the Qinling Mountains. It is an alpine gorge made up of two valleys, Guanzhu Gully and Eman Gully. Rising from about 1,800 m to over 3,000 m, the valleys are dotted with landslide-dammed lakes, travertine lakes, waterfalls and old-growth forest, and the autumn foliage is so vivid that the area is called the “Jiuzhaigou of Gansu”; it is a national forest park. Hadapu, in northern Tanchang County, was a vital “refueling stop” for the Red Army on the Long March, and Lazikou in Tewo (Diebu) County, about an hour’s drive west, was the site of a famous Long March battle, so the two can be combined into a “nature + revolutionary history” route. The best time to visit is the autumn foliage season from late September to mid-October; summers are cool and ideal for escaping the heat, while winters are cold and some roads close. Getting there: the Lanzhou–Haikou Expressway and the Lanzhou–Chongqing Railway both pass through Tanchang, and Hadapu has its own railway station, so you can drive from Lanzhou or Chengdu, or take the train to Hadapu Station and transfer from there. Jiuzhaigou is about 3 hours away by car, making this a good stop on a Gansu–Sichuan loop with Jiuzhaigou, Zoigê and Zhagana. Allow 2 days, including a full day in Guanegou. You can stay in Tibetan family guesthouses in Tanchang’s Tibetan villages; local specialties include cured pork, potato jiaotuan (a thick potato mash) and Tanchang codonopsis, a medicinal herb.

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