Standing in the pristine forests of Jiuzhaigou, you’ll suspect you’ve fallen into a fairy tale book.
The lakes here are so blue that they penetrate the soul, the waterfalls sing a joyful song, and even the air is scented with the aroma of pine and barley cakes.
This wonderland hidden in the mountains of Sichuan hides so many secrets that make your heart beat faster.
Fairytale world made of water
Jiuzhaigou has 108 “seas”, which locals call “tears of the immortals”.
They are like a broken emerald, each color is different – peacock blue mirror sea can put the whole sky into the lake, five flower sea like overturned jewelry box, the bottom of the lake golden mineral lines like sleeping dragon scales.
Changhai is the highest altitude of the sea (3060 meters), the ice in winter is thick enough to skate, but peeling off the snow to look down, hidden under the ice surface of the ghostly blue pattern, like the earth secretly left fingerprints.
Don’t miss Pearl Beach Falls, a 270-meter-wide curtain of water that crashes down onto a golden calcified beach and splashes you with rainbows.
In the 86 version of Journey to the West, the Tang Monk and his disciples waded through the water here, and you can still find the stones that the Monkey King stepped on! Pearl waterfall is the setting of the 86 “Journey to the West”!
After the rainy season, the mountain streams roam over the highway, and tourists can wade barefoot and watch rainbows rise from their feet, just like walking into a fairy tale world. It’s like walking into a fairy tale world.
Four Seasons Crossdressing Show
The four seasons in Jiuzhaigou are like changing four sets of skin.
In spring, the buds of the Sea of Reeds break through the thin ice, like small arrows “whooshing” out;
summer sparks of the Sea of azalea petals, spreading into a flowing carpet of flowers;
fall of the Panda Sea is the craziest, the red maple, golden birch reflecting in the water, as if God overturned the bucket of paint;
winter of the Nozhilang waterfalls into a giant ice sculpture, the cliffs are filled with more than ten meters high ice pillars, local children most Ice columns, local children love to break the ice skate as a sword to play.
If you want to know the weather in Jiuzhaigou from January to December, take a look here.
From Lumberyard to World Heritage Site
You may not believe it, but such a beautiful place was almost turned into a lumberyard. In the 1960s, lumberjacks cut down big trees here for six years, and didn’t stop until the Cultural Revolution broke out.
In 1975, the scientist Prof. Wu Zhonglun drilled into the ravine to investigate, excitedly patted his thigh: “I have traveled all over Europe and the United States, I have never seen such a god place! Must be protected!” The government listened to the words of the experts, and in 1979 all the lumberjacks were invited out of the ravine.
Now Jiuzhaigou has become an animal paradise: chubby pandas nibble on bamboo in the Arrow Bamboo Forest, golden monkeys swing in the branches of the trees, and even the little squirrels along the roadside have become fine — on the railing outside the Norilang Restaurant, they squat down and wait for tourists to feed them slices of apple, and their eyeballs are so adorable they can melt the hearts of the people.
Jsichuan jiuzhaigou earthquake in 2017, but it’s now fully open, and you can check out this article on what Jiuzhaigou looked like before and after the earthquake.
Tibetans Cultural Atmosphere
The Tibetan-style wooden buildings in Shuzheng Zhai are hung with colorful sutra streamers, and golden corn is sunning on the second floor.
Enthusiastic amazons will bring out barley cakes and barley wine , smeared with The wildflower honey dug from their own beehives, the bite is so sweet that you squint your eyes.
We recommend you try three treasures:
1. Jiuzhai Persimmon Cake: 20 days in the sun with high mountain crisp persimmons, the pulp is as translucent as amber, so sweet that it can stick to your teeth.
2. buckwheat cakes with ghee tea : buckwheat grain aroma mixed with the milky flavor of ghee tea, Tibetan masters can eat five a meal.
3. Sauerkraut hot pot: with high mountain round root vegetables pickled in sour and strong, shabu-shabu on the freshly cut yak meat, eat people sweating forehead.
Transportation is getting more and more convenient
It used to kill me to come to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu–taking a bus on a cliff road for ten hours, and I could turn my breakfast upside down. Now it’s much more comfortable to fly to Huanglong Airport in forty minutes, and after the opening of the Jiu Mian Expressway in 2025, you can get there in four hours by car. The scenic area has been repaired with flat wooden trestles, and if you are afraid of getting tired, the sightseeing bus will stop at your beck and call.
You can take a look at the transportation guide of Jiuzhaigou
Hidden in the details
The Tibetans in Jiuzhaigou were Songtsen Gampo’s vanguard soldiers in their ancestry, and when they fought the British devils in 1842 When they fought the British in 1842, they were so brave that a British officer wrote in his diary, “They rushed over like bison, and our hands shook as we fired our cannons.” Ancestral armor still hangs in the fortress, studded with heart-guard bronze mirrors.
What is most moving is the human touch here. Zarugou under the starry sky, the old Tibetan Abba will teach you to recognize Orion, saying that it is the bow and arrow of the mountain god; B&B owner’s wife to see you freezing and shivering, will silently to your blanket stuffed with a hot water bag. An old New York couple said they came every fall to listen to the sound of the water at Nojilang Falls — like memories of their honeymoon at Niagara Falls when they were young.
Playing in Jiuzhai Tips
1. Take the big picture early: Dash to the Mirror Sea before 7 a.m., when the lake is flatter than a mirror and the snow-capped mountain reflections are so clear that you can count the branches of the trees.
2. Save money trick: November to March tickets discount (169 yuan), fewer people can also be chartered to see the blue ice.
3. plateau reaction don’t carry hard : scenic spot at the door of the oxygen cylinder (25 yuan), Tibetan mom end of the rhodiola tea than the city health care products work.
4. Feeding animals to be careful: holding up apple slices with a branch to feed the squirrels, these little guys will scratch when they are anxious!
The beauty of Jiuzhaigou is a miracle guarded by the mountain gods and mankind. Those years of stopping logging, the footprints of the patrollers, and the garbage picked up by tourists are what keep this alpine palette bright forever.
Remember to bring an empty memory card next time you come — the wild strawberries here are so red they can be used as lipstick, and even the small puddles on the roadside hold the whole sky.
