Lanzhou to Lhasa Train Book

Why Take Tibet Train from Lanzhou?

The train from Lanzhou to Lhasa is one of the shortest routes to Tibet and covers a distance of only 2,188km on its journey across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Meanwhile, if you start your Tibet tour from Lanzhou, then you can make a couple of days’ stay in this city and have a thorough understanding of China’s Hui nationality.

You can enjoy the Hui nationality (Muslin) architectural style, pay a visit to the nationally renowned Mogao Grottoes, have a closer look at the unique Yardang and Danxia landforms in outskirts of Lanzhou, or you can also choose to explore this city by finding its past and experiencing the lifestyle of the local residents.

The following are the iconic sceneries and delicacies you are recommended to visit if this is your first visit to Lanzhou:

Lanzhou Silk Road and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes

Lanzhou City was once a major point on the old Silk Road across China and Tibet, and today is a hub of the Silk Road Tourism Ring. It was such an important city in ancient times that the Great Wall was extended as far as Yumen to protect Lanzhou, and parts are still visible inside the built-up area.

To the north lies the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddha, a very famous shrine of Buddhist art treasures first built in Sixteen Kingdoms in ancient China. There have totally 735 caves at present and 492 caves out of them have maintained vividly-inscribed statues, delicately-painted murals, and amazing wall-paintings. The repository of ancient knowledge and the past glories have been scribed in hundreds of thousands of books.

Labrang Monastery and Valuable Buddhist Arts & Sculptures

To the south is Labrang Monastery, one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and out to the west are the Bingling Temple grottoes.

Off to the east lies the Maiji District, which is the home of the famous Maijishan caves, a series of caves manually cut into the sheer cliff face, and connected by a network of walkways attached to the face of the cliff. The caves are laid out around a huge carving of Bodhisattva in the rock face, and the caves contain over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and more than 1,000 square meters of wall murals.

For anyone with a love of Buddhism, or just an interest in the arts and sculptures, Lanzhou and the surrounding area make a great prelude to the amazing things that can be seen and experienced in Tibet.

Lanzhou Lamian and Lanzhou Beef Noodle

Besides the cultural and natural landscapes and tourist attractions in Lanzhou, the local famous noodles (Lanzhou Lamian) are also very tasty as they are cracked up to be in the whole country.

The noodle itself is nothing too special, just the local version of the common everyday hand-pulled noodles, but the fresh and well-selected ingredients like the melt-in-mouth beef and the delicately made condiments make the chewy hand-pulled beef delicious and popular all around the country.