Xining
Xining is the doorway to the Tibetan plateau: 2,300 metres up, cool in summer, half Hui Muslim and half Tibetan in its streets and food. Kumbum Monastery is half an hour away and Qinghai Lake a long day out.
- Region
- Qinghai, Northwest
- Best
- Jun–Sep
- Airports
- XNN
- Stay
- 2 days
Overview
Xining sits in a valley where the Silk Road, the tea road to Tibet and the Hexi Corridor met, and the mix is still visible: the great mosque at Dongguan, Tibetan pilgrims at Kumbum, yak yoghurt and hand-pulled noodles in the same lane. It is a working provincial city rather than a pretty one, and an easy place to spend two days getting used to the altitude.
Kumbum, the birthplace of Tsongkhapa and one of the six great Gelug monasteries, is 25 kilometres south-west. Qinghai Lake, the largest in China, is a two-and-a-half-hour drive west across yellow rapeseed fields in July.
Summer is the season: the city is cool while the lowlands cook, and the lake is at its bluest. Winter is cold and dry. The trains to Lhasa start here.
Getting there
Xining station is on the high-speed line from Lanzhou, about an hour; Xi'an is four and a half hours, Zhangye two. Trains to Lhasa leave from here and take about 21 hours. Caojiabao (XNN) airport is 30 kilometres east with flights from the big cities and Lhasa; the airport bus takes 40 minutes.
Rail tip. Your passport is your ticket. Book on 12306 or Trip.com, then go straight to the gate. See Getting around. The Trip.com link earns us a small commission at no cost to you (how that works).
Stay online. Google, WhatsApp and Instagram are blocked on Chinese networks; a travel eSIM that roams gets around it. Install one before you fly — Saily takes US$5 off a first plan with the code CHINA. See Staying online. The code earns us the same amount in Saily credits, at no cost to you (how that works).
Where to stay
Book on Trip.comCity centre and Dongguan
市中心·东关Around the mosque and the Mojia Street market. The heart of the city, and its food.
Hotels along Dongguan Street and around the Central Square. The station is fifteen minutes by taxi.
Lushar and Kumbum
鲁沙尔·塔尔寺The monastery town, half an hour out. A night here means the monastery at dawn.
Guesthouses in Lushar, the town at the monastery gate. Morning prayers before the coaches arrive.
Booking. Compare hotels in Xining on Trip.com, filtered to its China travel essentials list: English-speaking staff, foreign cards, guest rating 8 or higher. See Where to stay. Booking through this link earns us a small commission at no cost to you (how that works).
Things to do
Kumbum Monastery
塔尔寺One of the great Gelug monasteries, with a row of eight white stupas at the gate and halls of butter sculpture.
Dongguan Great Mosque
东关清真大寺A fourteenth-century mosque at the centre of the Hui quarter, filling the street at Friday prayers.
Mojia Street
莫家街The old food street: yoghurt, lamb, noodles, dried fruit. All day and late.
Qinghai Lake
青海湖A blue inland sea at 3,200 metres, ringed by grassland and rapeseed in July. A long day or an overnight.
Tibetan Medicine Museum
藏医药文化博物馆A 618-metre painted thangka scroll and the history of Tibetan medicine, in the Biotech park north of the city.
Beishan Temple
北禅寺A Taoist temple built into the cliff face north of the city, with the valley view from the walkways.
Eat
Yak yoghurt in a bowl with sugar, from the Mojia Street stalls. Hand-torn lamb on the bone, gamianpian pinched noodle squares in broth, niangpi cold noodle sheets, sweet fermented oats, and Tibetan butter tea and tsampa in the lanes near the monastery. Hui restaurants run the city; almost everything is halal.
From travellers in Xining
3 posts · 3 tips · 0 questions · 0 stories
Kumbum early in the morning, when the pilgrims outnumber the visitors
Panda · 1 month ago
Use Xining to get used to the altitude before anything higher
Panda · 1 month ago
Qinghai Lake is a long day, and July is the one to aim for
Panda · 1 month ago
