SICHUAN

Sichuan is as large as Spain, and seventy-five percent of its land area consists of mountains. These mountains are among the highest and most spectacular on earth, dividing the Sichuan basin from the Tibetan plateau. The terrain ranges from subtropical in the south to temperate in the north, and the forests are among the richest on earth. Sichuan’s eminence in tourism and culture is underpinned by it’s highly distinct cuisine (which is one of the world’s greatest) and the exciting culture of tea drinking (tea-drinking first arose in Sichuan thousands of years ago). Sichuan also holds some of the most exotic Tibetan sights – the northwest corner of the province is home to the Khampa nomads – and elsewhere there are an array of other ethnic groups.  

Tours in Sichuan: Panda Trekking | Tibetan Tribes | Flower Pepper Duck | Sichuan Loop | Travel Photography | The Takin Trail | The Steam Stallion | Vultures & Yaks | The Summit of Tao | Misty Mountain Tea

XINJIANG

Dominated by one of the bleakest deserts on earth, and situated at the crossroads of central Asia, Xinjiang has dozens of ethnic minorities and a range of contrasting landscapes. The huge province is known for its Islamic heritage, but equally interesting and often overlooked is the northern part of the province, where mountains bring a piece of Siberia abutting the desert. Here the landscapes are Siberian, and the people an ethnic mix that includes Uyghur Muslims, Kazakhs, Mongols, Russians, and Han.

Tours in Xinjiang: Altay Discovery

TIBET & TIBETAN CULTURAL AREA

The Tibetan spread is a huge area that covers a fourth of China’s territory. The province of Tibet is just a part of that spread – which is often called as the ‘Tibetan cultural area – but even the province of Tibet itself is larger than western Europe, but it only has 3 million inhabitants. Much of the terrain is covered in grasslands ranged across high inhospitable plateaus, but Tibet also has other climes that include desert-like landscapes and valleys that are densely covered with pine forests. The Tibetan plateau has an unlimited potential for travel, although a limited road network, long distances, lack of tourism facilities, and bureaucratic controls make travel outside the main population area around Lhasa a logistical complication. It is for this reason that we organise, in collaboration with a local partner company, a handful of scheduled trips to Tibet every year – that’s because scheduled trips are easier to organise given the limitations of Tibet. On the other hand, we can also do private-group tours in Tibet, but these will be costlier than similar trips outside Tibet – for this reason, we suggest that if you are a private group you should travel with us to northwest Sichuan, which is also as Tibetan as anything in Tibet itself.

Tours in Tibet: Tibetan Tribes | Scheduled Tours in Tibet