Location & How to get to Nyingchi

Nyingchi can be reached only by flight and road.

Nyingchi Milin Airport

The Nyingchi Milin Airport serves the domestic flights entering/leaving Nyingchi. It is located in Milin County which is about 40km away from the capital city of Nyingchi region – Bayi Town. So far, airlines only connect Nyingchi with Chengdu, Chongqing and Lhasa. All flights are daily departure.

By Road

Travelers usually firstly get to Lhasa, and stay there for several days for sightseeing, then transfer to Nyingchi by car. From Lhasa, you have to drive about 400km along the National Road 318 to Bayi Town. The road condition is good.

Some travelers also choose to drive overland from Sichuan or Yunnan to Nyingchi. You have to bear several days tough driving. Besides, the road condition in rainy season is awful.

Nyingchi Highlights

Natural Sightseeing

Natural sightseeing is the best feature of Nyingchi travel. Unlike other sole plateau views in Tibet, Nyingchi offers appealing, pleasant and colorful landscape. The most popular sites are: Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, Basum Tso Lake and Namjagbarwa Mountain.

Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is the deepest, longest and most dangerous canyon in the world. The deepest record is 6,009 meters. It stretches more than 500km from northern Daduka Village(2880m) to the southern Baxika Village(115m). There are nine vertical natural zones in the canyon, which is the main reason that thousands of plants and funguses growing here. At the downstream of canyon, the Yarlung Tsangpo flows around the Namjagbarwa Mountain, which forms a large U shape.

Basum Tso Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes in Tibet. It is featured in green water view together with green mountains around the lake. Looking faraway from lake, you can see many snow-covered mountains. In the middle of Basum Tso Lake, there is a small island where houses a small Buddhist temple. If you like, you can cruise on the pure lake to enjoy scenery.

Namjagbarwa Mountain is the highest mountain in Nyingchi. It is also the 15th highest mountain in the world with an elevation of 7,782 meters. As the increasing of altitude, there are different kinds of landforms. Namjagbarwa Mountain was praised as the most beautiful mountain in China. The mountain looks like a huge trilateral ice which is twined by mysterious clouds and mists. It is said that only those who are greeted by the God who lives on the mountain can see the clear face of Namjagbarwa Mountain.

Brilliant landscape in Nyingchi

Ethnic Culture

Many ethnic groups, mainly Tibetan, inhabit here. Except Tibetan, there are Menbas, Lobas, Nus and other minorities. Every ethnic group still keeps its peculiar habits and customs. Menba is an old ethnic group with centuries-old history and culture. There believe in Bon which is the oldest religion system in Tibet. Menba people are good at dancing and singing.

Menba Ethnic Group in Nyingchi

Nyingchi is also the heaven for animals. It is natural pasture for nomads of northern Tibet. You have chance to see the sheep and yaks grazing leisurely on the grassland. Many wild animals also inhabit here, such as wild yaks, donkey, wild fox, etc.

Best time to visit Nyingchi

Days from March to May or from September to October are best time to travel in Nyingchi. June, July and August are rainy seasons when debris flow and collapse always happen. Nyingchi is the perfect place to see the Peach flowers. In March, you can see peach blossoms blooming everywhere. Locals even organize the annual Peach Flower Festival on 15th, May every year when you can not only enjoy amazing peach flowers sea, but also experience local dancing and singing performance, archery racing, Guozhuang, etc. The Nyingchi Peach Flower Festival begins from 25th March to the late April. While in September and October, you can see a colorful Nyingchi – colorful forests, green valleys, pure snow mountains and glaciers, etc.

Recommend length of visiting: 2~4 days

Visit Nyingchi to see the peach blossoms