China Road trips
15 curated road trips in China — G318 Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Ancient Tea Horse Road, Dali Lijiang Shangri-La Route. Mapped stops, distance, duration, best season, and practical route notes.
These 15 routes range from 20 to 4000 km and from 1 to 18 days, across 1 country. Top picks: G318 Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Ancient Tea Horse Road, Dali Lijiang Shangri-La Route.
LegendaryG318 Sichuan-Tibet HighwayChina's most legendary road climbs from Chengdu's basin through 14 mountain passes above 4,000 m, across four mighty rivers, and into the thin air of Lhasa, the world's highest capital. Called "the most beautiful road on Earth" by Chinese drivers.
IconicAncient Tea Horse RoadThe ancient trade route that carried Yunnan's pressed tea cakes to Tibet on horseback, reborn as the most rewarding drive in southwest China, from Kunming through the marble-pillared city of Dali, the Naxi kingdom of Lijiang, and into the snow-peaked gorges of Shangri-La.
IconicDali Lijiang Shangri-La RouteThis classic Yunnan mountain drive links Dali’s lakeside old town, Lijiang’s UNESCO-listed lanes, and Shangri-La’s Tibetan plateau scenery. The road climbs steadily through Erhai viewpoints, alpine valleys, and the upper reaches of the Yangtze basin, with dramatic weather shifts and plenty of cultural stops along the way.
LegendaryG219 Xinjiang-Tibet HighwayChina’s G219 is a vast trans-Himalayan frontier drive linking Xinjiang with western Tibet through some of Asia’s most isolated country. Expect high passes, stark desert basins, salt lakes, glacier views, and long stretches of military and mining settlements, all demanding careful planning and acclimatization.
IconicGuilin Karst CircuitThe mountains of Guilin were so improbable they became the default landscape of Chinese ink painting for a thousand years. This circuit links the Li River, the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces, and the karst hills of Yangshuo into the most visually dramatic drive in southern China.
IconicGuoliang Tunnel RoadA dramatic mountain drive in Henan, Guoliang Tunnel Road cuts through the sheer cliffs of the Taihang Mountains to reach the stone village of Guoliang. The route pairs tight tunnel sections with sweeping canyon views, ending in a remote hamlet famous for its hand-carved roadway and rugged scenery.
NotableHainan Island LoopChina's tropical island, the complete coastal loop delivers crystalline bays, rainforest national parks, Li and Miao minority villages in the interior highlands, and the resort city of Sanya. The only drive in China where the sea is warm enough to swim year-round.
IconicHexi CorridorThe narrow land corridor that connected China to Central Asia for 2,000 years of Silk Road trade, from Lanzhou through the Zhangye rainbow mountains and the desert fortress of Jiayuguan to the sacred cave libraries of Dunhuang, where the road meets the Gobi.
IconicInner Mongolia GrasslandsFrom Hohhot's Mongolian temples across the rolling Xilamuren grasslands, past the singing sand dunes above the Yellow River, and to the Russian-flavoured border town of Manzhouli, one of the great emptiness drives of Asia where the sky is wider than the land.
IconicQinghai Lake CircuitChina's largest lake sits at 3,200 m on the Tibetan Plateau, a turquoise inland sea rimmed by snow peaks, yellow rapeseed fields, and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries. The complete circuit is one of the most purely beautiful drives in East Asia.
Hidden GemShek O Road, Hong KongHong Kong's sublime subtropical drive, from Central across to the undulating island beneath the Peak and Mt Cameron, past Repulse Bay and across the Dragon's Back to Shek O, a fishing village at the island's eastern tip. Serpentine switchbacks to Tai Mo Shan, Big Wave Bay, and Wong Nai Chung Gap frame an extraordinary urban escape.
IconicXinjiang Silk RoadThrough the heart of ancient Central Asia, from Ürümqi across the Turpan Depression (the world's second-lowest point) and along the Silk Road to Kashgar's jade-domed bazaar, where traders from China, Persia, and Rome once converged for two thousand years.
IconicZhangye Danxia to DunhuangThis Gansu road trip links Zhangye’s rainbow-striped Danxia landforms with the oasis city of Dunhuang along the historic Hexi Corridor. Expect wide desert plains, distant Qilian Mountain views, Silk Road relics, and long, open highway sections between oasis stops and service towns.
NotableLoess Plateau & Yellow RiverThe cradle of Chinese civilisation, drive through the ochre loess plateau of Shaanxi and Shanxi along the Yellow River's great bend, past cave-dwelling communities, Taoist mountain shrines, and the mythological origins of the Han people from the Terracotta Army to Pingyao's walled Ming city.
IconicZhangjiajie to FenghuangFrom the quartzite sandstone pillars that inspired Avatar's Hallelujah Mountains, south through the rice terraces and stilted villages of western Hunan, to Fenghuang, the most beautifully preserved ancient town in China. A great short drive through the interior.