Things to do in Xining
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Xining
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months, warm enough for the lake, crowds at half their July volume, and the clearest light at altitude.
Spectacle season with the rapeseed bloom, but peak domestic crowds, peak prices and scarce charters, plus jacket cool nights.
Crisp, golden and quiet after the National Day week of 1 to 7 October, when all of China travels.
Bitter wind scoured cold, empty sights, a frozen Qinghai Lake and cheap hotels for travellers with the right coat.
What's on
- Menyuan Rapeseed Bloom July to early August
About 100,000 acres of rapeseed bloom gold under the Qilian snowline in Menyuan.
- Tour of Qinghai Lake July
The international cycle race circles Qinghai Lake as its shores bloom, with real road closures and crowds.
- Ta'er Monastery Butter Sculpture Festival at Monlam 15th day of lunar new year, usually February
The famed coloured butter sculptures are displayed for the Great Prayer Festival at Ta'er Monastery.
- Yushu Horse Racing Festival from 25 July
Qinghai's largest Tibetan horse festival in Yushu, a full day south of Xining, with racing and yak racing.
Best things to do in Xining
Ta'er Monastery
One of the six great Gelug monasteries, founded on Tsongkhapa's birthplace, famed for murals, embroidery and butter sculptures.
Qinghai Tibetan Culture Museum
Home to a 618 metre thangka painted by 400 artists, beside a serious museum of Tibetan medicine and its teaching charts.
Dongguan Mosque
Xining's Hui Muslim heart, best treated as an exterior sight since the 2021 renovation removed its domes and access changed.
Ma Bufang Mansion
The 1943 residence of Qinghai's warlord ruler, a vast jade stone courtyard house that preserves a difficult history.
Qinghai Provincial Museum
Free deep time context for the plateau, from Neolithic painted pottery to a Ming gilt bronze Guanyin, in the city centre.
Nanchan Temple
A welcoming Ming temple where Buddhist, Taoist and folk halls share one hillside, with a view back over the city.
Tulou Temple of Beishan Mountain
A cliff temple of caves and suspended galleries on Beishan's red cliffs, and the best viewpoint over Xining's valley shape.
Shuijing Xiang
The traditional market lane where Xining people buy plateau specialities, handicrafts and snacks, not a souvenir set piece.
Where to stay in Xining
Chengzhong old centre
first trip, food and sights on foot
The historic middle with the night markets, Shuijing Xiang and the best Hui and Tibetan eating, plus taxis to Ta'er.
Chengxi, Wusi West Road
best room in the city
The modern business band with malls, the provincial museum nearby and the wildlife park beyond, quieter than the centre.
Tangdao / Haihu new west
new hotels and families
The newest mall district with big new rooms, but no old Xining within walking distance.
Xining Railway Station / Chengdong, Haidong Road
one night around a train
Functional for Lhasa trains and the airport bus, but noisy at the perimeter and thin on dinner options.
Think twice about
- Xining Railway Station perimeter
Not dangerous, just the least pleasant walking environment, and a multi night base means taxiing across town to everything except the train.
- Caojiabao Airport surroundings
An airport strip 25 km east with no sights and no food scene, when buses and taxis to Chengzhong are cheap and frequent.
Best restaurants in Xining
Yue Bin Lou
Xining's celebration Hui banquet house, famed for kang roasted lamb ribs and the full private room feast sequence.
Muslim Yixin Mutton Shouzhuaguan
The city's most cited old brand for hand grabbed mutton, boiled simply and dipped in pepper salt, chilli or garlic.
Shalihai Catering Food City
A big halal food city of kebabs, noodles, offal soup and yogurt, ideal for a first night orientation to Hui cooking.
Laomajia Yak Zhuang Bone Soup
A milky all night yak bone broth for tearing flatbread into, the warming after monastery meal of a Xining winter evening.
Mazhong Restaurant
A working beef noodle breakfast shop, clear radish bright broth and hand pulled noodles eaten at local speed.
Ma Er Sha
A small specialist in Qinghai breakfast, above all peppery lamb offal soup with vermicelli and flatbread.
De Lu
Handmade plateau yogurt with its golden yak cream layer, tart and firm, the cheapest great food experience in Xining.
Qing Shan Niang Pi
The named specialist for niangpi, chewy cold wheat sheets in vinegar, garlic, mustard and confident local chilli oil.
Outdoor things to do in Xining
Qinghai Lake Erlangjian Scenic Area
The official Qinghai Lake gate on the south shore, commercialised but reliable, and best once the boat leaves the crowds behind.
Heimahe
The lake's best sunrise shore and the start of its most beautiful road, with shore cycling and an overnight before Chaka.
Chaka Salt Lake
The Mirror of the Sky on a still sunny day, but weather conditional and oversold, so go overnight or not at all.
Kanbula National Forest Park
Red Danxia chimneys above a turquoise Yellow River gorge, with forest hikes and almost no foreign visitors.
Menyuan Rapeseed Flower Field
About 100,000 acres of rapeseed bloom gold under the Qilian snowline, for roughly three weeks each July.
Riyue Mountain
The Sun and Moon pass where farmland gives way to the Tibetan Plateau, tied to Princess Wencheng and the Daotang River.
Nanshan Park
The city's own free hill walk, climbing past Nanchan Temple to the Phoenix Terrace for the definitive valley view at sunset.
Tianyoude International Golf Club
Xining's only course, 18 holes at plateau altitude, with few reviews, so phone ahead before going.
Best hotels in Xining
Sofitel Xining
The city's best hotel, an Accor five star with pool and spa whose rooms note oxygen and humidifiers for the dry plateau air.
Wanda Vista Xining
The newer top tier option, a quiet high rise in the western mall district with big rooms and family themed options.
Wanda Yue Xining Chengzhong
The mid range pick in the right place, bright and clean beside the Mojia Street night market in the old centre.
San Want Hotel
A characterful central veteran long used to Lhasa train travellers, great value though its facilities are dated.
Lete Youth Hostel
The backpacker institution since 2007, with English speaking staff and a long record of untangling plateau logistics.
Qinghai Chenxin Hotel (Xining Railway Station)
The one night station pick, spotless and helpful with a mountain view breakfast room, for trains rather than trips.
Is Xining expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥280 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥550 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,100 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Qinghai Lake Erlangjian Scenic Area: a few days ahead
- Heimahe: a few days ahead
- Chaka Salt Lake: a few days ahead
- Kanbula National Forest Park: a few days ahead
- Menyuan Rapeseed Flower Field: a few days ahead
- Tianyoude International Golf Club: a few days ahead
- Sofitel Xining: a few days ahead
- Start Lhasa train tickets and Tibet permits two to four weeks ahead, more in July and August.
- Book Xining accommodation at least a week ahead in July, and lake charters and guesthouses go first.
- At Ta'er, buy on the day but go early to beat the mid morning tour group surge.
- Phone verify the golf club through your hotel before counting on a round.
Is Xining safe?
- Spend at least one night in Xining before a lake day and ideally two before the Lhasa train, and do less on day one.
- Hydrate, eat, go easy on alcohol, and use SPF 50, sunglasses and a hat, since UV at 3200 m is fierce even under cloud.
- A worsening headache with nausea, dizziness or breathlessness at rest means descend and seek medical help, not push through.
- Dress modestly at monasteries and the mosque, walk clockwise, and never photograph worshippers or halls inside.
Xining travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The one day Qinghai Lake plus Chaka tour is a 12 to 13 hour highway day that shows both lakes at their worst.
- At Erlangjian, skip the paid yak photo and battery car extras, and take the boat instead.
- Mojia Street itself is the tourist priced version of its own food, so eat the second round in the side lanes.
- Bird Island and Sand Island at Qinghai Lake are closed for ecological protection, whatever an operator claims.
- Guidebooks describing Dongguan Mosque's green domes and casual walk in entry predate the 2021 renovation.
Getting around Xining: public transport and more
- Learn three main stops, Chengzhong, the railway station in Chengdong and Wusi Road in Chengxi, and the valley city makes sense.
- Taxis are plentiful and cheap, DiDi works, and city buses cover every city sight for a couple of yuan.
- Outside the city, charter a car with driver through your hotel or hostel and agree price, stops and tolls before leaving.
- Use Chinese map apps rather than Google Maps, carry your hotel address in Chinese, and set up Alipay or WeChat Pay.
Who Xining suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Xining your trip
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