The Gansu-Qinghai Grand Ring Road is the most popular self-driving tour route in recent years and is very popular among young domestic tourists. You can travel by car or ride a bicycle, but it is recommended to drive. Riding consumes too much energy and time. Now

You can also take the train to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. Let me share with you the detailed travel guide and map of the Gansu-Qinghai Grand Ring Road.

Some people say that you must go to the Northwest once in your lifetime to take a grand loop, because taking one grand loop is equivalent to traveling 10 times. The most classic seven-day northwest loop spans Qinghai and Gansu provinces and covers a distance of about 2,700 kilometers.

There are about 20 essential scenic spots in the two provinces. The seemingly incompatible beauty is all truly gathered on this route, including the desert, Gobi, grottoes, Yadan, Danxia, ??mountains, lakes, grasslands, seas of flowers, temples, countless

You may need to travel many times to see all the scenery such as human settlements, salt lakes, and snow-capped mountains, but you can see them all here. However, in the Northwest, the scenic spots are scattered and far away, so the transportation to scenic spots in the Northwest is not convenient.

The most suitable way is to drive by yourself.

Come May, the annual summer long-distance travel is on the agenda again. Where should we go this year? At a family gathering, this topic occasionally came up and I said that my daughter wanted to go to Dunhuang to see the Mogao Grottoes.

It’s too tiring to drive alone, so I regretfully have to travel with a group.

Unexpectedly, I received a positive response from my brother and his family, who said that we could rent a seven-seater car in Xining and we could take turns driving. It would not be very tiring, so we went ahead.

DAY1: Z86 Nanjing - Comfortable soft sleeper carriage in Xi'an DAY2 Xi'an - Xining Arrive at Xi'an Station at noon the next day, take Metro Line 1 at Wudaokou Station to Beidajie, transfer to Line 2 to Xi'an North Station, take D2673 to Xining Xi'an North Station

, arrived at Xining Station at 19:40, and went directly to Shenzhou Car Rental to pick up the car after exiting the station.

Something went wrong with the rental car, and the first car just couldn't start.

On the second one, I took pictures of the whole car and prepared to pick it up. My wife said that the staff seemed to have a problem with the gear shifting. I asked the master to put it in front of me to check. It turned out that it was really difficult to put it in. It is good if it can be put in three times out of ten.

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I would definitely not dare to drive a car like this for thousands of kilometers.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with the third car, so I tried the brake and accelerator position again and again.

I took photos of all the bumps and scrapes on the car for later records.

During the subsequent journey, the car was relatively powerful and there was no problem.

At the China Car Rental Xining High-Speed ??Railway Station Store, the fuel tank of the car I picked up had reached the alarm line, so I went to fill it up immediately when I came out.

It was almost ten o'clock after all the hard work, so I ate ramen in a hurry and checked into the Home Inn Select Hotel (No. 26 Jianguo Street).

Night view of Xining seen from Home Inn guest room DAY 3 Xining - Zhuoer Mountain - Qilian Town (total journey is about 290 kilometers) West from Xining, drive at high speed and exit at Datong Exit and enter G227.

When crossing the Daban Mountain, we encountered falling rocks. Fortunately, we were only stranded for more than ten minutes while waiting for construction vehicles to clear up, and then we were able to pass through normally.

Continue on to the Dabanshan Toll Station and cross the Jingyanling Pass of more than 3,700 meters to reach Ebao Town, a traffic artery on the Silk Road. We had lunch here and headed all the way to Ebao Ancient Town (newly built) in Zhuoer Mountain, passing by the Arou Temple.

It was about one o'clock in the afternoon in Zhuoer Mountain.

Zhuoer Mountain is directly opposite Niuxin Mountain. The snow on the top of the mountain is clearly visible. The rapeseed flowers and wheat fields at the foot of the mountain correspond to the yellow and green colors. It is called "Qilian in the Heaven".

The altitude of Zhuoer Mountain is 4328 meters.

Maybe it was because I was not used to it when I first got to the plateau, or maybe I walked a little too fast. After getting off Zhuoer Mountain, I experienced what high altitude sickness is, and I was a little out of breath. After about two hours of playing, I drove to the B&B in Qilian Town.

The B&B was booked online more than a month in advance on Airbnb.

The B&B is on the sixth floor. Carrying large and small luggage up to the sixth floor increases the degree of high-reflection.

In the evening, I hurriedly finished dinner and went to my room to rest. After a short nap at night, it was very difficult to fall asleep again. I had a severe headache and my eyes seemed to be squeezed out of their frames.

Slowly stay up until dawn.

DAY4 Qilian Town - Zhangye Colorful Danxia Scenic Area (242 kilometers) - Jiayuguan City (about 220 kilometers) The headache did not relieve all night, so I had to take an aspirin after getting up.

Continuing the journey, we left Qilian Town and headed towards Ebao.

Early in the morning, we encountered herdsmen driving their cattle and sheep out of their own pens to go to natural pastures.

From time to time, we encounter herds of cattle and sheep crossing the road to go to pasture.

All we can do is wait quietly for them to pass, after all, this is their territory.

We are just passers-by.

(Don’t honk your horn when you encounter cattle or sheep crossing the road. Just wait slowly and wait for the opportunity to pass, otherwise you will be easily frightened. The consequences will be very troublesome).

The yaks and sheep used the car to drive to the three-way intersection in Ebao Town where they visited yesterday.

G227 turns to the direction of Zhangye, Gansu.

After crossing the 3,685-meter Erboling Pass, we entered Minle County, Gansu Province. I had seen Minle County in a documentary I couldn’t remember, and I had the impression that this county was famous for its rapeseed fields.