Zechawa Valley
The longest and highest-altitude valley in Jiuzhaigou: Long Lake at its end is Jiuzhaigou's largest lake, fed by snowmelt with no outlet — "never full, never dry" — and revered by Tibetans as a holy lake
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 07:30-17:00
- Ticket
- Included in entrance ticket
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
The longest and highest-altitude valley in Jiuzhaigou: Long Lake at its end is Jiuzhaigou's largest lake, fed by snowmelt with no outlet — "never full, never dry" — and revered by Tibetans as a holy lake; below it, Five-Color Pond is the smallest yet most richly colored lake in the valley, its lakebed travertine and algae showing layered blues, greens and golds in sunlight, and is known as "king of the colorful ponds". The Upper and Lower Seasonal Lakes rise and fall with the rainy and dry seasons and look strikingly different in winter and spring; in the low season, once the colorful forest has faded, what awaits is ice, snow and still water.
Getting there: sightseeing bus, Long Lake stop
Photos
More in Jiuzhaigou
- Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic Area
A Y-shaped valley in the southern Minshan Mountains, made up of Shuzheng Valley, Rize Valley and Zechawa Valley; named after the nine Tibetan villages inside, it was inscribed as a World Natural Heritage Site together with Huanglong in 1992
- Shuzheng Valley
The first valley of Jiuzhaigou, running from the valley entrance to Nuorilang Waterfall: the Shuzheng Lakes are twenty to thirty lakes big and small linked in tiers, trees grow thickly on the travertine dikes, and water mills and prayer-wheel houses stand along the stream — a living display of Tibetan water-mill culture within a natural landscape
- Rize Valley
The essence of the whole valley: Five Flower Lake shows peacock-feather-like iridescent colors thanks to the spectral differences of lakebed travertine, algae and sunken wood, and is called "the essence of Jiuzhaigou"
- Zharu Temple
The largest and only Tibetan Bon religion monastery in Jiuzhaigou, sitting beneath Baojing Rock (Treasure Mirror Rock) at the mouth of Zharu Valley; said to date from the Ming Dynasty, it has been the faith center of the valley's nine Tibetan villages through the ages
- Tibetan Villages (Shuzheng Village and others)
Villages of the indigenous Tibetans inside Jiuzhaigou — the park's name, 'Valley of Nine Villages,' comes from the nine villages in the valley
- Ganhaizi (Alpine Meadow)
An alpine meadow wetland west of Jiuzhaigou's valley entrance; Jiabo Ancient Town is a resort of stone-built Tibetan-Qiang style buildings, snow peaks ring the meadow, and visitors are now welcomed at the 'Gate of Jiuzhai' viewing platform