Jiuzhaigou Valley

九寨沟风景名胜区（沟口游客中心）

A Y-shaped valley of paint-box lakes and waterfalls

⚠ Not a day trip; stay a night or more

Hours

Peak season opens around 7:30am; last entry and closing differ by source

Tickets

Peak season (1 Apr–15 Nov) entry ¥190 + shuttle bus ¥90; off-season ¥80 + ¥80. Advance real-name booking only

Address

Jiuzhaigou County, Aba Tibetan & Qiang Prefecture; enter at the visitor centre by the valley mouth

Thanks to the limestone you can see straight to the lake beds, and the water shifts from jade to turquoise to deep blue with the light. The valley forks in a Y, and you hop on and off shuttle buses between lakes, which takes a full day. It's far from Chengdu, so people usually set aside two or three extra days and pair it with nearby Huanglong. Mid-October, when the leaves turn, is the most popular time and the first to sell out.