Striped hills of red, orange and cream fold like painted waves across the Gansu desert.
About Zhangye Danxia
Zhangye Danxia lies in the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains in Gansu. Its smooth, sharp rock walls, hundreds of metres high, are striped in unlikely colours. Sandstone and minerals were laid down in layers over 24 million years. Then the same tectonic forces that raised parts of the Himalayas tilted these layers like a cake on its side, and wind and rain carved them out. The 322 km² park became a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2019, and Chinese media have named it one of the country’s most beautiful landforms. The main viewing area is about 30 km west of Zhangye.
Getting there
- Best months
- Not stated (Zhangye airport has no flights in winter)
- Nearest airport / gateway
- Zhangye Ganzhou Airport (YZY). Lanzhou and Xining are larger airports linked by high-speed rail.
- Permits & fees
- Danxia National Geological Park ticket ¥108, including the mandatory ¥38 shuttle (Wikivoyage, updated Jun 2026). The park is 40 km west of Zhangye; buses leave from Zhangye Bus Station.
- Sources
- en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Zhangye
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhangye_National_Geopark
Photos of Zhangye Danxia
