"Songpan" Top 5 Page for this destination Songpan by bellatrix

Songpan Travel Guide: 24 reviews and 157 photos

From my travelogues

I got to Songpan last night and am spending the day adjusting to the altitude (we climbed about 2000 meters from Chengdu!) before the horse trek tomorrow. Songpan is a great town; for the first time I really, really feel like I'm in China! Before now I've always been in cities, and this feels more like a village, undeniably China! The bus ride through the countryside from Chengdu was marvelous, we climbed high into green and jagged mountains and stopped at interesting little roadside villages, which had food and Tibetan style stuff for sale... I even saw a couple of guys walking around with yaks! I can't wait to get my photos online! The scenery around this area is spectacular.

Yak on the way to Songpan

Songpan is a lively, bustling place with Tibetan style clothes and goods for sale in the markets.. people's style of clothing is very different here, much more colorful! There are emerald terraced hills surrounding the city, and the city itself has lots of wooden houses with tiled roofs... makes for very interesting views! In addition, Songpan still has remnants of its history as a walled city - there are tunnels which can be gated on either side of the town, with lookout pagoda-style buildings on top. It is so neat!!!

On the way to Ice Mountain, Songpan

Tomorrow me and a group of travelers will go on a 4 day guided horse trek to Ice Mountain. We will camp along the way, and have an opportunity to hike to the top of the mountain by foot once we get to the basecamp. The guides take care of all our camping equipment and food (as well as the horses), and all this costs around $8 a day!! Amazing! I am so excited, I think this is going to be a very memorable experience!!

Last visit to Songpan: May 2002
Intro Written Mar 28, 2003
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Reviews (4)

Yung Shu Chun, a guide for one of the tours - Songpan

Songpan horse trek Things to Do (1)

The horse treks out of Songpan are the highlight of Sichuan travels. The price is modest at Y65-80 per day, including... more travel advice

Plenty of good hotels in Songpan Hotels (1)

It has clean, bright dorms (Y15 per bed) with hot water public showers (Y3) around the corner. more travel advice

Street Food Restaurants (2)

Songpan has some of the best streetfood ever. They have all kinds of Tibetan fried breads, or tofu and vegetables cooked... more travel advice

Great Muslim food in Songpan Restaurants (2)

Star Moon Restaurant has green moons in the windows and a green sign overhead. Although these Muslim dishes are on the... more travel advice

Travelogues (5)

1 - 4 of 5

Comments (8)

victorwkf Jul 5, 2006 at 9:38 AM Report Abuse

Good tips and breathtaking photos of songpan and surroundings! A lot of people only go to jiuzhaigou and they are missing out on other aspects :)
kinaly Jan 4, 2005 at 9:29 AM Report Abuse

I will visit Songpan next week but I had no idea on what it looked like...thank you for your wonderful pictures...I feel I already want to be there. Happy new year
DrewV Jul 3, 2003 at 2:45 PM Report Abuse

Terrific travelogues! This is exactly what VT is all about! Sounds like an incredible trip and a magnificent way to experience China.
Confucius May 3, 2003 at 9:41 PM Report Abuse

Songpan now appears in the destinations database. You might want to move your pages there. Your Songpan horse trek tips are worth 6 stars.
globetrott Apr 11, 2003 at 3:35 PM Report Abuse

an excellent page with brilliant pics ! - and the very best part is in the travelogues ! excellent work, Jenn !
Velocity Apr 5, 2003 at 6:40 AM Report Abuse

Interesting page...very beautiful pictures! Well done!
RobDavis Mar 31, 2003 at 6:01 AM Report Abuse

Great page, too bad I can't rate travelogues! :-)
manoj252 Mar 29, 2003 at 3:00 AM Report Abuse

looks amazing! four days on horseback!