Litang — A Town at 4,000 Metres, No Permit Required

Here’s the thing worth knowing before anything else: Litang is in Sichuan. It sits above 4,000 metres, it is thoroughly Tibetan — this is Kham, the eastern Tibetan world — and because it’s outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, you need no permit, no agency and no guide to be here.

For anyone who wants high-plateau Tibetan culture without the Tibet permit machinery, western Sichuan is the answer, and Litang is its best single destination.

The town

Litang is a working plateau town: one long main street, monks and herders and traders on it, motorbikes with sheepskins over the seats, pool tables outdoors, and the smell of butter tea and dung smoke. The altitude is immediately obvious — stairs are hard, sleep is broken, and the light is fierce.

Litang Chode monastery sits above the town, a Gelug foundation dating from the 16th century and historically among the most important in Kham. Its significance is not small: both the seventh and the tenth Dalai Lamas were born in this area. Walk up in the late afternoon, when the assembly is out and the light comes across the roofs.

The horse festival

If you can time a trip around one thing in western Sichuan, make it the Litang horse festival, usually held in August on the grassland outside town.

Riders come in from across the prefecture. There’s racing, trick riding — picking objects off the ground at a gallop, shooting from the saddle — wrestling, dancing, and an encampment of white tents across the plain with families in their best clothes and jewellery. It’s a genuine regional gathering, not a performance, and the standard of horsemanship is startling.

Exact dates move. Ask locally a few weeks ahead rather than trusting anything published in advance.

Around the town

• The grassland north and south of town, where nomad camps and herds sit under 5,000-metre ridges
• Genyen (Gongga Xueshan), a sacred massif southwest of Litang with a kora and serious trekking
• Sister lakes, on the road toward Batang, an easy stop
• Xiangcheng and Daocheng to the south, on the way to Yading — one of the most spectacular reserves in China

Practical notes

Altitude, seriously. At 4,014 m Litang is higher than Lhasa, and many people arrive by bus from Chengdu at 500 m over two days. Sleep at Kangding or Xinduqiao on the way up, drink constantly, and give yourself a slow first day. Altitude sickness here is common and the medical facilities are limited.

Getting there: bus or hired car from Chengdu via Kangding — two days, one of the great overland routes in China. Daocheng Yading airport is the nearest air link and sits at 4,411 m, which is a punishing arrival.

When: May to October. August for the festival. Winter is clear, brutally cold, and the passes are icy.

Where to sleep: Tibetan-run guesthouses in town, some very good. Heating is the specification that matters.

Eat: yak, momos, thukpa, butter tea, and the best yoghurt in China. See our food guide.

Nearby: Garzê north, Eya and Muli in the valleys west and south.