Western Ranch

Western Ranch

The Western Ranch is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

The Western Ranch Scenic Area is located in Zoige County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, covering an area of approximately 266,400 square meters. It consists of a ranch experience zone, a grassland town zone, a starry sky park zone, a hotel zone, and other sections. It is a tourist destination that combines sightseeing, nomadic experiences, and stargazing education.

The Western Ranch Scenic Area was developed by Zoige Qinghai-Tibet Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd. Since August 2016, the scenic area has been rated as a national AAA-level attraction and has undergone comprehensive upgrades. After the renovation, it was opened to the public for free visits and experiences.

The Western Ranch Scenic Area is situated on the northeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, within Zoige County of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. It is located by the Heihe Bridge, 3 kilometers from the county seat, about 500 kilometers from Chengdu, and 460 kilometers from Lanzhou. The ranch boasts over 400 acres of highland wetland pasture, facing the Heihe River and the intersection of national and provincial highways. National Highway 213 is the essential route to Flower Lake and Langmusi, while Provincial Highway 209 leads to the First Bend of the Yellow River and Hongyuan County.

The Western Tourism Ranch is one of the three major highlights of the northwestern Sichuan grassland tourism, namely: the First Bend of the Yellow River, Flower Lake, and the Western Tourism Ranch. This is a highland Tibetan cultural small town that integrates accommodation, herding culture life experiences, highland wetland landscapes, alpine plant appreciation, food streets, flower street shopping, and leisure entertainment. It is known as the "town and ranch in glass."

Flower Sea Zone:

The ranch's flower sea zone is home to numerous alpine plants, making it a natural outdoor botanical classroom. Various flowers such as alpine rhododendrons, lavender, wild alpine chrysanthemums, dandelions, and reed flowers cover the hills, riverbanks, and grasslands of the ranch. Pony horses and sika deer roam through them, while mallard ducks nest by the water. The flowers on the ranch bloom from spring through winter.

-- The pagoda built at this site stands on the hillside of the ranch. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the pagoda serves as a spiritual link between the divine and the mortal world. It houses many sutras and treasures; every morning, local herders walk around the pagoda in prayer, with incense smoke rising above the tents.

Starry Sky Theme Park:

The Starlight Club features a massive glass-domed building equipped with dozens of astronomical telescopes for stargazing. It offers star-gazing guidance and regularly opens to the public for astronomy education.

This is a natural landscape area themed around alpine plants and flowers, rare animals, and nomadic experiences. Visitors can ride horses, herd livestock, and make butter tea, among other traditional Tibetan herding activities.

Clouds Flower Street:

As the name suggests, Flower Street is a street covered in blooming flowers and is the busiest spot on the ranch. The winding and meandering street is entirely covered with glass, allowing visitors to comfortably enjoy snowstorms and stargaze even in the night winds at an altitude of 3,600 meters.

The shops along the street feature strong Tibetan cultural characteristics. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows emit warm light like a hearth. Inside, you’ll find Tibetan handicraft experience studios, Tibetan incense experience rooms, Tibetan tea experience rooms, hand-painted thangka workshops, and global imported beer tasting rooms.

There is also a food street within Flower Street, offering Tibetan noble banquets, Red Army canteens, authentic beef offal hotpot, highland mushroom soup, Gar Manor Tibetan feasts, specialty snacks, and hot braised dishes. Here, there’s no urban commercial noise—just a pristine environment where you can enjoy yogurt, sip Tibetan tea, order a coffee, and gaze up at the starry sky.

Hotel Accommodation Zone:

Guge Dynasty Grand Hotel (Tibetan Noble Hotel), 95 rooms: Designed with a unique Tibetan cultural theme, the hotel primarily uses stone and wood as building materials. Its interior decor, carpets, and lighting fixtures are rich in Tibetan cultural elements.

Shengdi Grand Hotel (Tibetan Folk-Style Hotel), 188 rooms: This is a distinctive Tibetan cultural leisure hotel, uniquely renovated from 50-year-old Tibetan folk houses. The hotel is divided into Area A and Area B: Area A is adjacent to the dining and bar section of the commercial street, while Area B lies beside the Heihe River, surrounded by green grass and integrated with lake and mountain views. The hotel primarily uses wood as a construction material, featuring solid wood walls and hand-painted Tibetan furniture in its rooms.

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