Litang Horse Racing Festival

A Khampa is riding a horse for a contest

Litang horse racing festival

A Khampa is riding a horse for a contest

Litang Horse Racing Festival (FK04)

Every year on August 1, a seven day long festival takes place in Litang. The Tibetans will come from all over Kham, and even Amdo and central Tibet setting up tents on the enormous grassland of Litang, which makes the great pasture like a city of tents. The most exciting part of this festival is the horse racing. The brave riders will take their pretty decorated horses to participate in the races and showcase their excellent horse riding skills, such as picking up the scarlet on the back of a fast running horse, shooting at targets while in gallop…etc. Women are dressed in their traditional and most beautiful best with magnificent jewelry as they show their applauses to their heroes.

Festival Date:
It is fixed on the first week of August. 1st – 7th August on Gregorian calendar
The festival date has been changed since 2008, Please contact us for the exact dates on the Gregorian Calendar.

Day1: Arrive in Chengdu:
After arrival in Chengdu airport, pickup and transfer to your hotel, assist to check in. Relax in the rest hours of this day by having one visit to the traditional Chinese teahouse at People’s park.

Day2: Chengdu to Kangding:
Drive 360km on paved road, into hill country and crossing through the Mt. Erlang tunnel, En-route we will stop by to visit Luding Iron Bridge. Then arrive at the gateway town of the Eastern Tibet of Kham – Kangding, which is cradled in a narrow gorge along the raging Dzetuo River. The river’s continual rumble can be heard in its alleyways where nomads from the west come to sell Tibetan herbal medicine, Khampa knives, traditional Tibetan garments, and the ever-popular yak butter tea. For centuries the town has held the status of “Gateway to Tibet”, after arrive in Kangding take an easy walk in order to acclimatizing to the altitude, visit to Anjue monastery.

Day3: Kangding to Litang:
Drive 285km on paved road; enjoy the beautiful nature view and touring the white Ming yak Chorten, and when drive onto Mt. Gaoershi, if weather permits, the stunning view of the peak of Mt. Minyar Gangkar will be visible. After we arrive in Litang, we are going to visit the Litang monastery, which is just on the northern edge of town and belongs to the Gelukpa sect of Tibetan Buddhists. The monastery was founded in 1580 by the third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso on the site. There are three main temples in the compound, of which the oldest seems to be the one on top of the hill, still featuring the wooden construction of the upper rim of the buildings. Inside, you can view several chambers and a bedroom in which the 7th Dalai Lama is said to have resided. Many more famous and influential personal figures were born here, including the 7th Dalai Lama, 10th Dalai Lama.

Day4 & Day5: Litang: attending to the Litang Horse-racing festival, experiencing local Tibetan’s life.

Day6 & Day7: Litang to Danba via Bamei:
Departure from Litan, drive to the east via Gaoer-shi mountain to the road intersection at Xinduqiao, where to turn to north reaching at Bamei, then to Danba. En route we will visit to the Lhagang monastery, Gatar Shangbalin monastery, in Danba we will visit to the traditional Tibetan building of “Pill boxes”, which now still house local Tibetans.

Day8 & Day9: Danba to Chengdu via Wolong:
The last high pass of Mt. Balang will be passed through by us on the drive for return, en route we will visit to the sanctuary of Giant Panda in Wolong.

Day10: Chengdu to the airport for departure:
After having breakfast, check out of your hotel and transfer to airport for your departure (transfer timing will depend on the flight schedule).