Why this ride
A one-way ride of 1054 km, Gaocheng to Yinla - roughly 12 h 55 in the saddle. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,500 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sichuan Tibet Highway G318: Litang to Nyingchi
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 1054 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 12 h 55
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Litang
Litang is one of the highest towns in the world, at roughly four thousand metres, a Tibetan settlement on a wide grassy plateau in western Sichuan, where the G318 highway crosses on its long journey from Chengdu to Lhasa. The mountains around it are rounded and bare, the sky is huge and the air is thin enough that every staircase becomes a conversation with your lungs.
Read the complete Litang write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Litang is where the day begins. Next is Batang.
2. Batang
Batang lies on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, on a broad highland plain at about 2,600 metres, near the Jinsha river, the upper Yangtze, which forms the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region. The town is Tibetan in culture, with a large monastery, prayer flags on every hill and a population of Tibetan herders and traders, and it has been a staging post on the route between Sichuan and Lhasa for centuries.
Read the complete Batang write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Batang comes up about 170 km into the recorded legs. Next is Nyingchi.
3. Nyingchi
Nyingchi is the green end of the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, and it comes as a shock after the bare plateau that precedes it. The Tibetan name is Nyingtri, and the town lies at about three thousand metres in the valley of the Niyang river, close to where the great Yarlung Tsangpo bends around the east end of the Himalaya. Here the air is thick and moist, the hillsides are covered in pine, cedar and rhododendron, and the nights smell of damp earth. It is often called the Switzerland of Tibet, a phrase that undersells it.
Read the complete Nyingchi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 1054 km.
Leg by leg
Litang to Batang
Litang → Batang is 170 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Batang to Nyingchi
Batang → Nyingchi is 884 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Sichuan Tibet Highway G318 · 1979 km