Top 10 Attractions in Lanzhou, Top Things to Do in Lanzhou

Plan your Lanzhou tour? If you only have a few days to spare while traveling Lanzhou, you can highlight your Lanzhou trip by visiting the top 10 attractions or doing the top 10 things in Lanzhou.

No. 01: Yellow River Mother Sculpture
Yellow River Mother Sculpture, which is situated at the south bank of Yellow River, middle part of Binhe Road and north of the Little West Lake, is the regarded as best of its kind in China.

The sculpture is created by a famous sculptor in Lanzhou of Gansu Province. With the length of 6 meters and height of 2.6 meters, the Yellow River Mother Sculpture is more than 40 tons.

The whole sculpture consists of a mother and a baby. The mother with long hair, slim figure, lying on the undulated water looks happy and kind. On her breast hold a small kid who bear naive smile. Yellow River Mother Sculpture reflects the long history and culture of Gansu Province.

Entrance Fee: free
Opening Hours: the whole day
How to get there: take Buses No. 2, 4, 6, 9, 13, 15, 101 or 102 to Xi Guan Shi Zi Station

No. 02: Gansu Provincial Museum
Gansu Provincial Museum, which is located at the Middle and Upper Reaches of the Yellow River, Lanzhou is built in 1956. Gansu Provincial Museum covers an area of 180,000 square meters. There are nearly 100,000 relics in the museum, ranging from historical, modern, national relics, in which more than 3,000 pieces are of the first class and second class.

The relics in Gansu Provincial Museum include vessels and agricultural tools, painted pottery bowls, and excavations from the Silk Road of the Han and Tang periods. Gansu Provincial Museum is one of the best sights in the city and a visit is well worthwhile.

Entrance Fee: free
Opening Hours: 09:00-17:00 (closed on Monday)
How to get there: take Buses No. 1, 106 or 58 to You Yi Fan Dian Station

No. 03: Waterwheel Garden
Lanzhou is regarded as “the city of waterwheel”. Waterwheel Garden, which is located in the Binhe East Road, was built by Duan Xu in the Ming Dynasty.It was used for irrigation of the farming fields along the Yellow River in ancient Lanzhou City.

The Waterwheel Garden is composed of three parts, a waterwheel garden, a waterwheel square and a culture square. The garden covers an area of 3.58 acres. The Waterwheel Garden is a theme park which shows the waterwheel culture. In the garden, two huge waterwheels with striking appearances stand uprightly on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Entrance Fee: CNY 10
Opening Hours: 08:00-18:00
How to get there: take Bus No. 15 to the Waterwheel Garden

No. 04: White Pagoda Park
White Pagoda Park, which is situated on the White Pagoda Hill, was first built in Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt in Ming Dynasty. The White Pagoda Park owes its name to the White Pagoda within it.

The White Pagoda Park covers an area of more than 8,000 square meters. The mountain was once famed for its “Three Treasures”: the Elephant Skin Drum, Redbud and Bronze Bell. There are three clusters of ancient buildings standing on top of the mountain. The pagoda is seven-storied octagonal shaped with a height of around 17 meters.

Entrance Fee: Free
Opening Hours: 06:00-18:00
How to get there: You can take many bus routes to the White Pagoda Park. Buses of No. 1, 4, 6, 20, 35, 53, 131, 11, 15, 26, 34, 136, 75, 106 and 107 can take you there.

No. 05: Bingling Temple Caves
Bingling Temple Caves, or Bingling Thousand Buddha Caves, are located on the Small Jishi Hill, about 35 kilometers west of Yongjing County in Lanzhou City.

The caves, carved out of the cliff’s porous stone, contain over 700 statues, of both clay and porous rock, and hundreds of frescoes.Of the statues, the largest is a giant 27 meter-high seated Maitreya, the future Buddha, and the smallest is a miniscule 25 centimeters. Besides the temple, the journey itself is impressive, especially within close proximity to the caves.

Entrance Fee: CNY 20
Opening Hours: 08:00-18:00
How to get there: take the bus from Lanzhou to Liujiaxia Reservoir, then take a boat to Bingling Temple Caves

No. 06: Five Springs Mountain Park
Five Springs Mountain Park is located within the Five Springs Mountain at the foot of the Guanglan Mountain, in Lanzhou. The Five Springs Mountain Park an area of 10,500 square meters and houses more than 10 groups of ancient architecture.

Inside the Congqing Temple hangs a ten-ton iron bells which can date back to the over 900 years ago. The park is a sacred place for the locals. Many Buddhism activities are held here.

Entrance Fee: CNY 6
Opening Hours: 06:00-18:00
How to get there: take Buses No. 6, 31, 33, 34, 106, 108 or 114 to get there

No. 07: Xinglong Mountain
Xinglong Mountain, situated in Yuzhong county, some 56 kilometers southeast of Lanhzou City, is a forest park of provincial level. With 70 ancient temples and pavilions and 24 scenic spots scattered all over the moutain, Xinglong Mountain has become one of the resorts of Buddhism and Taoism.

There is a stream sandwiched in between two peaks, and Yunlong arch bridge is spectacular. The coffin of the founder Genghis Khan of Yuan Dynasty has once been buried here, which made the mountain famous since the past.

Entrance Fee: CNY 30
Opening Hours: 08:00-16:00
How to get there: You can tale the minibus from downtown area of Lanzhou to Xinglong Mountain National Natural Reserve.

No. 08: Sangke Grasslands
Sangke Grasslands is a part of the Dajiutan prairie in Sang Ke County between the “Panma beach”. The middle part is the open and smooth mountain grassland.

The scenery was really amazing – blue sky and vast grasslands with mountains in the distance. The Daxia River originally flows from south to north in Sangke Grasslands. It is the natural grazing grounds of the Tibetan national minority people. Visitors can travel by bicycle or on horseback.

Opening Hours: the whole day
How to get there: The grassland can be reached by either by bus, motor-cab or bicycle.

No. 09: Zhongshan Iron Bridge
Zhongshan Iron Bridge, located at the middle part of Riverside Road, is at the foot of White Pagoda Park in Lanzhou. It is the earliest bridge on the Yellow River which first built in 1372 and rebuilt in 1909.

The bridge is 233.33 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. It is a five-arch bridge resting on five piers. In 1942, it was renamed as the Zhongshan Iron Bridge in memory of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and was reinforced in 1954. The Zhongshan Bridge will be remembered forever as a piece of history and a cultural relic.

Entrance Fee: free
Opening Hours: the whole day
How to get there: take Buses No. 2, 4, 6, 9, 13, 15, 101 or 102 to Xi Guan Shi Zi Station

No. 10: Xiguan Mosque
Lanzhou Xiguan Mosque also named Jiefang Road Mosque and Guest Mosque due to the fact that the mosque was built using donations from Silk Road traders.

Xiguan Mosque is now located in Lanzhou’s most prosperous business district. It was a great pity that the mosque was torn done during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and construction materials were used to build the White Pagoda park of Lanzhou. The current Lanzhou Xiguan Mosque was constructed on its original site in 1983, similar to the style of Al-Aqas Mosque of Jerusalem.

Entrance Fee: CNY 10
Opening Hours: 08:00-19:00
How to get there: There is no direct bus to Xiguan Mosque. You can call a taxi or rent a car to get there

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