The Great Outdoors, Cycling, All

Wine, Dine and Desert Ride in Ningxia

The Great Outdoors, Cycling, All

Wine, Dine and Desert Ride in Ningxia

@Simone Sturla
The Great Outdoors, Cycling, All

Wine, Dine and Desert Ride in Ningxia

  • Destination

    Ningxia

  • Trip duration

    8 days, 7 nights

  • Price

    From 11300 cny

  • Availability period

    21 May. 2022 - 30 Sep. 2022

  • Min/Max travelers

    8/20

  • Transport

    Van

  • Accommodation

    Local Hotels

• Sip on a range of locally produced wines from a hand-picked selection of famous and lesser-known, whilst meeting the wineries’ owners
• Cycle through Yellow River wetlands, green agricultural pastures, and stark desert scenery.Meet here local Hui villagers and learn about their traditional customs
• Discover the ancient Great Wall and Xi Xia Mausoleums
• Ride carefree with a support vehicle, great bikes, and attentive knowledgeable guides

@Simone Sturla

When not busy cycling through Yellow River wetlands, green agricultural pastures, and desert scenery, you will meet vineyard owners and learn about grape production in Ningxia.  On this journey, you will meet local Hui villagers, and learn about their traditional customs and discover the ancient Great Wall and remnants of the Tangut dinasty. A very different itinerary to discover another side of China, rarely experienced by many.

-

Travel is an emotional experience, cherishing new corners and venture into unknown landscapes. Respecting this and giving back to society has taken an important role in our endeavours in leaving only footprints and taking only memories. ATRAILS committed to improving the conditions of communities we encounter on our journeys whilst safeguarding and protecting nature and wildlife

NINGXIA, CHINA

Why dont' you explore ..

Cycling, All

Hainan Cycling Tour

8 days , 7 nights
Discover
Day 1

Arrival Yinchuan

Welcome to Ningxia! On arrival at Yinchuan Airport (INC) we’ll have a transfer ready to take you to our downtown Yinchuan hotel (35mins). You’ll meet your guide who will help you check in, answer any questions you may have and set a time to meet for our afternoon winery visit. After freshening up, we’ll make our way over to Chateau Changyu Moser XV to explore the winery, sample some wines and have our first group dinner together once the Chateau closes to the public. A fitting way to start our tour!

Food

-/-/D

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 2

Cycle to Helan Shan Mountains - Winery visits

After setting up our bikes and meeting our cycling guides and drivers, we set off for the hills! The Helan Shan Mountains can be seen from the city and we’ll be making our way through town to connect up with a leafy cycling path that will take us up on a gentle incline to the base of the mountains. From the top, you’ll see views of the mountains, ancient temples and pagodas, and views below to vineyards and the city beyond. We’ll break out the coffee to sit back and take it all in. Continuing along the mountains on undulating country roads the views of the mountains expand before we turn downwards and make our way speedily to our first winery visit of the day, Silver Heights Winery.

Food

B/L/D

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 3

Cycle to Minning - Xi Xia Tombs - Winery Visits

An action packed day awaits as we continue through Ningxia’s wine region on tree-lined and flat cycle paths that take us past yet more wineries and agricultural lands that have been reclaimed from the dry rock-strewn plain. Our first destination is the UESCO listed Xi Xia Mausoleums, where we’ll take a coffee break and check out the museum. You will have the opportunity to visit the park to take in the views of these ancient tombs against the back drop of the Helan Shan before coming back to Legacy Peak Winery, located within the park, for a lunch and wine tasting.

Food

B/D/L

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 4

Transfer to Yanche - Cycle to Haba Lake

After a leisurely mornings breakfast, we take a two hour transfer to the start point of our undulating ride to Haba Lake Nature Reserve. The first section has us cycling through the relatively recently developed agricultural areas. Huge government spending has gone into these poorest of Ningxia’s communities; irrigation, water conservation and green energy projects designed to re-green and revitalise the arid landscape to become productive growing land are evident. Dozens of re-located Hui communities make up the majority of these farming communities. Our last section takes us off-road for around 10km through scrub-covered sand dunes, wetlands and groves of trees: an oasis of relatively more fertile land. Our destination is nearby the lake where we stay in quant detached rooms with picture windows to take in the surrounds and the incredible night skies. With little ambient light and the clear desert air, the stars unfold dramatically after sunset and we’ll take advantage with an outdoor barbecue of local roasted lamb and, perhaps, a glass of wine or two!

Food

B/D/L

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 5

Cycle to Yanche via Great Wall

Back on the bikes! Today we’ll have a short 2 minute ride to a delicious local breakfast before we continue on out of the reserve. We’ll pass by several rural villages and towns, centres for farmers and livestock grazing (mostly sheep), before turning onto a larger county level road for a long gentle downward cycle to the start point of our Great Wall ride (some may choose to skip this section and put the feet up on the bus to save energy for the section along the wall). We turn onto mostly dirt tracks and wind along and around the Great Wall as it, and the ancient towns along it, crumble back into the earth. The prominent wall that can be seen is from the Qing dynasty but you’ll also be able to spot sections of more eroded wall dating back to the Sui dynasty. Our ride brings us into Yanche town for the evening. Yanche retains its (renovated) old city walls, city gates and drum tower which make for a brilliantly lit evening stroll or an equally recommended morning walk.

Food

B/D/L

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 6

Transfer to Hongsibu - Cycle Luo Shan - Winery visit

We’ll allow time this morning for those wanting to explore the city walls before breakfast, and recover from the previous days big ride!, before making a two hour transfer to Hongsibu. We’ll jump back onto the bikes and cycle up to the base of Luo Shan Mountain that overlooks town. The ride will offer fine views of the surrounding valley and old abandoned Hui villages, before we turn downhill and wind our way through vineyards, Goji Berry orchards and fields of corn to Hongsibu town and our hotel. With time to freshen up, we’ll spend the rest of the afternoon and evening at Luo Shan Winery where the vivacious owner will offer us a tour of the winery and a tasting followed by dinner. You will be free to linger on the grounds before we head back to the hotel for the night.

Food

B/D/L

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 7

Transfer and cycle to Xige Winery

Today we drive two hours to the Yellow River and the start point of the final day of our wine ride! We start by cycling paths and country roads that offer glimpses of the Huang He, agricultural communities, wetlands and small villages and towns. After lunch we turn away from the river and start a gentle climb into more rural landscapes until we reach our final winery and accomodation for the night, Xige Estate. One of the most modern and ambitious wineries in Ningxia makes a fitting end to our tour. A winery tour and tasting in sumptuous surrounds will precede our final night’s dinner where we will toast the end of our tour, and a bright future for Ningxia’s wine growing future!

Food

B/D/L

Accommodation

Hotel

Day 8

Transfer to Yinchuan Airport

Zai Jian! Today is departure day and we will arrange a transfer to Yinchuan airport. Arrival and departure flights will be advised closer to the tour date so you can book appropriate flights to match the transfer times.

Food

B/-/-

Travel is an emotional experience, cherishing new corners and venture into unknown landscapes.
Respecting this and giving back to society has taken an important role in our endeavours in leaving only footprints and taking only memories.
ATRAILS committed to improving the conditions of communities we encounter on our journeys whilst safeguarding and protecting nature and wildlife

Various

Various

8 Nt’s accommodation in comfortable hotels or guesthouses (Inc. two winery stays)

Travel is an emotional experience, cherishing new corners and venture into unknown landscapes.
Respecting this and giving back to society has taken an important role in our endeavours in leaving only footprints and taking only memories.
ATRAILS committed to improving the conditions of communities we encounter on our journeys whilst safeguarding and protecting nature and wildlife

Carbon Emission Initiative - Gold Standard

As of 2020 Asian Trails has introduced a voluntary carbon offsetting initiative for our travellers to compensate for unavoidable emissions during their tours with us. Emissions during multi-day package tours (not including international flights to our destinations) are pegged at a cost of $1.50 per traveller per day. This amount is based on average daily emissions of travellers across our eight destinations. Contributions from clients to our carbon offsetting initiative will go into a destination-specific fund to support climate protection projects certified to Gold Standard in that country. Certification to Gold Standard assures that the projects supported through our carbon offsetting initiative not only reduce harmful emissions but also positively contribute to sustainable development. Our contributions to projects in a country will be relative to the CO2 emitted by our travelers in that destination. To know more about this project: https://marketplace.goldstandard.org/collections/projects/products/more-efficient-cooking-and-heating-china

Create the experience of your dream with our travel experts

Make your own trail