Practical Information for visiting Gansu

Coverage for mobile networks is good in the corridor towns and along the railway, and thins in the desert and on the southern plateau.

The internet is filtered as across China: most non-Chinese search, social media, messaging and mapping is blocked. Install a VPN before arriving. Note that access can be more tightly controlled in Tibetan areas, and services are occasionally suspended there around sensitive dates.

Payment by phone is required in practice — Alipay and WeChat Pay for everything, both taking foreign cards now.

Wi-Fi is available in hotels and usually needs a Chinese number.

Download offline maps before the desert routes, where signal disappears between oases.

Gansu is safe and crime against visitors is rare. The considerations are environmental and administrative.

• Tibetan areas around Xiahe and in Gannan prefecture are subject to access restrictions that change without notice and occasionally close to foreigners entirely. Check before committing to a route, and be discreet about politics — a conversation can create serious problems for the local person.
• Altitude at Xiahe, near 3,000 metres, reached in a few hours from Lanzhou at 1,500.
• Desert conditions: extreme heat by day, cold at night, and no water. Do not walk into the dunes beyond the managed area.
• Dust storms in spring, which close roads and reduce visibility.
• Sun is extreme across the province, and worse on the plateau.
• Mogao tickets: sold out in peak season, so book ahead or you will not get in at all.

Lanzhou has the province’s best hospitals; the corridor towns are adequate and the southern plateau has little. Insurance covering evacuation is sensible.

Vaccinations: routine cover plus hepatitis A and typhoid; rabies for longer rural stays.

Altitude at Xiahe and in the southern grasslands, and the ascent from Lanzhou is quick.

Dehydration is the corridor’s main risk — the air is so dry that sweat evaporates before you notice it, and visitors routinely underestimate their water needs at Dunhuang.

Sun: very high UV, and reflection off sand compounds it.

Air quality in Lanzhou in winter.

Water: drink bottled or boiled.

At Mogao: no photography inside the caves at all, no touching, no bags, and stay with the guide. The rules are enforced and they are why the murals survive.

At Labrang and the Tibetan monasteries: walk clockwise around the kora and the buildings, do not spin prayer wheels the wrong way, remove hats, ask before photographing monks, and do not photograph inside chapels without permission.

Politics — Tibet above all — is not a subject to raise here.

In Hui Muslim areas: dress modestly around mosques, do not bring alcohol or pork into halal restaurants, and be discreet during Ramadan.

Photography: not of police, military or government buildings, and not of the desert installations in the north.

Tipping is not customary.

Emergency numbers: 110 for police, 120 for ambulance, 119 for fire. English is unlikely; carry your address in Chinese characters.

Medical. Lanzhou has the province’s major hospitals. From Dunhuang or the southern grasslands, transfer takes hours or a flight.

Altitude at Xiahe: descend if symptoms worsen, and oxygen is available in the town.

In the desert, do not leave marked areas, carry far more water than seems necessary, and tell someone your plans. There is no shade and no signal.

Tibetan areas: carry your passport, expect checkpoints, and comply without argument.

Have a VPN and a payment app working before arrival, which remains the most common avoidable problem for foreign visitors in China.

Consulates are in Beijing, Xian or Chengdu; there are none in Gansu.