avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan

Danba County, China
3 posts
1 review
avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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Hey,

We had a terrifying bus ride from chengdu to danba yesterday. It was supposed to be 6 hours but turned to 16, but that's pretty common in China, we were stopped by this barrier that let us continue only from 18:00..the problem was holding our breath for hours, watching the bus go slowly along the edge of those cliffs over the river, with no rails and trucks barely passing us from the opposite direction. It felt like we were an inch away from falling all the time. I hate to whine and I know that there's not much to do, but still - what do you know about the roads from : danba-tagong-litang-daocheng - shangrila- lijiang? What's the safest way around those (don't mind changing the route at all, but prefer not going a lot north since we don't have much time). We feel a bit stuck since there aren't any airports till lijiang and that means that we can only go back to chengdu and plan something from there..any ideas?

Beijing, China
Level Contributor
47 posts
1. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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Did you hire a driver to go to Danba or travel by yourselves?I paid a visit to Danba last month.The road condition between Kangding and Danba is really poor,but the section between Danba and Barkam is perfect scenic road. From Tagong/Xinduqiao to Lijiang it is bad road.

Edited: 7 years ago
Beijing, China
Level Contributor
47 posts
2. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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All the public buses running between Chengdu and Danba pass the most difficult way(Chengdu-Ya'an-Tianquan-Wasigou-Danba),but the private vans choose perfect scenic roads (Chengdu-Wenchuan-Lixian-Barkam-Xiaojin-Danba).

If you don't want to pass the section between Tagong and Litang,you have to go back to Chengdu and fly to Daocheng,then continue your journey to Shangri-La and Lijiang.But this is a pretty expensive way.

Edited: 7 years ago
Danba County, China
3 posts
1 review
3. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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It was a public bus ride. I don't mind bumpy or a non-scenic road, the only thing that I don't want is crawling our way through on edges if cliffs like the way to danba. It really isn't an exaggeration, everybody on the bus was worried. So what I want to know is whether there's more of that ahead of us, and if there's a way to bypass. Are there flights only to chengdu from kanding?

Beijing, China
Level Contributor
47 posts
4. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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the road between Tagong and Litang is bad,but it is better than the road between Wasigou and Danda you have passed.

Beside flight between Kangding and Chengdu,there is one between Kangding and Chongqing.Kangding10:35/Chongqing11:35

Lijiang
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199 posts
5. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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The road from Chengdu-Danba-Daocheng-Shangrila-Lijiang is terrible,and you are just starting the endless journey on a dangeous road.

Suggest not to do this part of Sichuan by your own. Actually the west part of Sichuan is Tibetan area, make sure everthing is well organised before going.

In a word, my suggestion is going back to Chengdu,then fly to Lijiang if you scared of the road condition.

Chengdu, China
Level Contributor
1,226 posts
2 reviews
6 helpful votes
6. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan
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There are many traffic restrictions on the road between Xinduqiao and Litang. As #5 mentioned,don't do the western part of Sichuan by yourself.

7. Re: avoiding dangerous roads in sichuan

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