Qinghai–Gansu Muslim Heritage Trail

Our home base, and the easiest halal city in China to land in. Roughly one person in four here is Muslim, Dongguan Grand Mosque sits inside the oldest market streets, and beef noodle shops unlock their doors before Fajr.

Often called the little Mecca of China. A prefecture where Hui, Dongxiang, Salar and Baoan Muslims make up well over half the population, with eight grand mosques inside one small city and a brick-carving tradition that has survived four centuries.

A single-street town at 2,900 m on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, built around Labrang Monastery. The surrounding grassland is grazed by nomad families, and the halal restaurants here are run by Hui Muslims who arrived with the caravan trade.

A long, narrow city strung along the Yellow River, and the birthplace of Lanzhou lamian. Hui and Dongxiang Muslims are everywhere in the food culture here, and the riverfront park is where the city walks in the evening.

Oasis city under the snow-capped Qilian mountains, where the Silk Road ran between desert to the north and high pasture to the south. The rainbow mountains nearby have made it famous, but the city itself is quiet and very walkable.

Where the Silk Road split around the Taklamakan desert. A small city beside the Mogao cave system and the singing sand dunes, with a night market that has been feeding travellers for a thousand years.

One of the largest mosques in northwest China, with a vast courtyard, a separate womens prayer hall and wudhu facilities on site. Jumuah draws tens of thousands, and the surrounding streets are lined with halal butchers and bakeries.

A 16th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery half an hour south of the city, known for its butter-sculpture hall and its painted corridors. We visit as heritage and architecture, never as worship.

A dense grid of Hui courtyard houses and workshop streets. This is where the traditional brick and wood carving Linxia is famous for was made, and where you still find it being made.

Different architectural schools sit within a few streets of each other: Chinese temple-style with curved eaves, and newer domed and minareted buildings. Walking between them is the whole point.

One of the six great monasteries of the Gelug tradition, with a 3km circumambulation corridor of prayer wheels. We visit as architecture and living heritage; your guide explains what you are seeing and we never join in worship.

Forty minutes out by road. Wide summer pasture with nomad tents, and in July and August the tent restaurant season is in full swing.

Qinghai hand-grabbed mutton, beef lamian for breakfast, yak yoghurt and sweet eight-treasure tea. In Xining halal is the default rather than the exception, so you can walk into almost any street-corner restaurant. Dongguan Grand Mosque is nearby, so you can pray and eat on the same street.

Dongxiang hand-pulled noodles, whole roasted lamb, mutton and potato stew, and thick Hui flatbread from clay ovens. Every restaurant in the old quarter is halal. Linxia Old Town Grand Mosque is nearby, so you can pray and eat on the same street.

Hui-run halal restaurants along the main street serve hand-pulled noodles, yak beef, mutton skewers and butter tea. Choices are fewer than Xining but the food is genuinely good and reliably halal. Xiahe Hui mosque is nearby, so you can pray and eat on the same street.

Lanzhou beef lamian for breakfast, hand-grabbed mutton, Dongxiang-style lamb, and sweet fermented barley drinks. The city has one of the densest concentrations of halal kitchens in China. Lanzhou Xiguan Mosque is nearby, so you can pray and eat on the same street.

Zhangye halal restaurants serve lamb offal soup for breakfast, hand-grabbed mutton, and a cold wheat-starch noodle with vinegar and chilli oil. Your guide pre-books the ones we have audited. Zhangye Dongguan Mosque is nearby, so you can pray and eat on the same street.

Dunhuang halal restaurants serve donkey-meat-free Hui dishes, hand-grabbed mutton, lamb skewers and a famous almond-flavoured milk dessert. The night market has a clearly signed halal row. Dunhuang mosque is nearby, so you can pray and eat on the same street.

Five minutes on foot from the hotels we book. Jumuah around 13:30 in winter and a little later in summer.

The easiest city on this entire site for salah. Mosques within walking distance of every hotel we use, and food stays available late through Ramadan nights.

Active, welcoming, and the natural place to pray Jumuah if your dates put you here on a Friday.

Nothing to arrange. This is one of the most Muslim-dense places in China and your guide will simply walk you to the nearest mosque at the right time.

Small, on the main street, and used by the Hui families who run the restaurants. Wudhu available.

Altitude is the real issue, not prayer. We build in a slow first afternoon, keep water in the vehicle, and plan the day so you are inside a town at prayer times.

Central, active and easy to combine with the riverfront walk. Wudhu facilities on site.

Central mosques with full facilities, and prayer rooms at the main railway station. Your guide keeps a prayer mat and a compass in the vehicle for the corridor drives.

Near the old centre, with a prayer hall and wudhu. Jumuah is straightforward here.

One central mosque plus a prayer room at the Danxia visitor centre. We schedule the rainbow mountains for the afternoon so Dhuhr and Asr fall in town.

A modest active mosque in town. Prayer rooms are also available at the dune park entrance.

We plan the dunes for the late afternoon so Maghrib falls at a sensible place, and the Mogao visit for the morning when the caves are coolest.

Xining Caojiabao (XNN), 30 minutes from the centre. Direct flights from Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Urumqi.

Two hours by road from Lanzhou, three from Xining. No airport; we drive it as part of a corridor or heritage route.

Four hours by road from Lanzhou, five from Xining. Overland only; we pair it with Linxia or with a Xining return.

Lanzhou Zhongchuan (LHW), 70km north with a rail link. High-speed trains from Xian in three hours and from Xining in one.

High-speed rail from Lanzhou in about five hours, from Dunhuang in about six. Zhangye Ganzhou airport has limited flights.

Dunhuang Mogao (DNH) airport with flights from Xian, Lanzhou and Beijing. High-speed rail from Jiayuguan in two hours.

May to early October. July is greenest and busiest, September is cooler and quieter.

May to October. Spring and autumn are mild; the loess hills are brown in winter and green from June.

June to September. Winter is very cold and some grassland camps close.

April to October. Winters are dry and cold but the city works fine year-round.

June to September. The Danxia colours are strongest after rain, and the poplars turn gold in October.

May to October. July and August are very hot; September has the best light on the dunes.