Xiahe, Labrang & the Tibetan Plateau

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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