Xining & Qinghai Lake Highland Loop

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.

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.

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.

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.

No pork on the premises, no alcohol on the premises, and the full list with addresses in your inbox before you fly.

Salah is placed first and sightseeing is built around it, not the other way round. Your guide carries a mat, a compass and a prayer-time sheet.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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