Minle (民乐县), sometimes transliterated Minyue, is a county in Zhangye prefecture, in Gansu province, China.
Understand
With rapeflower fields bordered by the Qilian Mountains on the south, Minle can look spectacular mid-summer. The rest of the year, it may be less interesting. There is a small city a few km southwest of the train station, but the rest of the county is basically rural.
Get in
- Minle Station (民乐站), 38.4740°, 100.8373°. On the Lanzhou–Xinjiang High-Speed Railway, and easily reached from Zhangye, Xining, or Lanzhou. It has plenty of service mid-day, but limited hours. 2018-08-30
Highway G227 between Zhangye and Xining passes through Minle.
Get around
See
- Minle rapeflower fields, 38.2306°, 100.9344°. South of town, just before the highway enters the mountains, a large section of the fields is set up for tourism. There are viewing platforms, trails, horses, and well-decorated yaks, and it is possible to climb up a small ridge to get a better view over the expansive patchwork of fields. Admission was free in July 2018, but that may change. 2018-08-30
- The access to Mati Si 📍 (Horse's Hoof Temple, carved spectacularly into the side of a cliff) is through Minle county, but the temple itself is not in Minle, and is listed under Zhangye.
Do
Buy
Eat
Drink
Sleep
Only a handful of hotels here are authorized to take foreigners, and the authorities do check. Expect to surrender your passport to the front desk for an hour or two so the police can come over to inspect it.
Connect
Go next
Zhangye
Xining