Nirvana Hotel

Top choice in Gansu


Run by a friendly, English-speaking Tibetan-Dutch couple, Nirvana's cosy rooms are decorated tastefully in traditional Tibetan style, with giant, comfy beds. Small details make its slightly higher prices worthwhile: international plug boards, free coffee/tea/bottled water and toiletries. The bonus of having Nirvana's popular bar-restaurant downstairs and the friendliness of the proprietors make this a haven in this part of China.

Nirvana also takes a number of eco-friendly measures, including using solar gain to heat water (best time for a shower is the evening) and outsourcing laundry services to a local single mother. Nirvana has cabins on the Sangke Grasslands at the Nirvana Resort.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Gansu attractions

1. Snowland Art

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Tucked away down the backstreets of Xiahe not far from Labrang Monastery, Snowland Art is a family-style fine art and handicrafts training school set up…

2. Barkhang

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The three-storey Barkhang serves as the monastery’s traditional printing temple. With rows upon rows of more than 20,000 wood blocks for printing, it’s…

3. Hall of Hayagriva

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A repository of vivid and bright murals, the hall encapsulates a startlingly fierce 12m-high effigy of Hayagriva – a wrathful manifestation of the usually…

4. Labrang Monastery

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With its succession of squeaking prayer wheels (3km in total), hawks circling overhead and the throb of Tibetan longhorns resonating from the surrounding…

5. Gongtang Pagoda

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With an interior splashed with murals and illuminated by a combination of yak-butter candles and electric lamps, the golden 31m-tall Gongtang Pagoda is a…

6. Thangka Display Terrace

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The best morning views of the monastery come from the Thangka Display Terrace, a popular picnic spot.

7. Hermitage Ruins

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What remains of this hermitage are earthen walls overgrown with nettles, making the real attraction here the view of the town nestled into the mountains…

8. Nunnery

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This nunnery is on the hill above the Tibetan part of Xiahe. The outer kora (pilgrim path) begins just to the left of here.