Beijing → 🚝 Pick up car at Hohhot East → 🚙 Huitengxile → 🚙 Hohhot City → 🚙 (Baotou) Xiangshawan → 🚙 Baotou → 🚝 Return to Beijing
🗓️ 8‑day itinerary – Two days in Beijing at the beginning and end, five days in Inner Mongolia. In reality, only about three and a half days were spent sightseeing (due to rain and my injury).
After reviewing this route, consider carefully whether to travel both east and west. (Baotou, Xiangshawan is in the west, Hohhot is in the middle, and Huitengxile is in the east.) Personally, I don’t recommend covering both sides unless you really want to see the desert and spend a night there. But actually, there is a desert between Hohhot and Baotou that you can visit.
Inner Mongolia itinerary
I had skipped the self driving route planning here. If you are planning to book a local tour guide (with car), he will choose his own way to there.
Huitengxile (Two Days, One Night)
The grassland altitude above 2,200 m. The best months to visit are from June to August. Going a month earlier isn’t ideal—there’s no grass yet, and there’s even a chance of snowing.
The temperature difference between day and night is large. During the day, the sun is strong and it can reach the 3X °C. At night, it can drop to around 10 °C. If you want to photograph the starry sky, star trails, or the Milky Way, remember to bring a jacket.
Accommodation Recommendation – Mongolian Yurt with Matouqin Theme
I have searched many places for accommodation and finally chose the Mongolian Yurt with Matouqin Theme. Although it was a bit more expensive than others, the facilities were good. If you want to go horse riding, you need to go elsewhere—but I don’t really recommend it, as it’s nothing special unless you are going for fast riding.
Every night there’s a campfire party. Fireworks are set off to mark the end of it. You can buy fireworks at the front desk to play with. The most common one people use is the “Gatling,” which shoots out fireworks continuously. The boss himself will set off an even more impressive one.
On the day we stayed, perhaps because the neighboring place had set off something spectacular, the owner gave each guest a free “Gatling.” Everyone fired them into the sky, and fireworks exploded overhead. The whole area was filled with fireworks, and with the neighboring yurts also setting off powerful ones, the atmosphere was completely upgraded.
If not for my family worrying that the yurts might have insects or strange smells, I definitely would have stayed another night. Although my family said the bathroom had an odor, I couldn’t smell anything at all. Insects, yes, there were some—like large ants. But that’s to be expected in the countryside. I caught three and tossed them outside.
1) Huanghuagou 黃花溝
The scenic area requires an entrance fee. It takes a full day to visit Huanghuagou. Even just taking photos out on the grassland takes at least one day. So, to include Huanghuagou, you’d need two days (that is, three days and two nights for staying at the grassland). As for whether it’s worth visiting the scenic area, that’s up to you to decide. I personally chose not to go.
2) Baiyin Ecological Base 白銀生態基地
It’s best to watch the sunset here, and horseback riding is the cheapest. But the road is difficult to travel. A 7‑seater commercial vehicle is not recommended; only SUVs or 4WDs can make it up.
Special reminder: travel insurance does not cover horseback riding.
3) Other places can be reached by driving yourself and then parking by the roadside to walk in. The main attraction is the vast grassland.
Grassland accommodations usually have restaurants, so you can easily go to any of them for lunch or dinner.
For lunch I went to “Meme Restaurant.” It wasn’t bad, but not particularly good either.
However, the seating rules were a bit rigid. We got six people in total. Since no one greeted us, we just walked in and looked for seats ourselves. We found a larger table by the wall, but the lady who seemed to be the boss asked how many people we had. If fewer than ten, we weren’t allowed to sit there. In the end, we ate for about an hour, and only eight tables were occupied, with just one table having ten people.
If you want to enjoy Huitengxile for longer, it’s recommended to stay two nights (three days, two nights). Simply sitting on the grassland and watching the grass is already a kind of enjoyment. Afterwards, you can return to Hohhot City.
Hohhot City (Two Days, One Night / Three Days, Two Nights)
In the city, there are historical sites (one full day). Around the city, there are two attractions—Hongshiya and Hongzhao Jiulong Bay (one full day). Another option is the Chilechuan Grassland (half a day to a full day). To visit all of these thoroughly, you’d need 4 days and 3 nights.
For souvenirs, you can go to the Mongolian Mall to shop. It’s the only place where you can find relatively cheaper items.
Pay attention to opening hours. If you plan to visit Hongshiya, you won’t have time to come here for souvenir on the same day. If you go here in the morning, it’s not recommended to visit Hongshiya afterwards, as time will be too tight. Going directly to Chilechuan Grassland would be better.
Inside, there are only three places worth buying from:
The first shop is on the right as soon as you enter (before reaching the elevator). They offer samples. There are three products that are homemade. One of them, which isn’t the sandwich type, tastes especially good—very rich in milk flavor. 📣📣📣 Highly recommended! 📣📣📣
The second shop: After passing the first one, turn right and then left. It’s called “Tangsege Traditional Dairy.” (“唐斯格傳統奶食”) You can try samples there. They also have various yogurts, horse milk, goat milk, etc. The highlight is the horse milk. Even if you don’t drink it, ask your friends to try. (It’s extremely sour, like eating a lemon. There’s not much milk flavor, but it’s worth a try. This was also my first time drinking horse milk.)
The third shop: On the 2nd floor, there’s a place selling yurt‑shaped keychains for only RMB 2. This shop is probably the only one that’s more suitable for tourists. The rest you can just browse quickly and move on.
Hongshiya 紅石崖
Located above 2,000 meters, it’s definitely recommended to go early in the morning. Since we set off in the noon, there were already many cars and traffic jams. In the end, we only made it halfway up and decide to return. My family also started feeling a bit dizzy from the altitude. Luckily, we went back down; otherwise, we would have missed one of the must‑try dishes—boiled lamb in ice water.
If you plan to go up the mountain, you can pay at the Hongshiya entrance and then drive yourself in, straight to the top spot called “Heaven‑Blessed Grassland.” That’s the most beautiful place for photos.
If you don’t go to Hongshiya, you can stop midway at Chilechuan Alpine Grassland and then return. Tickets are purchased at the entrance (around RMB 25 per person) for the round trip.
Note: A few days before my visit, Hongshiya announced that self‑driving was not allowed, only tourist buses. But after a few days, self‑driving is permitted again. To be safe, I recommend planning a second route as backup.
Tip: Bring your own food and drinks.
Chilechuan Grassland 敕勒川草原
If you don’t have time to go to Hongshiya, you can visit Chilechuan Grassland instead. (Different from the Chilechuan Alpine Grassland on the mountain.) It’s a vast grassland, like a very large park. The most convenient thing here is that you can rent a car at the entrance to drive inside.
The downside is that the parking lot is located quite far away. From what I observed, walking from the parking lot to the entrance takes about 15–20 minutes.
Accommodation Recommendation: JI Hotel (each room provides 6 bottles of water). Among the various options, it’s relatively inexpensive and also includes breakfast. However, the parking lot is insufficient. If you return to the hotel at night, there’s a high chance you won’t find a parking space.
Hohhot Food Recommendation – Zecheng Boiled Lamb in Ice
There are several branches in Hohhot City. Be mindful of your schedule if you want to eat there. Some branches are very crowded, and walk‑ins require waiting. You can call ahead to make a reservation. If you’re certain about the time you’ll arrive, booking is recommended. We walked in and waited about 5 minutes.
Besides Zecheng Boiled Lamb in Ice, there are other good places to eat in the city. Unfortunately, due to limited time, I wasn’t able to try more and share them with you.
Xiangshawan (Two Days, One Night)
Xiangshawan is located south of Baotou City. From Hohhot to Xiangshawan it takes about 2.5 hours. During the drive, my iPhone XR had issues, so it ended up taking 3 hours.
The biggest mistake was poor time management. If you don’t arrive at the scenic area check‑in by 8–9 am, it’s better to stay one night in Baotou first and go the next day. Otherwise, plan for a 3‑day, 2‑night stay.
This time we stayed at Xiangshawan Fusha Island Resort.
I wrote another article with more details about Xiangshawan – a review of Fusha Holiday Resort and guide in Xiangshawan.
If you want to see videos of the desert scenery in Xiangshawan, you can check my IG profile or Facebook page.
At the scenic area entrance check‑in, staff will deliver your luggage to the hotel room. Since Xiangshawan is also an amusement park, locals often come to play. On Saturdays and Sundays, after around 11 am, lots of people start queuing for the cable car. Hotel guests have priority boarding.
After getting off the cable car, there’s a transfer zone. This is the hub for hotels and amusement facilities. Each time you want to go from the hotel to the attractions, you need to come here and transfer to another vehicle.
Honestly, it’s very troublesome. From the hotel to the scenic area, the transfer process basically takes about 30 minutes.
The return trip from the scenic area to Baotou East Station (to take the high‑speed train back to Beijing) takes about 1 hour. We returned the car directly there, completing the final leg of the journey.
In summary: there wasn’t enough time to play. Several activities couldn’t be done at all. If we had a few more days, it would have been just about right.
Inner Mongolia Accodomation Recommendation:
-> Inner Monoglia Huitengxile
-> Inner Mongolia Xiangshawan tour guide
