The annual Yushu Horse Festival, held in late July, is one of the largest and most spectacular traditional gatherings on the Tibetan Plateau. Nomads from across the prefecture — and from neighbouring areas of Sichuan and Tibet — converge on the festival grounds outside town for racing, displays of horsemanship, Tibetan opera, archery contests, and traditional dress. The festival runs for several days and the atmosphere is genuinely festive, with a temporary city of tents erected on the hillsides around the main arena.
Accommodation in Yushu fills completely during the festival; book well in advance or consider staying in a guesthouse willing to rent tent space. The mounted events are extraordinary to watch — riders performing at full gallop, picking up scarves from the ground, firing arrows at targets — and the traditional costumes are among the most elaborate worn anywhere on the plateau. The festival has a long history before becoming a formal tourist event; its significance to the nomadic communities who participate is clearly genuine.