Horse Trekking

Songpan's horse-trekking operations are among the most credible and long-running in Sichuan — several outfitters have been doing this for more than two decades and the logistics, horses, and routes are thoroughly worked out. Multi-day trips into the surrounding mountains, typically two to five days, run through grasslands and alpine terrain that most visitors to the region never see, staying overnight in Tibetan villages at genuine altitude.

Prices run around ¥200 to ¥250 per person per day, all-inclusive (horse, guide, food, accommodation). The one-day options give a taste of the terrain but miss the point somewhat; the three-day route toward the high grasslands northeast of town is the most recommended, with views that open progressively as you gain altitude. The horses are sturdy Sichuan mountain ponies rather than large trekking horses, and the guides — Tibetan and Qiang locals — manage the practical details competently. No riding experience is necessary.

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Shun Jiang Horse Trekking, the best-established outfitter in Songpan, has been running multi-day trips into the surrounding mountains since the 1990s. The routes were originally developed to bring travellers into terrain that no road reached, and several of them still don't. The overnight camps in Tibetan villages at 3,500 to 4,000 metres are functional guesthouses, not staged experiences, and the villagers who run them have been hosting riders from the same outfitters for twenty years.

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