Discover Inner Mongolia
Hulunbuir Grassland
呼伦贝尔草原
The grassland that justifies the phrase: thousands of square kilometres of unfenced steppe in Inner Mongolia's far north-east, threaded by the meandering Mergel River, with birch forest, Russian-influenced border towns and some of the least light-polluted night skies in China. This is the serious version of the grasslands, not the day-trip one.
The story
What makes this place special
Hulunbuir, in the far northeast of Inner Mongolia, is the real thing: Hulunbuir municipality covers about 253,000 square kilometres, of which roughly 100,000 square kilometres is grassland, around 126,000 square kilometres forest and over 20,000 square kilometres wetland. The administrative and air gateway is Hailar. It is the historic pastureland of the eastern Mongol tribes and the region the Mongol empire came out of, and it is still grazed rather than fenced for tourism. Travel there is by road circuit; public transport is sparse and distances are long.
What you’ll discover
Open grassland that runs to the horizon in every direction, which is the thing none of the Hohhot-area camps can give you. The standard circuit from Hailar takes in the Morigele River, a river so convoluted that its meanders are the signature photograph of the region, then Ergun with its Russian-influenced Hua settlements, the forest edge at Genhe or Shiwei on the Russian border, Manzhouli with its border-trade architecture, and Hulun Lake, before returning to Hailar. Herds, isolated gers, wooden Russian houses and birch forest are the texture of it.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- July and early August are when the grass is green and the temperature sits around 20 to 28C. Mid-June to late June brings the wildflowers with fewer people; September turns the grass gold and is the photographers' month. From late September the season is over, and in winter this is one of the coldest inhabited parts of China, with the grassland circuit effectively impassable as a holiday.
- The tradeoff is crowds and price. Late July to mid-August is the absolute peak, with queues reported at the Morigele River and Heishantou and accommodation needing to be booked weeks ahead at multiple times the usual rate; mid-to-late June or late August cuts the cost substantially.
- Hire a car with a driver rather than self-driving unless you are confident. Reported circuits run from roughly 800km over six days to 1,200km over seven, on roads where the interest is in stopping where you like, and a local driver knows which tracks are passable.
- Nights are cold. Daytime highs of 20 to 28C fall to 13 to 17C at night in midsummer, and a windproof shell or light down jacket is standard local advice.
- Drones are prohibited in the border areas around Manzhouli, Shiwei and Heishantou, and flying one risks being turned back or fined. Assume no drone within sight of the border.
- Insects and UV are both serious on open grassland in summer. Repellent and high-factor sun protection are not optional, and there is no shade anywhere on the circuit.
When to come
July to mid-August for the greenest grass and warmest weather, mid-to-late June for wildflowers and fewer visitors, September for golden grass and photography. November to March is bitterly cold and the grassland circuit is not worth attempting.
Getting around
This is a driving region, which makes it unexpectedly feasible: the sights are roadside viewpoints and you see most of them from or beside the vehicle, so a wheelchair user can do the circuit, with the caveat that the ground off the tarmac is rough grass and that distances between usable toilets are long. Ger-stay accommodation is usually stepped and basic. A bad knee is no obstacle; long hours in a vehicle are the real cost.
Worth knowing before you go
Treat this as a separate trip from Hohhot, not an add-on: the two are about 1,000 km apart and there is no quick overland link.
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