Kham — the Tibetan east that western Sichuan walks through — has two seasons and a long shoulder, and the difference between them is physical: snow on the high passes. Every date in our trekking calendar is downstream of the same fact. This page turns the seasons printed on each route page into a single year.
How to read this calendar.
Each line below is anchored to what the routes actually do, not to a generic best-of list. Where a route says it runs all year, that is what it says; where a departure calendar stops in November, the calendar below stops with it. Conditions vary year to year — the calendar is a planning shape, not a guarantee of any single week.
The calendar.
| Month | The high country | What runs |
|---|---|---|
| April | Passes clearing; nights still cold on the grassland | The hotel-based western and Wild tours are in window from April; the nine-day reserve extension opens 1 April |
| May | Camping season opens | Gongga in-depth and self-supported (May–Oct), the Yala pass (May–Nov), and the first group trek departure — 24 May 2027 |
| June | Grassland green, weather at its steadiest | Everything, plus the snow leopard departures — three consecutive Junes on the Sanjiangyuan plateau |
| July–August | Warmest, greenest, wettest on the west side | Full programme; the group trek’s surcharge months (CNY 8,600 / 8,000 early); monkey and red panda season opens late August |
| September–October | The classic window: settled days, cold nights, autumn colour late | All eleven routes; group departures 21 Sep and 21 Oct; the red panda window in full |
| November | Closing down from the top | Last group departure 21 November; Yading’s upper park closes mid-November; monkey season runs on to March |
| December–March | Winter: the camping passes out of play | The panorama hike runs all year with seasonal swaps; Yala’s safe variant replaces the pass; Labahe’s forests stay in season at the margins |
The other calendar.
One date range sits across the top of October like a lock: Golden Week. The first week of October moves the whole country, and a grassland trailhead that is quiet on 25 September is not quiet on 2 October. Our holiday calendar lists the weeks that decide a route; the group trek’s 21 October departure sits deliberately clear of them.
Picking a month.
If you want the camping treks: May to October, with September the best single bet — the passes are reliably clear and the monsoon is off. If you want the wildlife forests: from late August, when the red panda window opens, and onwards — the monkey troops keep to their valleys into March. If you want the big scenery without a tent: almost any month; the panorama week and the hotel-based western tours re-cut their walking to the season instead of closing. If you want Yading’s holy lakes: June to early November, because the upper park shuts from mid-November to mid-April no matter how good the weather looks from the road.
Altitude is the one variable no month solves by itself; our altitude planning guide covers the pacing that the calendar cannot.
Season windows checked 7 November 2026 against the eleven route pages. Departure dates quoted from the 2027 group trek calendar.
Pick a route next?
The eleven trekking routes
Light on the plateau: a photographer’s calendar