Ningxia · Zhongwei
At Shapotou, the Tengger Desert rolls right up to the Yellow River and stops — a wall of golden dunes more than 100 metres high dropping straight to the water’s edge. It is one of the strangest and most beautiful meetings of landscapes in China: desert on one side, river, oasis and green fields on the other. The great dune is China’s largest natural sand-skiing slope, where sliding down on a wooden board makes the sand hum like a distant bell — the famous ‘bell ringing of the sand slope’. You can cross the river on a sheepskin raft, an ancient craft still in use, ride a camel along the dune ridges, or take the cable car high above the Yellow River. Look closer and you will see the straw checkerboards pegged into the sand, a technique invented here in the 1950s to hold back the desert and protect the railway — now copied around the world.
Tips: Visit in April to June or September to October, when temperatures are mild and sandstorms are rare. Arrive at the 8 a.m. opening to beat the crowds and the midday heat on the sand. Bring sunglasses, sunscreen and a scarf against blowing sand, and wear shoes you can shake sand out of. Pair Shapotou with a Yellow River sunset and a night in Zhongwei, reached by high-speed train from Yinchuan.
Photo: sylvannus / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)