Race Across the World is back, baby! This time, five new teams are embarking on a mahoosive 14,000-kilometre journey across three countries and we’re following them each week through tears, tasty food, and totally-shouldn’t-have-spent-that-much-money-on-that-taxi.
On a shoe-string budget of just over £1000 (!) they’ll be making their way to the finishing line to claim a £20,000 jackpot. As they head from A to B, C, and D, we’ll be catching up with each week’s check point, giving you some tips on what you could get up to there and how to get around in prep for your own Race Across the World adventure…
Where is Race Across the World this year?
The last checkpoint
Sanya, Hainan Island, China
Last week we left this year’s Race Across the World contestants in Sanya, on Hainan Island, dubbed the “Hawaii of China”. Full of pristine beaches, luxury resorts, parks, temples and even a rainforest, it’s one of the countries most southerly – and tropical – cities.
The next checkpoint
Shangri-La, China: 2,126 km from Sanya
Imagine a place so intoxicatingly beautiful that someone coined its name from a 1930s fantasy novel. Welcome to Shangri-La City (formerly Zhongdian), perched at a lofty 3,160 m above sea level in northwestern Yunnan, China. Geographically, it’s where Yunnan begins to flirt with Tibet and Sichuan – right at the intersection of cultures, climates, and altitudes. Back in December 2001, local officials decided that “Zhongdian” wasn’t quite magical enough, so they rechristened the county “Shangri-La” after James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, where Shangri-La was described as a hidden utopia in the Himalayas..
With daytime highs rarely breaking 15 °C in summer and winter lows dipping below −2 °C, Shangri-La lives up to its plateau reputation: crisp days, frosty nights, and monsoon-style rains from June to September. Home to just under 190,000 people (according to a 2020 census), it’s a mosaic of Khampa Tibetans in the north, Naxi people down south, and a smattering of Han newcomers. Listen closely and you’ll hear Khams Tibetan, the melodic tones of Naxi, and Southwestern Mandarin mingling together.
This year’s Race Across the World contestants can expect vast grasslands with grazing black-necked cranes (yep, the endangered ones), sleepy villages made of timber and stone, and towering mountains draped in myth. Shangri-La isn’t a theme park; it’s the real deal. Tibetan Buddhism runs deep here -you’ll see it in the monasteries, the mani stones, the daily rituals. Many locals still wear traditional chuba robes, especially in the countryside. Horse festivals, sky burials, butter lamps, and thangka paintings are all very much alive.
Shangri-La must-do’s
Songzanlin Monastery
The “Little Potala Palace” is the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan. Think golden roofs, crimson walls, chanting monks, and a mountain backdrop that’ll steal your breath faster than the altitude. Built in the 17th century, it’s still very much active – this isn’t a museum, it’s a living, spiritual powerhouse.
Bonus points for: Heading to Lamuyangcuo Lake, just outside the monastery. It’s said that if you gaze into the water, you might catch glimpses of your past lives (or at least your reflection looking very contemplative).
Pudacuo National Park
China’s first national park in the American-style mold. It has alpine lakes like Shudu and Bita, thick forests, and wildflowers that look like they were hand-painted. It’s an easy way to dip your toes into the region’s raw natural beauty without needing mountaineering skills.
Bonus points for: Timing your visit in late spring or early summer, when you’ll see 14 species of rhododendron in bloom.
Dukezong Ancient Town
This is the heart of old Shangri-La. Cobblestone alleys, Tibetan teahouses, and the world’s largest Tibetan prayer wheel (it takes several people to spin – so grab some friends and go full circle). It suffered a massive fire in 2014 but has since been beautifully rebuilt.
Bonus points for: Catching a local festival, like the Gedong Festival, where monks don ornate masks and perform sacred Cham dances to drive out evil spirits.
How to get there
Hopscotch up the west of the country
This year’s Race Across the World contestants can either stick to the west of China and jump from city to city using the country’s high-speed train network (a popular option so far), or they can veer inland instead and take in some smaller, lesser-seen parts of China.
We’ve put together an itinerary that mixes a bit of both – you’ll stick to the western edge of the country, but with an optional jaunt to an inland gem.
This is how you do it
Sanya to Nanning
First stop: Nanning. This a long stretch (a whopping 17 hours) but you can do it overnight and stretch out if you plump for a sleeper. Leaving in the evening, you’ll wake up the next morning at the Nanning East station, in a city where subtropical jungles flirt with skyscrapers.
Not far from the border with Vietnam, and sometimes referred to as the “Green City”, it’s got lush parks, palm-lined boulevards, and banyan trees. A bridge between China and ASEAN countries (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), there’s a definite international flavour here – think trade fairs, fusion food, and random pockets of Vietnamese coffee shops tucked into alleyways.
Detour
Nanning to Guiyang
You can get a high-speed train from Nanning East to Guiyang North in just over 5 hours. Guiyang is tucked into a karst mountain landscape that rolls like dragon’s backs. It’s surrounded by limestone hills, waterfalls, and forests, which means that even though it’s a bustling capital, nature’s not far. But this is a working city too, a city of spice merchants, street performers, office workers who scarf down bowls of noodles at lightning speed.
Don’t miss Qingyan Ancient Town, dating back to the Ming dynasty, Huaxi Park, a dreamy spot with creeks, willow trees, and swan boats, and Jiaxiu Tower lit up at night like a lantern in a misty dream. From Guiyang, catch a high-speed train to Kunming.
Nanning to Kunming
From Nanning East station, you can take a high speed train to Kunming South station in just over 5 hours. China’s “City of Eternal Spring,”, Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province, where the Himalayas start, the Mekong begins its long journey south, and the tea grows wild on misty hillsides. With its proximity to Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, there’s a lovely cross-border energy here: Southeast Asian spices in the market, Indian fabrics in the alleys, Tibetan thangkas hanging in shopfronts.
Check out Western Hills and Dragon Gate, just outside the centre of the city – carved into cliffs above Dianchi Lake, it’s got Buddhist grottoes and pavilions perched on perilous ledges.
Kunming to Shangri-La
From Kunming, you can reach Shangri-La (4,000 feet up!) by high-speed train in 4 to 6 hours – the route winds through Yunnan Province, offering gob-smacking panoramas of mountains, valleys, and even the iconic Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Alternatively, you can go by bus overnight in around 10 hours. Take the trip during the day and you can break it up with stops at Dali and Lijiang. Dali has the Cangshan Mountains to the west, Erhai Lake to the east, and the Old Town in between, a mix of stone streets and whitewashed Bai houses with black tile roofs. Lijiang is part of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, where tea, salt, and silk passed between Yunnan, Tibet, and beyond. Sloped roofs, latticed windows, red lanterns swaying in the wind, and an intricate canal system that burbles like a mountain lullaby. It’s absurdly pretty.
