Jiuzhaigou Tours — 108 Turquoise Lakes

Five Flower Lake is the postcard of Jiuzhaigou and the most photographed water in China. Submerged spruce and fir trunks lie preserved under calcium-clear shallows so boats seem to hang in mid-air, while minerals and algae paint the surface in indigo, turquoise, emerald, amber and cream. Colour peaks in still air before 9am, when the lake holds like glass. Boardwalks ring it on the Rize-valley bus line; give half an hour and come early, when the light is low and the crowds still thin.

Nuorilang is Jiuzhaigou's broadest waterfall, a curtain of shallow water fanning over a mossy, calcium-encrusted ledge, its Tibetan name meaning a playground for the gods. Spray catches the sun most mornings and throws small rainbows, and a boardwalk passes directly behind the falling water at its lower end. It sits at the junction of the three valleys, and the walk between it and nearby Mirror Lake is easy. Fifteen to twenty minutes covers it well.

Long Lake is the largest and highest of Jiuzhaigou's lakes, a long ribbon of cobalt water at 3,100 metres backed by snowline peaks, and the source of all the park's waterfalls. Most riders take the bus to the top terminus, spend a cool, breezy half-hour at the shore, then work down through the forest toward Five Coloured Pool. The altitude bites here, so move slowly and carry a warm layer even in July. Allow an hour of strolling before you catch the next bus down.

Five Coloured Pool, high in the quiet Zechawa valley, is the smallest stop on the circuit and arguably the most intensely coloured: a shallow mineral spring whose bottom glows in hard-edged bands of cobalt, teal, gold and rust through water so clear the floor reads like a painted tile. Sunlight is best around midday, when it finally reaches down between the firs. Because only a fraction of visitors ride this far, you often get it almost to yourself; ten minutes is enough, but linger.

Pearl Shoal is a wide crescent of water breaking over a submerged lime shelf into hundreds of beads that scatter and roll down a sloping fan, an effect that made it a famous frame in the 1986 TV version of Journey to the West. It marks the lower end of the Rize valley, a short walk from Mirror Lake, linked by bus or an easy downhill stroll. Morning side-light turns the droplets gold; give it fifteen to twenty minutes.

The Shuzheng valley opens with a chain of nineteen stepped lakes tumbling into one another, capped by Shuzheng Waterfall, a tangle of white water braided through fallen logs that you pass behind on a walkway. Because Shuzheng and Rize branch at Nuorilang, many travellers save Shuzheng for the return leg, when the light softens and the buses empty. Allow an hour to walk the falls and two lakes properly.