Best Hospitals in Xining for International Patients

Boiled Qinghai lamb, simply salted, served on a platter with raw garlic and cumin-salt dip — the meat from grazing sheep on the high plateau is exceptionally tender and completely free of the strong 'muttony' taste some fear.

Broad, bouncy strips of wheat-starch jelly drenched in a tangle of chili oil, crushed garlic, sesame, and dark vinegar — Xining's essential summer street food, sold from carts on every busy corner.

Tiny, thumb-sized dough pieces torn by hand and boiled, then tossed in a lamb-and-vegetable broth — the name means 'little noodle slices' and they're the comfort food of Qinghai's Muslim kitchens.

Fermented yak and cow milk set in small ceramic pots, sold on the street with a layer of golden cream on top and a dusting of sugar — thicker and tangier than any supermarket yogurt; buy a pot and eat it standing up.

Chewy highland-barley grains fermented into a sweet, slightly effervescent cold drink — a spoon goes in the glass; refreshing, gently boozy, and the perfect palate reset between heavy lamb dishes.

A steaming iron pot of lamb tripe, heart, and lung simmered in a milky bone broth with glass noodles — ladled into bowls and topped with cilantro and chili; Xining's winter breakfast champion.

Cubes of mung-bean jelly seared on a griddle with soy, garlic, and chili until the outside browns and the inside stays wobbling — a sizzling, savory snack you'll find in every Xining night market.

One of Tibetan Buddhism's six great Gelugpa monasteries, an hour from Xining — golden-roofed prayer halls, intricate yak-butter sculptures, and pilgrims doing full-body prostrations in the courtyard.

China's largest lake, a vast sapphire sheet at 3,200 meters framed by snow peaks — rapeseed fields blaze yellow along its shores in July; the scale is staggering.

One of northwest China's largest mosques, with a distinctive blend of Chinese-Islamic architecture — its white-and-green minarets rise above the old Muslim quarter, and Friday prayers spill into the surrounding streets.

A compact but rich museum covering the Tibetan, Hui, Tu, and Mongol cultures of the Qinghai plateau, plus Silk Road relics — the painted Tibetan scroll (thangka) hall is especially fine.

A cliff-side Taoist temple dug into loess caves and crevices on a hillside overlooking the city — part monastery, part fortress, part geological oddity; quiet, ancient-feeling, and rarely visited by foreign tourists.