The Day God Spilled His Paint Palette: China's Rainbow Mountains
Imagine a landscape that looks like a giant layer cake left out in the desert by a playful god. The "Rainbow Mountains" of the Zhangye Danxia Geopark are a geological masterpiece, a surreal landscape where sandstone hills have been striped with impossible, flowing bands of deep red, vibrant yellow, earthy green, and brilliant blue. It is one of the most colorful and photogenic places on the planet.
The colors are very real, the result of different mineral deposits laid down over millions of years and then buckled and folded by the collision of tectonic plates. You'll move between several wooden viewing platforms, each offering a different perspective on the technicolor hills. The experience reaches its peak at sunset. As the low-angled light of the setting sun rakes across the landscape, the colors become a hundred times more vibrant and saturated, glowing as if lit from within. It’s a photographer's dream come true.
Insider Tip:
The park has several platforms connected by a bus system. To get the absolute best photos, stay until the very last moment before the park closes. The hour around sunset is called the "golden hour" for a reason—the colors are at their most fiery and intense. Don't leave when the sun dips below the horizon; the colors in the sky and on the hills are often most beautiful in the 15 minutes that follow.
