Top Canyons in Asia

For adventure lovers, you can find whatever kind of experience you're looking for when traveling in Asia. It'll be an excellent choice to explore Asia's canyons. The top canyons in Asia include the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, Kali Gandaki Gorge, Nu River Grand Canyon. The Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon ranks the top among all the canyons in the world. Let's read on to know more information.

Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon

• Length: 504.6 kilometers
• Average Depth: 2,268 m
• Deepest Depth: 6,009 m
• Country: China

Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, or Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon is the largest canyon in Asia and in the world. It is located along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet, China, originating near Mount Kailash. The canyon is generally 80 to 200 meters wide, the narrowest part of the valley bottom of the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is only 74 meters, with a total length of 370 kilometers. As the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is situated on the Tibetan Plateau, it is also the highest canyon in the world.

Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon splits the mountain barrier of the Tibetan Plateau and the Indian Ocean water vapor. It continuously sends water vapor to the interior of the plateau, making the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau a green world, and some places like Nyingchi become the "Jiangnan Area" on the plateau.



The Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is the region with the most abundant hydropower resources in the world. The annual rainfall of the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon is more than 4,000 millimeters, and the natural water energy reserves are more than 68.8 million kilowatts. Besides, its 40-kilometer hydroelectric power generation can reach 38 million kilowatts.

The forests of the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon are lush. Due to the steep terrain, inconvenient transportation, sparsely populated, many sections of the river are not populated at all. Moreover, the canyon is often covered by the cloud and mist, which makes it more mysterious, with a particularly quiet environment.

Many sections of the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon are rocky on both sides, and the turbulent river water is abnormal in some areas, so that it can hardly be passed through. That's why no one has walked through the canyon so far.

Kali Gandaki Gorge

• Average Depth: 6,000 m
• Deepest Depth: 6,800 m
• Country: Nepal

The Kali Gandaki River, winding through the Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal, is older than the Himalayan mountains surrounding it. The river is named after the Hindu goddess Kali, and its water is also black due to glacial silt. Kali Gandaki Gorge is the deepest gorge in the world. The peaks on both sides of the river bank are 8,000 meters above sea level, and the average vertical drop of the valley is about 6,000 meters.

The Kali Gandaki River runs left and right between cliffs and continuously hits the wall. The river erodes the mountain roads, taking away countless rocks. As a result, the river bed is getting lower and lower, the mountain peaks are getting steeper, and the terrain is steeper and more complicated. That's the reason why the Kali Gandaki Gorge is considered to be the most complex canyon in the world.

People have been arguing about the exact depth of the Kali Gandaki Gorge because not everyone agrees on the height of its edge. However, if it can be measured from the highest mountain on both sides of the river, it will be the deepest canyon in the world, with a depth of 6,800 meters (22,309 feet).

Nu River Grand Canyon

• Length: over 600 kilometers
• Average Depth: 2,000 m
• Deepest Depth: 3,500 m
• Country: China

Nu River Grand Canyon, located in Nujiang Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan, is a geographical wonder in China. The gorge is more than 300 kilometers in Yunnan province, with an average depth of 2,000 meters. And the deepest point is 3,500 meters in the Bingzhongluo area of Gongshan Mountain.

The Nu River originates from the southern foothills of the Tanggula Mountains on the Tibetan Plateau, flows from the north through Yunnan province to the south in Myanmar (known as the Salween River in Myanmar), and finally empties to the Indian Ocean. The Nu River is between high mountains, and the mountains on both sides are magnificent with an altitude of above 3,000 meters. As the valley is deep with a large river drop, the raging river forms the magnificent Nu River Grand Canyon.

The upper section of the Nu River Grand Canyon has snow mountains on both sides, which are about 5000-6000 meters high. The river is over 2,000 meters above sea level, and the height difference of the mountains is 3000-4000 meters, which make the Nu River Grand Canyon look unusually deep and mysterious. Many visitors consider it an excellent place for adventure.

Due to the influence of the southwest monsoon climate in the Indian Ocean, you may see four seasons in different areas of the Nu River Grand Canyon. It is often lush green in river valleys, hot like summer. When you look at the hillsides, you may see many beautiful flowers, looking like sceneries in spring and autumn. If you look up to the peaks, you'll see a snow world. It is regarded as one of the most beautiful, adventurous, and primitive canyons in the world.