Maqin is the county seat of Maqin County in Golog Prefecture and the practical gateway to Amnye Machen, about 20 kilometres from the mountain's base. It is a small town on a wide plateau valley, a mixture of Tibetan and Han populations, with the characteristic low concrete buildings of a modern county seat offset by the prayer flags and monastery walls that give it a distinctly Amdo character.
Maqin has basic accommodation, a few Tibetan restaurants serving tsampa (roasted barley flour), noodles, and yak meat dishes, and enough shops to resupply for the kora. The Golog Plateau Wildlife Conservation Station near town has some interpretive materials about the region's fauna in Chinese. Buses run from Maqin to Xining (many hours, on high-altitude roads) and to Dawu, the main town of Golog Prefecture. Local guides and yak-packing services for the kora can be arranged here — ask at hotels or through the county tourism office.