Qinghai Lake + Chaka Salt Lake + Cha’erhan Salt Lake + Usutu Shui Shang Yar Dan Geopark + 315 Most Beautiful Highway + Dunhuang Mogao Caves + Zhangye · 8 days

independent sightseeing options Recommendations:

Xining Dongguan Grand Mosque
Qinghai Provincial Museum
Xining Wildlife Zoo
Please note that tickets for the Qinghai Provincial Museum need to be pre-booked in advance.

Chaka Salt Lake (Chinese: 茶卡盐湖; pinyin: Chákǎ Yánhú; Standard Tibetan: ཚྭ་ཁ་མཚོ་) is a salt lake in Ulan County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China.The oval-shaped lake is located near the eastern end of Qaidam Basin, 298 kilometres (185 mi) to the west of the provincial capital Xining. The name “Chaka” (ཚྭ་ཁ) means “salt lake” in Tibetan. Planning note: Qinghai Lake and Chaka are separated by a substantial drive. Choose one main stop and add a night if needed, particularly while adjusting to altitude. A perfect mirror reflection is weather-dependent.

Chaka Lake is a major tourist destination and a key salt mine in Qinghai. In 2018, it received more than 3 million visitors.[3][5] The lake is famous for its crystal-blue water and reflective lake bed, and is popularly known as “Mirror of the Sky”

The Qarhan Playa or Salt Plain, also misleadingly described as Qarhan Lake, is a playa in the Golmud and Dulan counties of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai, China. Formerly a single unitary lake, it is now an expansive salt flat divided into four greater sections (Dabusun, Big/Small Bieletan, Suli, and N./S. Huoluxun) which contain a number of smaller salt lakes, the largest of which is Dabusun Lake. The area is heavily exploited for its valuable salt, mineral, and rare earth reserves but parts are also protected as a national park and contribute to regional tourism. Planning note: Cha’erhan is a detour south of the most direct route toward Dachaidan. Confirm visitor access and transport before including it; do not assume industrial salt-lake areas are freely accessible.

The yardang stop on this Qinghai day is the Water Yardang area around Wusute, not the separate Dunhuang Yardang Geopark in Gansu. Yardangs are streamlined ridges formed by erosion; use the exact place name and entrance when arranging the drive. Planning note: This is a very long remote-road loop. Choose Water Yardang or a shorter Dachaidan-area outing and allow additional nights for the full circuit. Do not stand or park in the live carriageway on the G315 “U-shaped” road for photographs.

Dunhuang’s Yardang Geopark is a separate excursion northwest of Dunhuang. It is not an additional stop to squeeze into the Dachaidan–Water Yardang circuit.

The sculpted yardang formations are appreciated for their unusual shapes. Avoid unmarked terrain and use the open visitor routes; the original exact formation-age and “largest” claims are not needed to plan a visit.

“Devil’s City” or “Ghost Town” can refer to different yardang landscapes. Confirm the destination in Chinese and its coordinates with the operator; do not assume that the original “Aisikexiaer Castle” reference identifies the Qinghai stop.

Lenghu Town is a town under the jurisdiction of Mangya City, Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, People’s Republic of China [1]. It is named after Hutongnuo Lake (Uyghur: extremely cold lake) within its territory and is one of China’s important mining areas. Originally, it was the only town of the Lenghu Administrative Committee, and on February 22, 2018, it was incorporated into the newly established Mangya City [2]. Planning note: Oilfield ruins and Heidushan are not assumed open attractions. Confirm authorised visitor access, current roads, fuel, water and a safe stopping plan; omit unconfirmed detours rather than drive off marked roads.

Lenghu is located at the junction of Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Gansu, on the northwest edge of the Qaidam Basin. The area is adjacent to the Dachaidan Administrative Committee in the east, Huatugou Town in Mangya City in the west, Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County in Gansu Province in the north, and Ruoqiang County in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, in the northwest. The town is at an altitude of 2700 meters [3], with a total area of 18,000 square kilometers and a population of 24,000 (as of 2007).

It was originally a no man’s land, but construction began after the discovery of oil in 1954. In 1959, the Qinghai Petroleum Administration was relocated to Lenghu, and Lenghu City was established in the same year. It was downgraded to a town in 1964 and upgraded to an administrative committee in 1992. Lenghu has a harsh climate, with perennial cold, wind, little rain, and drought, and has developed a large number of Yardang landforms. The economy is supported by the mining industry, especially oil extraction, and also includes minerals such as mirabilite, salt, potassium chloride, and lithium chloride.

The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km (16 mi) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China. The caves may also be known as the Dunhuang Caves; however, this term is also used as a collective term to include other Buddhist cave sites in and around the Dunhuang area, such as the Western Thousand Buddha Caves, Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves, Yulin Caves, and Five Temple Caves. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 2,000 years. Planning note: Reserve the correct Mogao visit product and use its instructed reporting point. Desert activities and night-market timing remain optional; severe rain or sand can interrupt the cave visit.^[15]

The first caves were dug out in 366 CE as places of Buddhist meditation and worship; later the caves became a place of pilgrimage, and caves continued to be built at the site until the 14th century. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China.

An important cache of documents was discovered in 1900 in the so-called “Library Cave”, which had been walled-up in the 11th century. The contents of the library were subsequently dispersed around the world, and the largest collections are now found in Beijing, London, Paris and Berlin, and the International Dunhuang Project exists to coordinate and collect scholarly work on the Dunhuang manuscripts and other material. The caves themselves are now a popular tourist destination, but the number of visitors has been capped to help with the preservation of the caves.

Jiayu Pass or Jiayuguan(simplified Chinese: 嘉峪关; traditional Chinese: 嘉峪關; pinyin: Jiāyù Guān) is the first frontier fortress at the west end of the Ming dynasty Great Wall, near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province. Along with Juyong Pass and Shanhai Pass, it is one of the main passes of the Great Wall. In the Ming period, foreign merchants and envoys from the Central Asia and West Asia mostly entered China through Jiayu Pass Planning note: Dunhuang, Jiayuguan and Zhangye are far apart. Treat this as a transfer day with one main visit, or add a night; the sculpture and Danxia should not both be guaranteed after the fort.

Gang Ziska Snowy Peak also known as Gangshika Peak (simplified Chinese: 岗什卡雪峰; traditional Chinese: 崗什卡雪峰; pinyin: Gǎngshíkǎ Xuěfēng), is a 5,254 m (17,238 ft) high mountain peak in the eastern Qilian Mountains of northeastern Qinghai province. The mountain is located within Menyuan Hui Autonomous County of Haibei Prefecture, and is not far from the Gansu border. Ganshika is the highest peak in the Lenglong Ling (subrange) of the Qilian Mountains. Its southern slopes are drained by the Datong River and tributaries, while its northern slopes are drained by the Dongda He, an endorheic river terminating in Gansu near Jinchang. Planning note: Menyuan flowers are seasonal, and the mountain-road return can take most of a day. Add a final night in Xining before an inflexible departure rather than promise the full scenery list and airport connection.

Gangshika is a high-mountain landscape, not a casual glacier climb on the way to the airport. Current foreign-visitor access and any local permit requirements must be checked with local authorities; the original blanket Menyuan closure claim is not confirmed here.^[18]

A: Chaka Salt Lake is famous for its crystal-blue water and reflective lake bed, and is popularly known as “Mirror of the Sky”. It is also a major tourist destination and a key salt mine in Qinghai.

A: The Qarhan Playa is a playa in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai. It was formerly a single unitary lake and is now an expansive salt flat divided into several sections. It is exploited for its valuable resources and some parts are protected as a national park and contribute to regional tourism.