Tianchi — Attraction in Xinjiang

Our tour guide led us into the Tourist Centre of Tianshan Tianchi Scenic Area, She bought our tickets, next is passport checks to enter.

We boarded the bus , it took 30 mins drive passing through mountains and valley views. At the park, there are multiple shuttle services but we did the 10 mins walk up the timber board steps to arrive at Tourist Center of North Tianchi Lake.

A Signboard with Tianshan Tianchi Lake writeup is prominently displayed near the lake.

The write up is : "Tianshan Tianchi Lake was called "Yaochi" in ancient times, and also known as "Shenchi", "Longtan" and "Ice Pond". It is a typical alpine ice lake in the world. The lake is 1910 meters above sea level, with an area of about 4.90 square kilometers. It is gourd-shaped, about 13.5 kilometers long from north to south, 0.35-1.5 meters wide from east to west, with an average water depth of 60 meters and a maximum water depth of 105 meters. Although it has a large capacity of 200 million cubic meters, the annual water level change range is: 7-9 meters.

Tianshan Tianchi is embedded in the middle of the Bogda Peak, the highest peak of the eastern Tianshan Mountains. It has different scenery in each season and is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is the holy place where the "Queen Mother of the West" in Chinese mythology and legends, the first women's baseball in the East, condenses the beautiful nature and humanities of western China.

Tianchi Lake commonly known as Heavenly Lake ,is a hot tourist spot, some says it’s the Switzerland of China, however it is very crowded , certainly not easy to take a nice photo.

I must say if you don’t mind the long queues, loud hailers at every corner, the noise pollution from either the loud conversation or PA music system, do go ahead to take a cruise on the lake .

We did had the cruise to enjoy the scenic view , get closer to the surrounding mountains and to have more photo shots, it is definitely worth the...

This is one of the most beautiful lake on earth. The alpine lake with snow capped mountain as the back ground is breath taking. The blue sky add as a very scenic back drop. Visited in mid April and luckily there is no queue at all. The place wasnt too crowded and you can enjoy strolling in the park. There is also boat ride in the lake but unfortunately it was frozen when we were there. Our guide showed the queue line during peak season. So glad we do not have to endure the queue. Cant imagine it. Worth every money and time to visit this...

Some tips for foreign people that want to travel here independently. We were looking for a bus transfer (without travel agency). After trying many places we discovered that the international bus station next to the Ürümqi North railway station offers tickets to the entrance for 60y per person. Unfortunately for us, the morning when we were supposed to catch the bus it has been to snowy at the top. So they told us the morning of departure that the bus wouldn't go, and we got a refund. I'm sure the surroundings there are...