Where to Go for Summer Vacation? A Summer Escape Guide to Golmud, Qinghai, Ready for You – Stunning Scenery, Fewer Crowds, Truly Recommended

The scorching summer has brought high temperatures across most of the country. 35°C doesn't even make the list anymore. Even Chengdu and Xi'an have successively exceeded 40°C. Against this backdrop, I, Yu Fan, deeply miss the days in Golmud, Qinghai. There, you have the majestic Kunlun Mountains,连绵的雪山, the sources of three rivers, Hoh Xil, salt lakes, and canyons... Not only is the landscape breathtakingly beautiful, but the temperature is also very pleasant. You even need to wear a jacket in the morning. It is truly an ideal summer resort.

Golmud is a very low-key city. Friends who have never been there find it hard to say what fun things there are to do. In fact, it is a place that can be called a treasure trove for tourism. It is sparsely populated and is the largest county-level city in China, larger than Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. It was born and thrives because of the road (Qinghai-Tibet Highway). It is home to Yuzhu Peak, the highest peak in the eastern Kunlun Mountains; the world's highest-altitude poplar forest; Qarhan Salt Lake, China's largest salt lake (with enough salt reserves for the world to eat for 1,000 years); two national nature reserves, Sanjiangyuan and Hoh Xil (partial); as well as attractions like the Kunlun Grand Canyon and the U-shaped网红 highway. It is a wonderful place that makes you want to return. Below, I, Yu Fan, will summarize the places we visited some time ago for everyone to see:

**Qarhan Salt Lake – China's Largest Salt Lake**

Qarhan Salt Lake is located in the south of the Qaidam Basin, spanning the two cities and counties of Golmud and Dulan. The salt lake stretches more than 160 kilometers from east to west, 20–40 kilometers from north to south, with a salt layer thickness of about 2–20 meters and an area exceeding 5,800 square kilometers, nearly 56 times the size of Chaka Salt Lake. It is China's largest natural salt lake and the largest soluble potassium-magnesium salt deposit.

It is understood that Qarhan Salt Lake consists of multiple adjacent and connected salt ponds, including Dabuxun Lake, South Huobuxun, North Huobuxun, and Senie, at an altitude of 2,670 meters, the lowest point in the Qaidam Basin. The lake contains nearly 500 million tons of potassium chloride, 1.65 billion tons of magnesium chloride, 8.246 million tons of lithium chloride, and 46.22 billion tons of sodium chloride, all ranking first in the country. In particular, the sodium chloride reserves alone could feed the entire world for more than 1,000 years. Calculated at market prices, its salt reserves are worth up to 12 trillion yuan, making it truly China's number one salt lake.

**Golmud Poplar Forest Desert Park**

Golmud Poplar Forest generally refers to the Golmud Poplar Forest Reserve, but the reserve is usually not open to tourists. The place we visited is called Golmud Poplar Forest Desert Park, which is in the same area as the Poplar Forest Reserve, both located in the desert and Gobi region at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, only 15 kilometers apart. The scale and density of the poplars here are slightly inferior, and it is a free tourist attraction.

The poplar is a magical and ancient plant. It lives for a thousand years without dying, stands for a thousand years after death, and does not rot for a thousand years after falling. It is a precious forest resource unique to desert areas, growing in deserts and Gobi, with characteristics of cold tolerance, drought tolerance, salt-alkali tolerance, and wind resistance. It is extremely resilient and is known as the guardian of the desert. When we came, it was actually not the most beautiful season. If you come in autumn, the photos you take will surely be more beautiful.

**Taijinaier Luxury Rustic Town**

National Highway 315 is known as China's Route 66, with many famous网红 attractions along the way, and Taijinaier Luxury Rustic Town is one of them. It is located at the 894-kilometer mark of National Highway 315, adjacent to the famous East Taijinaier Lake. However, East Taijinaier Lake has largely dried up, leaving only a vast expanse of Gobi. Yet the luxury rustic town, like an advanced human civilization lost on an alien planet, offers us infinite space for imagination.

Taijinaier Luxury Rustic Town consists of four types of accommodation: salt lake yardang villas, dome star-room tents, luxury RVs, and rustic tents. Some look like five-pointed stars made of glass spheres, some like constellation patterns formed by RVs, some neatly arranged, some scattered. Surrounding this town are attractions such as the Water Yardang, West Taijinaier Lake, and the网红 highway. For friends traveling on National Highway 315, it is an excellent place to stay and rest. In the evening, you can enjoy the desert sunset; at night, you can photograph the Gobi starry sky. Just thinking about it feels beautiful.

**Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon**

Kunlun Mountain Grand Canyon, also known as Kunlun Grand Canyon, is part of the Kunlun Mountains World Geopark. The entrance is about 15 kilometers from the main road of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. It includes natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon, Antelope Valley, and Snow Mountain Canyon. The Grand Canyon is the first attraction you enter.

There is a small river in the canyon, said to be a tributary of the Kunlun River, and there are no built walking paths. So to explore inside, you have to drive an off-road vehicle through the narrow canyon, splashing water everywhere, incredibly cool. Especially in July and August, when major cities across the country are experiencing 40°C temperatures, the canyon offers a refreshing breeze, making it extremely pleasant.

**Yuzhu Peak of Kunlun Mountains**

Yuzhu Peak is located in Xidatan, Golmud City, Qinghai Province, about 160 kilometers from the city center (passing Yuzhu Peak Viewing Platform on the way to Hoh Xil). It takes about two hours to drive to the viewing platform. Also known as Kekesai Jimen Peak, its highest elevation is 6,178 meters. It is one of the six famous peaks over 6,000 meters in Qinghai Province and the highest peak in the eastern Kunlun Mountains. Legend has it that it is the incarnation of Yuzhu Princess, daughter of the Queen Mother of the West.

**Hoh Xil Nature Reserve**

Hoh Xil is a transliteration of the Mongolian language, meaning "blue ridge" or, as some say, "beautiful maiden." Tibetan compatriots call it "Aqin Gongga." It is one of the areas in the world where the primitive environment is well preserved and one of the largest, highest altitude (average altitude above 5,000 meters), and most wildlife-rich nature reserves in China.

We set off from Golmud city, passing the Yuzhu Peak Viewing Platform, Wuji Dragon and Phoenix Palace, and Kunlun Mountain Pass. About 3.5 hours later, we entered Hoh Xil. The area we were in no longer belongs to Golmud but to Yushu Prefecture in Qinghai, although it is adjacent to Golmud. The reserve is home to over 230 species of wild animals unique to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including wild yaks, Tibetan antelopes, wild donkeys, white-lipped deer, and brown bears. It is one of the areas with rich animal resources in China. However, tourists can only visit the periphery; the core area is inaccessible except for scientific research.

**Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve – Asian Water Tower**

Sanjiangyuan is China's first national park and the world's largest national park. Located in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, it is the source of three major rivers: the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang (Mekong). It is known as the "Chinese Water Tower" and the "Asian Water Tower." The geographical wonder of three major rivers originating from the same region is unique in the world.

The average altitude of Sanjiangyuan is above 4,500 meters, and there are many life-forbidden zones above 5,000 meters. It has vast snowfields, numerous rivers, swamps, and lakes. There are as many as 167 lakes with an area greater than 1 square kilometer. These lakes are basically formed by the melting of glaciers and snow from snow-capped mountains, gradually forming countless small rivers that eventually flow into the three major rivers. The place we visited was the source of the Yangtze River, just a small corner of Sanjiangyuan.

**Kunlun Divine Spring, also known as Nacitai Clear Spring**

Located deep in the Kunlun Mountains, known as the "ancestor of all mountains," beside the Qinghai-Tibet Highway in Nacitai Town, Golmud, Qinghai, about 90 kilometers from the city center, the spring water comes from melted snow on peaks above 5,000 meters, filtered through multiple layers of underground flow. At an altitude of over 3,700 meters, it is amazing that the spring gushes upward continuously regardless of spring, summer, autumn, winter, or harsh cold. Even in winter, when the outside world is covered in snow and ice, this Nacitai spring still flows, earning it the reputation of the Kunlun Unfrozen Spring.

**Wuji Dragon and Phoenix Palace – The Highest Altitude Taoist Temple in the World**

Wuji Dragon and Phoenix Palace of Kunlun Mountains is situated beside the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, 120 kilometers southwest of Golmud, on the必经 road from Golmud to Hoh Xil. At an altitude of over 3,800 meters, legend says this is where Jiang Ziya attained enlightenment and ascended to immortality. We got out to have a look and indeed found some significance. It sits right under a cliff, surrounded by snow-capped mountains at the back, forming a semi-enclosed terrain that gives a sense of "hiding wind." The main building is a glittering grand hall that looks very majestic under the clear blue sky.

**315网红 Highway**

National Highway 315 starts from Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province in the east, and ends in Shache County, Kashgar, Xinjiang in the west, so some people call it the Xisha Line. It stretches 3,063 kilometers, extending along the edge of the Taklamakan Desert at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, crossing Lop Nur, passing over the Altun Mountains, traversing the Qaidam Basin, and bypassing Qinghai Lake. Like a black ribbon, it strings together peculiar natural landscapes such as deserts, Gobi, saline-alkali flats, and saltwater lakes. The scenery along the way is picturesque and truly beautiful.

**General's Building – The First Building in Golmud**

The General's Building is located within a park in Golmud, Qinghai. It has only two floors, less than ten meters high, yet it is the first modern building in Golmud's history. It was originally the office of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway Administration, later named to commemorate General Mu Shengzhong, who worked in the office. It is also considered a landmark of Golmud, commemorating a general, a period of history, a highway, and the history behind this city.

**Water Yardang**

Strictly speaking, Water Yardang does not belong to Golmud but to Dachaidan, adjacent to Golmud. It is not far from East Taijinaier Lake and Taijinaier Luxury Rustic Town, which belong to Golmud, so they can be visited together. It is the only water yardang landform in the world – Wusute Water Yardang. The landform here is unique, mysterious, spectacular, and ever-changing. It is said that there was no water here before, but later due to heavy rain causing flash floods, the Nalingele River, originating from the Kunlun Mountains, changed course, flooding this area, thus forming the current water yardang landform.

**West Taijinaier Lake**

West Taijinaier Lake, like Water Yardang, belongs to Dachaidan adjacent to Golmud. Since you are already traveling along the 315网红 highway to Taijinaier Luxury Rustic Town, you can also visit West Taijinaier Lake. National Highway 315 runs through the lake, forming a 3-kilometer-long water road, splitting the lake surface in two. Amazingly, the water on one side is blue, the other green; one side is saltwater, the other freshwater, with clear boundaries and stark differences. People jokingly call it "half seawater, half flame," truly magical.

Golmud is vast. We only spent four days there. A short time could not cover 120,000 square kilometers of land, and a short article cannot fully describe the beauty of Golmud. More scenic spots need to be experienced and explored by ourselves. However, I, Yu Fan, must remind everyone of some precautions:

1. Golmud is on a high plateau. You should be aware of this before going and take preventive measures. Once there, avoid strenuous activities like running and jumping. Do not wash your hair or take a bath before acclimatizing. If you feel very uncomfortable, see a doctor.

2. The ultraviolet rays in Golmud are strong, and the temperature difference between day and night is large. Before traveling, prepare for sun protection and cold protection. Even in summer, bring a jacket for early mornings. In winter, of course, bring cotton-padded clothes, down jackets, and thermal wear.

3. Golmud has a train station and an airport, making transportation convenient. However, there are few direct flights from inland cities; most require a transfer in Xining. The city center is not far from the airport, so drones are completely banned in the city area.