Yamdrok Yumtso Lakeshore 羊卓雍错湖岸

About Yamdrok Yumtso Lakeshore

The county government glosses the name as the jade lake of the upper pasture, puts the water surface at 4,441 metres and names the lake with Namtso in northern Tibet and Manasarovar in Ngari as one of Tibet's three great holy lakes. It adds a folk tradition that the lake was a heavenly fairy come down to earth. Its area is given differently by the sources cited here: the county and a 2025 China Internet Information Center report both give 638 square kilometres, while the Shannan Municipal Tourism Development Bureau gives 590 and calls Yamdrok the sixth largest lake in Tibet. The China Internet Information Center report puts the surface above 4,400 metres and describes the lake as the largest closed inland lake in the southern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. On grading, the Nagarze County page of 2019 heads its entry 国家AAA级旅游景区, while an announcement of 24 December 2023, reported on a Tibet government site, put the 羊湖景区 in Nagarze County among nine scenic areas in the region then formally rated national 4A-grade.

The shoreline's shape has an explanation on the municipal bureau's page: a million years ago the water here was a river, and glacial debris flows later blocked the channel, leaving the many-branched lake and winding shore of today. The bureau counts 21 islands large and small and countless peninsulas, and names three satellite lakes — 空母措, 沉措 and 巴纠措 — that were once continuous with Yamdrok and were cut off as the water level fell. The county's own description of the shore is pastoral: the surrounding peaks mirrored in the water, herds of cattle and sheep and strings of donkeys and horses along the edge, and a folk song comparing those animals to the stars. On the water it names 黄鸭, 灰鸭 and 沙鸭 among the waterfowl.

On the scale of visiting, Tang Wenjie, director of the Nagarze County Bureau of Culture and Tourism, told China Internet Information Center that the Yamdrok scenic area received 1.57 million visitors in 2024, with daily arrivals at one point passing 8,000. The same report describes an inner ring road round the lake, running 109.186 kilometres from the Daobulong residents' committee to Aza village in Aza township, begun on 5 January 2024 with an approved total investment of 327.5 million yuan (3.275亿元); at the date of the report it stood at 90 per cent complete and was expected to open at the end of that August, adding a route of about two hours to the existing four-hour circuit of the outer shore. No cited source names or describes an individual village on the lakeshore, so this record treats the shore as a whole rather than any settlement on it.

What to look for

• The branching shoreline itself, which the municipal tourism bureau traces to a river channel blocked by glacial debris flows
• The 21 islands and the peninsulas the bureau counts in the lake
• The three satellite lakes 空母措, 沉措 and 巴纠措, cut off from Yamdrok as the water level fell
• The grazing shore, where the county describes herds of cattle and sheep and strings of donkeys and horses
• Waterfowl on the lake, among which the county names 黄鸭, 灰鸭 and 沙鸭

Location & getting there

Getting to Yamdrok Yumtso Lakeshore

Confirm the visitor entrance and which boat or walking routes operate on your date. Rainfall, water levels and weather can change access.

• Search for 羊卓雍错湖岸 with 山南市 and 浪卡子县.