Golmud overview 格尔木

About Golmud

The city is the starting point for very different excursions: Qarhan’s industrial salt landscape to the north and the Kunlun corridor to the south. These are separate road journeys, not a cluster of attractions within the built-up streets.

Golmud was founded in 1954, when transportation regiments of the Qinghai-Tibet Corps set up a small food-distribution base at the site, and construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway began that same year. Scientific exploration of the mineral resources of Qarhan (察尔汗) in the 1950s led to the discovery of potash and gas fields there, and industrial exploitation followed from the 1980s once a railway had been built; the first oil pipeline and a potassium-fertiliser factory opened in 1989.

The name Golmud derives from Oirat Mongolian, meaning 'rivers,' plural of 'gol.' Within the city's territory, the 5856-square-kilometre Qarhan Salt Lake (察尔汗盐湖) is described as China's largest potassium-magnesium salt deposit, and it is because of this that Golmud is also known as China's Salt Lake City (中国盐湖城).

The city's administrative area covers nearly 120,000 square kilometres, though its built-up urban area is only about 72 square kilometres. It sits in the south-central Qaidam Basin, on the alluvial plain of the Golmud River (格尔木河), at an average elevation of 2780 metres. A large southern exclave is administered as the town of Tanggula, separated from the rest of the county by a panhandle of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture; the area borders Xinjiang to the north and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the south.

What to look for

• The city’s development is linked to plateau transport and mineral resources.
• Qarhan introduces the salt-flat economy north of the city.
• The Kunlun corridor leads towards a contrasting high-mountain landscape.

Location & getting there

Getting to Golmud

Use Golmud railway station or airport for arrival, then arrange the actual excursion from the city. Confirm the return journey and all current access requirements before setting out into the wider Qaidam or Kunlun region.