Qarhan Salt Lake Visitor Area 察尔汗盐湖正规开放游览区

About Qarhan Salt Lake Visitor Area

The Golmud city government's own page gives the lake's position and shape: it lies in the south-central Qaidam basin at 2,670 m, the lowest point of the basin, 20-40 km wide north to south and 168 km long east to west, with a total area of 5,856 sq km, and it has four continuous sections from west to east — Bieletan, Dabuxun, Chaerhan and Hobuxun — known collectively as Chaerhan salt lake. The Xinhua report on the AAAA-grade designation gives the same area and says the lake holds magnesium, sodium, lithium, boron, chlorine, bromine, iodine, rubidium and caesium among other elements, with potassium, magnesium and lithium reserves the largest in China. Both accounts describe the lake as formed from minerals deposited when the area was sea, the rise of the Himalaya having formed the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and left the salt to crystallise in a closed, arid basin.

The two accounts differ on two points and both are recorded here. On the name: the Golmud page says Chaerhan is Mongolian for 'king of salt lakes', while Xinhua says it means 'the world of salt'. On rank: the Golmud page calls the lake the largest natural salt lake in Asia and the richest in salt reserves in the world, while Xinhua calls it China's largest and the world's second largest and says it enjoys the reputation of 'king of Asian salt lakes'. The Xinhua report also names the spots built inside the scenic area — a visitor centre, a salt lake museum, a central wharf, a hundred-li waterscape line, a reed harbour duck-watching spot, a freshwater wetland and a thousand-island salt flower area, among others — and records that the operator, Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co., Ltd, has been building the site as an industrial-tourism destination. Neither page states which parts of the 5,856 sq km lake a visitor can enter.

What to look for

• The thousand-island salt flower area (千岛盐花), named in the Xinhua report among the spots built inside the scenic area
• The central wharf (中心码头) and the hundred-li waterscape line (百里水景线), also named there
• The salt lake museum (盐湖博物馆) at the scenic area
• The freshwater wetland and the reed harbour duck-watching spot (芦港戏鸭), named among the same spots

Location & getting there

Getting to Qarhan Salt Lake Visitor Area

Use an authorised visitor route. Cave sections, geological sites and access roads can close independently, so confirm the area that your ticket covers.

• Search for 察尔汗盐湖正规开放游览区 with 海西蒙古族藏族自治州 and 格尔木市.