Cửu Trại Câu - Hồ Ngũ Hoa

Five-Flower Lake is one of the most celebrated lakes in Jiuzhaigou Valley, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of northern Sichuan, and for many visitors the single most beautiful body of water in a park defined by its extraordinary lakes. Set in the Rize Valley branch of Jiuzhaigou, it is famous for its kaleidoscopic colors, its submerged ancient trees, and its crystalline clarity, and it is regularly named among the most beautiful lakes in the world.

What makes Five-Flower Lake so remarkable is the layering of its colors. The waters of the lake shift across an extraordinary range of hues, from turquoise and emerald to sapphire and gold, with the colors changing as the depth, the mineral content, the aquatic plants, and the angle of the light all shift. Looking into the lake is like looking into a prism, and the surface is so clear that the bottom is visible in stunning detail, revealing ancient tree trunks, pale travertine deposits, and the gentle contours of the lakebed.

The submerged trees are the other signature feature of Five-Flower Lake. The trunks and branches of ancient trees, preserved by the mineral-rich water, stand like a ghost forest beneath the surface, their dark forms clearly visible through the transparent water. The combination of the brilliant surface colors, the textured bottom, and the standing trunks gives the lake a haunting, otherworldly beauty, and it is one of the most photographed sights in all of Jiuzhaigou.

Five-Flower Lake is visited as part of the standard circuit of the Rize Valley branch of Jiuzhaigou, and it sits along the boardwalk that follows the shore, so visitors can walk along the edge and view the lake from many angles. The colors are at their most vivid around midday, when the sunlight reaches deepest into the water. For travelers exploring the lakes of Jiuzhaigou, Five-Flower Lake is the quintessential expression of the park's famous, almost unbelievable beauty, and a sight that lingers long after the visit is over.