Khu danh lam thắng cảnh Hồ muối Tân Cương

The Xinjiang Salt Lake scenic area (Xinjiang Yanhu Jingqu) sits in Dabancheng district southeast of Urumqi, on the floor of an intermontane basin along the northern foot of the Tian Shan. The lake is one of several large inland saltwater bodies in Xinjiang and is developed as a combined sightseeing, wellness, and light recreation destination, with facilities that take advantage of the buoyancy and mineral content of the brine.

Geographically the lake is an endorheic basin, fed by snowmelt and groundwater from the surrounding ranges and losing water only by evaporation, which has concentrated dissolved salts over millennia into a hypersaline brine. Salt crystallizes along the shoreline and across shallow pans as distinctive crusts and "salt flowers," cauliflower-shaped clusters that grow seasonally above the saturated brine. The large scale of the workings and the visual contrast between the white shoreline and the dark mountain backdrop make the lake one of the more distinctive landscapes on the Urumqi circuit.

The developed scenic area has been expanded in recent years with a new group of salt sculptures, floating pools for supervised "dead sea" style floating, walking and cycling tracks along the shore, and a range of light activities including boat trips, go-karts, and grass sliding. A small sightseeing train carries visitors out onto the lake flats for views over the open water and the working salt pans, where mechanized harvesters cut and load the crystallized salt during the production season.

For international travelers the main draw is the unusual landscape rather than the activities. The best times to visit are in the early morning and around sunset, when the light raking across the flats brings out the texture of the salt crystals and the reflection on the open water. Sunrise and sunset over the salt surface are the subject of most of the published photographs of the lake, and planning the visit around these hours significantly improves the experience.

The site is a popular weekend excursion from Urumqi and is often paired with the nearby Dabancheng ancient town and the wind farm on the pass into the basin, which together make a full-day loop out of the city. Facilities at the lake itself are basic, with simple food stalls and changing rooms, so visitors should bring drinking water, sun protection, and protective footwear for walking on the rough salt crust.