Best time to travel: summer
Transportation:
Taking the route to Qinghai, it is best to fly, which is much safer than the railroad. The railroad is a very long journey into Qinghai via Lanzhou, but you can also follow the threads of the Silk Road and navigate the scenery along the way.
Getting there/departing:
Cycling around Qinghai Lake Roadmap Tibet There are several daily sleeper shuttles from Xining and Golmud to Lhasa, passing by the Chaka Salt Lake and the Qinghai Lake, and you can ask in Xining for approximate passing times. If you want to stay longer at Qinghai Lake, you can also charter a bus to Qinghai Lake in Xining, which costs 400 yuan. You can also take a day trip to Qinghai Lake in Xining, which costs 70-100 RMB per person.
The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is generally far and few trains (3 times a day in one direction) between stations and villages and towns.
Shanghai to Xining is about 41 hours on the direct 375 and 377.
Beijing to Xining express 75, running about 33 hours.
The 1048 from Chengdu to Golmud passes through Xining and runs for 26 hours, arriving at Xining at 17:25 to 19:20 the next day.
Taking the train and getting off at Hargei can reach the southern shore of Qinghai Lake, but since Bird Island is on the northern shore, that's not a great option either.
From Xining to Qinghai Lake hire a motorcycle from the station staff to go to the lake and enjoy the lake and mountains of Qinghai Lake.
From Xining Coach Station, you can take a long-distance bus to Heimahe, which is about 50 kilometers away from Bird Island, for nearly 5 hours and about 20 yuan. Then you can rent a local minivan to Bird Island, which costs about 50 RMB per car.
The highway distance from Xining to Qinghai Lake is about 80 kilometers, 4 hours of driving, passing through the Sun and Moon Mountains, watching the sunset in the tourist area of Qinghai Lake, and sleeping at night in Qinghai Lake. Around the lake for a week about 400 kilometers.
Every morning at 7:45 am, from the Xining Railway Station south of the coach station will have to go to the west of the Qinghai Lake Bird Island of the Chinese bus, the ticket price of 35 yuan.
There are many travel agencies in Xining soliciting business to Bird Island of Qinghai Lake at the train station and inns, and a one-day tour usually costs about 100 yuan, and a two-day tour costs about 180 yuan. It doesn't include food, accommodation and admission fees. During the peak tourist season from May to September, buses depart daily.
The alternative is to rent your own car to go to Qinghai Lake, which costs about 800-1000 yuan to circumnavigate the lake.
Self-driving or motorcycle route: National Highway 315 on the north shore of Qinghai Lake is in poor condition.
Transportation in the area:
The most usual way to get to Bird Island is to take a bus from Xining, with ticket booths at the intersection of Changjiang Road and Xiguan Street; in addition, the Qinghai Traffic Travel Agency in Xining has buses going to Bird Island every day at a charge of 130 yuan per person (excluding meals and tickets), leaving at 7:00 a.m. and coming back at 10:00 p.m.; of course, you can also rent Toyota vans to go there (rent around 1,200 yuan). On the way, you can ask the driver to stop for a while when you pass by Riyue Mountain, where there are some religious worshipping places and pagodas to look at.
Qinghai Lake accommodation: the tent hotel near Qinghai Lake, but the accommodation is not very good.
50 minutes away from the town of Heimahe there is the Bird Island Guesthouse, with a bathroom double room 40 yuan / person, is quite clean. Just 15 kilometers from the guesthouse are two sightseeing spots: the beach and Bird Island.
Tourism to the Qinghai Lake scenic area are generally accommodated in the Bird Island Hotel, you can also bring their own tents in the lake overnight. Bird Island guesthouse price standard room 168 yuan / day, the environment is general, there are other hostels around, three people 15 yuan a bed. It is said to be able to stay overnight in the room where the lake management personnel live, right by the lake, of course, you have to make good relations with them, no money (more difficult to see the socializing wrist).
The local Qinghai Lake Tent Hotel (Tel: 0974-513520) is a 2-star hotel. 30-50 kilometers from the Sun Moon Mountain inverted along the river scenic area. Room types are: yurt 280 yuan per room; A-class double standard room 240 yuan; 160 yuan standard room without a bathroom; there are also three people 90 yuan, four people 80 yuan, are communal sanitation.
Near Bird Island there are also some locally run tent guesthouses, which are actually a few beds inside the tent, providing simple meals
Cost: 30 yuan for the entrance fee to Qinghai Lake, 45 yuan for a boat ride, and 15 yuan for the entrance fee to Riyue Mountain. Beach tickets are 22 yuan; Bird Island tickets are 38 yuan.
Tips: Huangshui is endemic to Qinghai Lake fish species, in recent years, due to geological and ecological changes and people's massive predation, Huangshui resources are facing the danger of depletion, the local government has ordered a ban on fishing. At the same time, the fisheries department also with the lake restaurants, hotels signed a "ban on the sale of Huangshui fish and its products" of the agreement. If someone in the lake to sell Huangshui to you, it must be illegal, please note.
Ghee tea is not suitable for mainlanders stomach, can not eat.
Local specialties:
Caiger cake - is a traditional breakfast food in Guanzhong region of Shaanxi, is made of glutinous rice and red dates as raw materials, a kind of sweet cake. It is characterized by a rich jujube fragrance, soft and sticky sweet. Moreover, jujube also has the effect of benefiting qi, tonifying blood, nourishing kidneys and tranquilizing the mind, which is a kind of nourishing and nourishing food.
Kebab - Many travelers will be very impressed by a unique barbecue meat called "Kebab" in Xining. This is a flavorful kebab of lamb ribs cooked until half-cooked, then brushed with a sauce and grilled over charcoal, which is actually Turkish barbecue, and even the word kebab is of Turkish origin.
Qinghai Lake, both a national nature reserve and a national 4A tourist scenic area, is also a national key scenic spot approved by the State Council. Its natural scenery is unique, its ecological status is important, and it is one of the richest areas of biodiversity on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
Qinghai Lake tourism has a long history. Every spring and summer, many units, organizations or individuals to Qinghai Lake excursions, lake watching, bird watching. 1979 Mountain Eagle Machinery Factory, the use of wharves, boats organized by the Qinghai Lake tourism industry, and increase the tourist content and projects, expanding the tourist route. 1988, the factory withdrew, all the facilities handed over to the Qinghai Lake travel agency tent hotel, the main visit projects and content: "Tangfan Ancient Road" site, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake, the lake. The main visit projects and contents: "Tangfan Road" site, lakeside grassland, pastoral scenery, lake and mountain scenery, as well as visits to Tibetan herdsmen families, tasting barley wine, yogurt and hand-held mutton and other Tibetan flavors, horseback riding in the grasslands and deserts, canoeing on Qinghai Lake, boat climbing Haixinshan searching for the ancient, night stay in the tents with national characteristics of the guest rooms, and so on. The best time to visit is from June to September every year. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Qinghai-Tibet Railway run west along the north shore of the lake.
However, with the development of tourism resources in the Qinghai Lake area, the number of domestic and foreign tourists traveling to the Qinghai Lake area has increased significantly. Since 2000, Qinghai Lake was named "National Key Scenic Spot", as one of the four scenic spots of Qinghai Lake, 151 scenic spots have become a must-see place to visit Qinghai Lake, see the infinite business opportunities for people, have to "occupy" the surrounding boundaries, and the related food and beverage, accommodation, maintenance and other services. The service projects such as catering, accommodation and maintenance have been opened in full swing. According to statistics, this year, around the Qinghai Lake scenic area received more than 30 million tourists, the most day reception of more than 10,000 people.
And with the increase of tourists, environmental pollution problems have begun to emerge, especially some tourists, tour guides and Division staff environmental protection awareness is not strong, discard plastic products and other garbage, coupled with businessmen in the production of life in the unconscious, resulting in a "white trash" seriously affecting the ecological environment and farmers and herdsmen around the Qinghai Lake area production and life, and even lead to the ring of the Qinghai Lake area. Life, and even lead to the Qinghai Lake region cattle and sheep accidentally eat white trash death phenomenon. This has caused more and more social forces to pay attention to, although the relevant departments have carried out environmental health remediation, but the effect is still not satisfactory.
From last year, the province attaches great importance to the environmental pollution problems in the lake area, the Provincial Tourism Bureau, the Provincial Department of Transportation, the Office of the Qinghai Lake Tourism Zone Management Committee jointly issued a "notice on the strengthening of environmental protection measures to put an end to white pollution". Qinghai Lake Tourism Zone Management Committee Office also actively coordinate the relevant departments, and the Qinghai Lake tourism development enterprises hand in hand, for funding, the Qinghai Lake 151, Bird Island, Sand Island, three major scenic spots of the road, water supply and drainage sewage treatment, production and living garbage and environmental remediation as the focus of large-scale construction and improvement of infrastructure, respectively, the completion of the sewage treatment plant, landfill sites, improve the water supply system, the Lake The three main scenic spots realized neat and beautiful, clean and sanitary. At the same time, and invested 300,000 yuan to produce environmental protection warning signs, prompting tourists and local residents to protect the environment; and the lakes around the region tourism practitioners to carry out intensive training in environmental protection awareness, requiring all travel agencies, tourist bus companies and passenger companies to enhance the awareness of environmental protection, tourist buses and passenger cars are also set up in the garbage cans (bags), prohibit tourists to throw garbage outside the car, prohibit the use of non-biodegradable disposable plastic products The company has also set up garbage bins (bags) to prohibit tourists from throwing garbage out of the car and prohibit the use of non-biodegradable disposable plastic products.
The Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau also held a special meeting on the areas around Qinghai Lake, "white pollution" to focus on cleaning up. Sent environmental supervision and law enforcement team, from time to time on Qinghai Lake "151" scenic spot cruise operation in the environmental protection situation on-site law enforcement inspections, timely treatment of cruise operation and mooring in the pollutants generated, and on the Qinghai Lake Cruise Company Limited dock lake there is a floating oil problem for administrative penalties and ordered timely rectification; Provincial highway Transportation department, invested 7.2 million yuan to implement the environmental improvement project along the highway around the Qinghai Lake, on both sides of National Highway 109, left over from years of road repair to backfill pits and restore vegetation.
In the Qinghai Lake can be seen, with Chinese, English, Tibetan three kinds of text written "you have entered the tourist area, to protect the environment is everyone's responsibility" and "Qinghai Lake Tourism Zone Management Interim Provisions" and other content of the 14 stainless steel environmental protection warning signs, be Placed in the Qinghai Lake 151 scenic spots, Erlang sword, Qinghai Lake fishery, Lake East sheep farms, Sand Island, Bird Island and inverted dribble river and other seven tourist attractions around the lake, intended to remind tourists and residents around the lake to pay attention to environmental protection around the lake area, to eliminate pollution, calling on tourists to take care of the environment, to protect our **** with the home.
The provincial lake management office Zang Ximing said, the ecological fragility of Qinghai Lake, once the damage is difficult to recover. Qinghai Lake tourism to sustainable development, we must play the "green" card. At the same time, also need the whole society to care for the natural environment, to develop good environmental habits.
October 25, 2006, by the National Geographic magazine for the Qinghai Lake issued the "China's most beautiful five lakes" certificate and medal. Smoky, blue waves in the sky of Qinghai Lake is like a huge jade plate, set in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau mountains, grasslands, constituting a picture of the mountains, the lake, the grasslands reflecting the magnificent scenery and beautiful scenery. Qinghai Lake has 4300 square kilometers of vast waters, between the sky and water birds gather, the blue sky and white clouds and the lake and mountains reflect each other.
In the "China's most beautiful places" selection activities jointly organized by China National Geographic and 34 media, Qinghai Lake was named "China's most beautiful five lakes". On October 25, the Qinghai Provincial Tourism Bureau and China National Geographic Magazine and other units jointly held a celebration on the shores of Qinghai Lake, China National Geographic Magazine Executive Editor Shan Zhiqiang on behalf of the jury issued a certificate and unveiled a plaque. On that day, a 100-meter-long scroll was signed with the theme of "Protecting China's most beautiful lake, Qinghai Lake".
Shan Zhiqiang, executive editor-in-chief of China National Geographic Magazine, said the selection was made up of five professional societies, a dozen academicians and experts and scholars who formed the jury, which ensured the scientific and rigorous nature of the selection. "In the selection, Qinghai Lake and Xinjiang's Kanas Lake were neck and neck, and eventually won the judges' favor with its majestic beauty and unique scenery."
Xu Hao, deputy director of the Qinghai Provincial Tourism Bureau, said, "Qinghai Lake combines natural beauty, humanistic beauty, the beauty of ecological harmony, and the great beauty of the East that is vast and profound, and its unique and important ecological status shows that Qinghai Lake is not only for the people of Qinghai, but also for the people of the whole country and the whole world."
Bird Island of Qinghai Lake
The beautiful scenery of Qinghai Lake, there is a domestic and foreign famous bird island nature reserve, where inhabited by barred geese, brown-headed gulls, fish gulls, cormorants, terns, black-necked cranes, swans, ruddy ducks, as well as the jade belt of the golden eagle and other raptors, Dai Sheng, such as the climbing birds and the larks and other kinds of small songbirds of nearly 20 species. According to the estimation of bird experts, the total number of birds here is more than 100,000; among them, the Bird Island (Xiaoxi Mountain) and the Three Forks Stone (Lone Mountain) are the most famous, because more than seventy percent of the total number of birds in the reserve are gathered here. If you are lucky enough to go on a field trip, it will be an eye-opening experience for you.
A long way from Bird Island, you can hear the different tones of the birds' voices, babbling and chirping, echoing back and forth, and chirping noisily, lively and extraordinary. Nearby and then look at the picture of their lives, it is interesting: some soaring in the wind, dancing; some are concentrating on hatching nests, female and male guards; some in the lake cruising, chasing and playing; there are also strolling in the grass, female birds in front of the lead, the male birds in the back of the pressure of the formation, and occasional disobedient chicks, away from the team, the big bird went up and pecked to show that the reprimand, just like a small family scene.
If it is in the incubation season of the birds, you can see another spectacular scene, you'd better not go close to disturb them, just use binoculars in one or two hundred meters away from the observation, you can see the following shots: Bird Island was only 0.27 square kilometers, shaped like a tadpole. On the tadpole head plateau that protrudes about ten meters above the sea surface, a small bullet place, covered with tens of thousands of bird nests, the density of the number of large, it is difficult to describe in words. Birds in the water and grass, plenty of food, sunny and dry and less natural enemies of the environment breeding, living, no wonder people call the Qinghai Lake Bird Island "bird paradise".
The Qinghai Lake area bird concentrated habitat, breeding bird island, Haixin Mountain, the lonely insertion of the mountain (three stones), Haixi Mountain, Sand Island, as well as Bird Island to the spring Bay, Na Ga is along the lake mudflats, marshes. At the same time, it is also a viewing spot.
Bird Island, also known as the small West Mountain or Egg Island (because the egg all over the place and named), located in the Buha River mouth 4 kilometers north of the island's east end of the large, narrow and long west end, shaped like a tadpole, the total length of 1500 meters. 1978 after the north, west, south, three sides of the bottom of the lake is exposed to the land into a piece. The slope of Bird Island is gentle, and the surface is covered by sand and stones. The main plants are white quinoa, ice grass, sickle-shaped echinoderms, Siberian polygonum, artemisia, early harvest and so on. There are several springs gushing on the southwest side of the island.
Bird Island Nature Reserve is a window of Qinghai Province open to the outside world, but also experts and scholars to study and investigate the plateau birds an important place. Every year in March-April, from the south of the migratory geese, ducks, cranes, gulls and other migratory birds have arrived at Qinghai Lake, began to choose a place to nest; May-June bird eggs everywhere, followed by flocks of young birds, bustling, miles away, the sound of birds can be carried into the ears; July-August, the autumn high, the birds soaring or Cruise the lake; the end of September began to migrate south.
Haixinshan, located slightly south of the center of Qinghai Lake, about 25 kilometers from the bird island, the island is long, wide in the middle and narrow at both ends, the southern edge of the rocky cliffs formed by the exposed, east, west and north for the gently sloping beach, most of the island for the sandy soil cover, the growth of ice grass, Bletilla, sickle-shaped echinoderma, Artemisia, lance-leaved yellow flowers, Siberian yellow sperm, and so on, the degree of vegetation cover is more than 50%, the bird is concentrated in the island's cliffs and gravel beaches.
Lonely Plug Mountain, also known as Three Stones, is located in the southwest of Qinghai Lake, 8 kilometers south of the lake and 20 kilometers northwest of Bird Island. The three stones are composed of reefs, gravel beaches and sand ridges, about 700 meters long from east to west and 150 meters wide from north to south. The southern slope of the reef is gentle, while the northern side is a steep wall. Island vegetation is scarce, only in the rubble gap growth of gray cabbage, ox-tail artemisia, etc., less than 5% coverage. This is one of the islands with the most birds in Qinghai Lake.
Haixi Mountain, also known as Haixi Pi, is located about 6 kilometers north of the mouth of the Buha River, and the egg island with the Buha River at the top of the alluvial flats, the two islands north-south distance of about 2 kilometers. The northeastern edge of the island has a new layer of steep cliffs close to the lake, outside the cliffs there is a nearly round rock standing in the lake, more than 30 meters away from the lake, is the cormorant's breeding place. The plants growing on the island are mainly hyacinth, wild onion, ice grass, early harvest, etc., with a coverage of more than 90%.
Sand Island, located in the northeastern part of Qinghai Lake, Haiyan County, was once the largest island in the lake, has now become a peninsula, the surface are covered by sand and gravel, basically no vegetation, it is the habitat of the fish gulls breeding place.
Quanwan, Na Ga then beach marshland, located in the southwest side of Qinghai Lake, the main growth of wet plants tussock grass, flat spike grass, cedar leaf algae and so on. Here there are a number of springs gushing to form a swampy wetland, not frozen in winter, people, animals are not easy to enter. The 6-8 kilometers near the lake shore are rich in water plants and plankton, which is the living area of the larvae of naked carp in Qinghai Lake, and also the brooding area and habitat of many migratory birds and travelling birds. Rare birds such as great swans and black-necked cranes live here.
In addition to the main habitat of the above birds, there are also the south shore of the lake Yilangjian, Erlangjian, the north shore of the lake Shaliu River, Quanji River, Hargei River estuary area and the Buha River in the middle and lower reaches of the river and its mudflats is also a bird roosting, foraging area.
Qinghai Lake birds and birds have 163 species, belonging to 14 orders and 35 families, totaling more than 100,000 birds. Large populations of geese: geese, ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks, magpie ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks, ducks, swans; gulls, gulls, gulls, fish gulls; cranes, cranes, Demoiselle cranes, gray cranes, black-necked cranes; Pelagic Cormorant cormorant, cormorants and so on, the highest number of brown gulls, fish gulls, ducks, ducks and cormorants, tens of thousands of them.
Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saltwater lake in China and one of the highest lakes in the world. Anciently known as the "West Sea", also known as the "Sea of Immortality", "Freshwater Sea", "Beihe Qianghai". After the Northern Wei Dynasty, began to call the Qinghai. Tibetan called "kukunor", meaning all blue or green lake. The name of the Qinghai Lake began in modern times, after 1949 is commonly known as the Qinghai Lake. Qinghai Lake is located in the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, located between 99 ° 36 ′ ~ 100 ° 16 ′ longitude, latitude 36 ° 32 ′ ~ 37 ° 15 ′ between.