Chaka Salt Lake

 

Basic Facts of Chaka Salt Lake

Chinese Name: 茶卡盐湖 Pronunciation: Chákǎ Yánhú

Suggested Visiting Hours: 1 Day

Lake Area: 105 square kilometers

Altitude: 3059 meters

Address: No.9 Salt Lake Road, Chaka Town, Wulan County, Qinghai Province

Best Travel Time: Chaka Salt Lake is worth visiting all the year round and it opens all the year.

 

Entrance Ticket

	Peak Season (May 1st-October 31st)	Low Season (January 1st-April 30th; November 1st –December 31st )
Adult	60 yuan	30 yuan
Child (1.2m-1.4m, including 1.4m)	30 yuan	15 yuan
Senior (60-69years old , including 60 and 69 years old)	30yuan	15yuan

• Ticket Free of Charge Policy

Children under 1.2m (including 1.2m) are free of charge;

Senior citizens over 70 years old with ID card or senior citizen ID are free of charge;

The disabled with disability certificate are free of charge;

Retired military cadres, police officers, and firefighters with relevant certificates are free of charge;

Doctors, nurses and medical technicians nationwide (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) with medical certificates are free of charge.

*The above policy is only applicable to admission fee.
 

• Surcharge Inside the Scenic Spot

Content	Price
Yacht (East dock-Tianjixinyue dock)	90 yuan per person (one way )
Romantic Sky Mirror Yacht (Tianjixinyue dock- Romantic Sky Mirror Viewing Area)	50 yuan per person (one way )
Tour bus	5 yuan per person
Park	10 yuan per car
Baggage deposit	Below 50*40*25cm:5 yuan each Below 70*50*30cm:10 yuan each Above 70*50*30cm:15 yuan each
Small train	50 yuan per person (one way )

 

Opening Time

Peak season (9May 1st - October 31st)	Low Season (January 1st-April 30th; November 1st –December 31st)
5:30-22:00	8:00-18:40

 

Overview of Chaka Salt Lake

Chaka Salt Lake is a natural crystal salt lake located in Chaka Town, Wulan County, and Haixi Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. It is one of the four major salt lakes in Qaidam Basin. The climate of Chaka Salt Lake is cool and dry with little rain. It has a plateau continental climate with an average annual temperature of 39.2 Fahrenheit degree and an average annual precipitation of 210.4 mm.
 

Chaka Salt Lake is one of the “Four Great Scenic Spots in Qinghai” along with Ta’er Temple, Qinghai Lake and Mengda Tianchi. It is called “the Mirror of the Sky” by travelers and regarded as one of the 55 places that one must visit in one’s life by National Tourism Geographic Magazine.
 

Chaka Salt Lake is sandwiched between Wanyangtongbu Mountain (a branch of Qilian Mountain) and Wanggaxiu Mountain (a branch of Kunlun Mountain). The two mountains are covered with snow all the year round, and the snow mountain is reflected in the lake, forming unique natural scenery of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In October 2016, Chaka Salt Lake Scenic Area was rated as a National 4A Scenic Area by the former National Tourism Administration. And at the same it was awarded with the honorary titles of “Best Tourist Order Scenic Area” and “Advanced Group of National Tourism System”.

 

Big Events Happened in Chaka Salt Lake

The first China Sky Photography Festival was held at Chaka Salt Lake Scenic Area in Haixi, Qinghai Province from September 17 to 19 in 2018.
 

With the theme of “Meet the Mirror of the Night Sky, Starlight is beside You”, it had invited well-known domestic starry sky experts, first-class starry sky photographers and mainstream media photographers to gather in Chaka Salt Lake. They would photograph at different time for the theme, and hold China’s Starry Sky Photography Summit Forum and special lectures on starry sky photography knowledge.

 

Top Sites to Explore at Chaka Salt Lake

 Mirror of Sky

Chaka Salt Lake covers an open area with flat terrain. The lake is highly reflective, like a mirror prepared for the sky’s grooming. So it is called “the mirror of sky” of China. And the best time for paragraphing Chaka Salt Lake is before 9:00 and after 17:00. And in the night, travelers can see the “Mirror of Night Sky”. The vast and magnificent Milky Way can be clearly appreciated because of non-pollution in the Lake Area.
 

 Caka Salt Carving

There are large outdoor salt carvings that travelers can visit in Chaka Salt Lake Scenic Area.
 

 Sunrise and Sunset

The most beautiful period of Chaka Salt Lake is during the sunrise and sunset, forming a unified picture of water and sky.
 

The sunrise time of Chaka Salt Lake is around 6:30 and the sunset time is around 19:30 in May to September.
 

 The Goddess of Chaka Salt Lake

The overall materials for the Statue of Goddess of Chaka Salt Lake are all high purity and high-grade white marbles.
 

The total height of the statue is 6.3 meters and weighs 28 tons.

 

Our Suggested Route

Enjoying the sunrise in the early morning→ Chaka Salt Carving → Goddess of Salt Lake→ enjoying the starry sky around the Lake.

 

Transportation to Chaka Salt Lake

 By Bus

Take the bus from Xining Railway Station to Chaka Town and it will take 4 hours and cost 65 yuan. And then travelers can walk or rent a car to Chaka Salt Lake.
 

Take the tour shuttle bus of Chaka Salt Lake from Xining Passenger Transport Center to Xinning Road Passenger Terminal. If travelers want to buy the round-trip ticket, it will cost 165 yuan per person (including fare and travel insurance), and the one-way ticket is 80 yuan per person. The departure time of this bus is 9:00 every day.
 

Take the tour shuttle bus of “the Mirror of Sky” from Xining Bus Station (8:25) to Chaka Bus Station (16:30). It costs 62.5 yuan per person in peak season.
 

By Taxi

Chinese: 请带我去茶卡盐湖。English: Please take me to Chaka Salt Lake.

If travelers want go to Chaka Salt Lake by taxi, they’d better charter a car. If travelers charter a car from the Xining Passenger Terminal to Chaka Salt Lake, it will cost around 400 yuan back and forth.