Besides Qinghai Lake, are there other lakes across Qinghai Province?

Qinghai is home to far more than just Qinghai Lake. Other notable lakes include Lake Keluke, Lake Hala, Hoh Xil Lake, Sun Lake, East Taijnar Lake, Lake Kusai, East Dabuxun Lake and Dongge Cuona Lake, to name a few.

Chaka is a Mongolian word meaning salt pond, or a sea of green salt. Unlike the deep blue waters of Qinghai Lake, this place is dominated by pure white. The crystal-clear lake water, set against white salt crystals, forms a gigantic natural mirror that perfectly reflects blue skies and floating clouds. It is widely known as China’s Mirror of the Sky.

Visitors can walk barefoot onto the salt flats deep inside the lake and take fantastic portrait photos with stunning reflections. At night, you can capture breathtaking starry skies resembling the Milky Way, with countless stars mirrored on the water surface. It is not only a mirror for the sky by day, but also a fairyland for the night sky after dark.

Also known as Base 151, Erlangjian stretches far into Qinghai Lake and offers an excellent chance to get up close to the lake. The scenic area features lush grasslands, soft sandy beaches, wild animals and vast fields of rapeseed flowers, all well worth a visit.

Facilities here include bird-watching platforms, deer gardens, sea-view bridges and pavilions for sightseeing. Recreational activities such as jet ski and self-driving yacht rides are also available. Many beautiful shallow beaches line the lakeshore nearby, yet most are enclosed by local herdsmen. An admission fee ranging from 5 to 20 yuan is required to access the lakeside for sightseeing and photography. Be sure to negotiate the price with local herdsmen beforehand.

Regarded as the Garden of the Heavenly Deities, this land is adorned with glaciers, alpine lakes, snow-capped peaks, wild blossoms and sprawling meadows. It reveals its breathtaking beauty in the most natural way.

Tucked away and little-known to the public, Mount Nyainboyuze in Qinghai remains a pure land untouched by modern civilization. Its charm even outshines Qinghai Lake. Also called the Guoluo Mountains, this secluded sacred paradise is more picturesque than Qinghai Lake and has become a favorite destination for numerous photography enthusiasts.

Located on the western bank of Qinghai Lake, Heimahe Township is one of the top locations to view the lake’s sunrise. It marks the starting point of the West Ring Road around Qinghai Lake.

The 41-kilometer stretch from Heimahe to Shinahei along the West Ring Road is hailed as the most beautiful section around the lake, with the lakeshore coming closest to the road between the 13th and 16th kilometer markers. The scenery changes wonderfully with the seasons: wild flowers bloom and flocks of birds fly about in May; vast stretches of rapeseed flowers burst into full bloom along the lake in August; and in quiet October, the Heimahe Grassland returns to tranquility, presenting Qinghai Lake in its most simple and elegant form. On clear nights, you can also shoot magnificent starry views here.

This small saltwater lake covers an area of 1 square kilometer. It sits north of the 2120.2-kilometer marker on National Highway 109, on the Erlangjian Peninsula, and is completely separated from Qinghai Lake.

Surrounded by pastures and scattered herdsmen’s settlements, the lake has no industrial pollution sources, ruling out the possibility of man-made contamination. The entire lake appears soft pink when viewed from the shore, creating a striking contrast against the deep blue Qinghai Lake in the distance.

Water samples taken from the lake show no reddish tint. The unique pink hue is caused by pink viscous organisms attached to aquatic weeds and lake silt.