Bortala 博尔塔拉Bó’ěrtǎlā

About Bortala

Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture is named after the Bortala River, whose Mongolian name means 'brown grassland', and it reaches west to the Kazakhstan border. Most visitors come for Sayram Lake, at 2,070 m Xinjiang's largest and highest alpine lake, ringed by a 79 km road and summer meadows dotted with ancient burial mounds. In the north-east, Alashankou is the rail and road port to Kazakhstan through the gale-swept Dzungarian Gate, and Wenquan County in the west is known for its hot springs.

Featured places in Bortala

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  Sayram Lake 赛里木湖

  Xinjiang's largest, highest alpine lake, ringed by steppe and ancient tombs

  Best time: Jun–Sep · Time needed: One day · 5A scenic area · National heritage site

Listed sites in Bortala

9 sites in Bortala are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Alashankou Border Tourism Area 阿拉山口边境旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
  The border tourism area at Alashankou, the rail and road port on the Kazakhstan border in the Dzungarian Gate, a pass with gales of force 8 or more on more than 180 days a year.
• Bortala River Scenic Area, Bole 博尔塔拉河旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
  The scenic area strings together three landscaped river belts in the middle of Bole, the Bohe, Kaiping and Qinghe belts, about 4.8 km long in all and linking the old town in the north with the new town in the south.
• Etuokesai'er Tianquan Hot Spring, Wenquan 鄂托克赛尔天泉 4A scenic area · on the map
  Etuokesai'er Tianquan ('heavenly spring'), also known as Xiao Wenquan, is a hot spring high in the Etuokesai'er River valley at about 2,650 m, and one of Wenquan County's three noted hot springs.
• Mutetaer Desert, Jinghe 木特塔尔沙漠 4A scenic area · on the map
  A desert scenic area of sand dunes in Tuotuo town, Jinghe County, which held its first desert culture festival in 2018.
• Shengquan Hot Spring, Wenquan 圣泉 4A scenic area · on the map
  Shengquan ('holy spring') is Wenquan County's best-known hot spring, used for about a century and the site of a sanatorium from 1954, now a spa complex in the county town with public pools, an outdoor bath, saunas and a hotel.
• Wenquan River Valley Forest 温泉河谷林 4A scenic area · on the map
  A riverside forest scenic area built in 2019 on the Bortala River just north of Wenquan county town, laid out around a 36 km greenway through marsh, sea-buckthorn scrub and woods of poplar and willow.
• Adunqiaolu Site 阿敦乔鲁遗址 National heritage site · on the map
  A national heritage site in the upper Bortala valley of Wenquan County, protected for its tombs set in stone enclosures and its groups of rock art, and named among China's top ten new archaeological discoveries.
• Arixiate Stone-Figure Tombs 阿日夏特石人墓 National heritage site · on the map
  Tombs of the Sui and Tang period on the Arixiate grasslands of Wenquan County, north-west of Harbuhu town and marked by standing carved stone figures, listed as a national heritage site in 2006.
• Dalete Ancient City Ruins 达勒特古城遗址 National heritage site · on the map
  The ruins of a large walled town, probably the medieval city of Bolad (孛罗) on the Silk Road north of the Tian Shan, occupied from the Kara-Khanid period around the 9th century until it was abandoned in the 14th.

On the map

Open Bortala on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)