Chaka Salt Lake
National 4A Tourist Attraction; A Working Salt Lake On The Qaidam Basin Edge · Wulan, Qinghai
A working salt pan on the eastern edge of the Qaidam basin that became, almost by accident, one of the most photographed places in China. Chaka is a shallow brine lake crusted with salt hard enough to walk on, and when a film of water lies over that crust on a still day the surface turns into a perfect mirror, reproducing the sky, the Qilian foothills and everyone standing on it - the reason it is marketed as the Sky Mirror. Salt has been cut here for three thousand years and the lake still produces commercially; a narrow-gauge railway built for the salt works now carries visitors out across the pan, and dredgers sit in the distance doing real work. The altitude is about 3,100 metres, the light is fierce, and the salt reflects it upward as well as down, which sunburns people in ways they do not expect. Everything depends on conditions: still air, a wet surface and cloud that is interesting rather than total. Wind ruins the mirror, and the lake's best months are short.
Chaka Town, Wulan County, Haixi Prefecture, Wulan, Qinghai, China
Daily; peak season 1 May to 31 October about 8:00-19:40 with last ticket check at 18:50, and shorter, inconsistently reported winter hours. Entry is by online real-name booking only, 1-7 days ahead, with no on-site sales.