Changbai Mountain and Heaven Lake (Tianchi)

Changbaishan National Nature Reserve; UNESCO Man And The Biosphere Reserve; National 5A Tourist Attraction · Baishan, Jilin

A great dormant volcano on the border between China and North Korea, known to Koreans as Paektu and revered by both Koreans and the Manchus as a sacred ancestral mountain. Its summit crater holds Tianchi, the Heaven Lake, a deep blue crater lake at about 2,190 metres ringed by jagged volcanic peaks, frozen for much of the year and often hidden in cloud - which makes a clear view feel like a gift. The volcano's eruption around 946 CE was one of the largest of the last few thousand years. Below the rim, the 68-metre Changbai Waterfall pours out of the lake's outlet, hot springs steam beside the river where vendors boil eggs, and old forests of Korean pine and birch cover the slopes, with alpine flower meadows on the western side and the dramatic Jinjiang Grand Canyon to the southwest. Visitors reach the rim from three slopes on the Chinese side: the north slope by bus and off-road vehicle up switchback roads, the west slope by a stairway of more than 1,400 steps, and the quieter south slope. A high-speed railway opened in 2025 now reaches Changbaishan station, and winter brings a major ski resort.

North Slope Tianchi viewpoint, Changbaishan Protection and Development Zone, Baishan, Jilin, China

Slopes open daily in season, roughly 7:30-17:00 in summer with shorter winter hours; Tianchi viewpoints close in bad weather. Book 1-3 days ahead.

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