At the end of May, I rented a car with friends and started a self-driving trip in northern Xinjiang, passing Keketuohai, Kanas, Devil City, Sailimu Lake, Yining, Tekes City, Kalajun Prairie, and Nalati Prairie (Passing by), Duku Highway (part), Urumqi Grand Bazaar, primeval forests, prairie, glaciers, meadows, mountains, deserts, etc.
Day 1 Urumqi City - Fuyun County
Depart from Xi'an on May 28, take Hainan Airlines HU7897 and arrive at Urumqi Diwopu Airport at 16:00 pm. Immediately contact the car rental master who made an appointment in advance. After checking the appearance of the vehicle and completing the car rental procedures (similar to online visa), Diwopu Airport is close to Urumqi, so I drove straight to the nearby China Resources Vanguard, and purchased the next few days. Daily necessities (water, instant rice, etc.). When I picked up the car, there was only three small bars of fuel, and then I went to refuel the car. I found that the gas stations in Urumqi are very strict. Only the driver can enter the gas station after swiping his ID card, and the rest of the passengers have to wait outside the gas station. When you go in to refuel, you have to swipe your ID card on the refueling machine before you can refuel. We got ready to go at 6:00 p.m. (the sun was still high) and drove to Fuyun County, Altay Prefecture, 470 kilometers away. I drove the first half of the journey, rested and had dinner in the middle service area, and my friend drove the second half of the journey. It was around 12 o’clock in the evening Arrived in Fuyun County, found a hotel and settled in. Get a good night's sleep and go to Keketuohai to find the shepherd tomorrow.
P.S.: Due to the high latitude of Xinjiang and the fact that the sun is biased towards the Tropic of Cancer in early summer, the sunshine hours in Xinjiang are particularly long. It doesn’t get dark until after 10:30 in the evening, which is nearly 2 hours behind the mainland.
Driving distance: 470km Time spent: 6h Toll fee: 167 yuan
Day 2 Fuyun - Keketuohai - Burqin
1. Fuyun County - Keketuohai
Get up early in the morning and drive to Keketuohai. There are mountain roads to go. When you encounter sheep, horses, cattle, etc., you need to be careful when driving. The ticket for Keketuohai Scenic Area is 121 yuan. There is a shuttle bus between the entrance and Shenzhong Mountain. There is no shuttle bus for the rest of the scenic spots. One-way is 7.5 kilometers. You need to walk. It takes two or three hours to go back and forth depending on your physical strength. Keketuohai has beautiful canyon rivers, rocky woodlands, mineral resources, arctic lakes and strange earthquake fault zones as its natural scenery. There are many pictographic peaks, and glacial meltwater flows through the valleys, which is very clear. In addition, there are a lot of cattle, sheep and horse manure on the road in the scenic spot, which has an "inner smell"!
Drive: 57km Time: 1.5h Cost: 121 yuan (single ticket)
2. Keketuohai - Burqin
From Keketuohai to Burqin to return to Fuyun, after passing through the endless Gobi Desert, we came to Burqin County after climbing mountains and mountains.
Accommodation: Burqin Drive: 315km Time: 5.5h Some national highways require tolls.
Day 3 and 4 Kanas
After breakfast, start to Kanas scenic spot. On the way, you have to pass through checkpoints. The journey takes 3.5 hours, 150km, passing through: S232, G331, etc. Some mountain roads are rugged, but when you are approaching Kanas, the scenery is beautiful. There are Swiss footsteps and snow-capped mountains. The mountains, forests, meadows, and mountain flowers are blooming and beautiful. There are 55 large and small scenic spots in Kanas Scenic Area, which belong to 33 basic types, mainly including Hanas National Nature Reserve, Kanas National Geological Park, Baihaba National Forest Park, Jiadengyu National Forest Park, Kanas River Valley, Hemu River Valley, Naren Grassland, Hemu Grassland and Hemu Village, Baihaba Village, Kanas Village and other famous landscape areas and three cultural landscape areas at home and abroad. Self-driving is not allowed in the scenic area, and the car can be placed in the Jiadengyu service area. The bus between the scenic spots will directly pull tourists down to the shore of Kanas Lake. There are three ways to play as follows:
One (one-day tour), visit Kanas Lake, Guanyutai, Kanas New and Old Village and then return by bus, passing through Shenxian Bay, Moon Bay and Wolong Bay, the bus stops at each bay, and then leaves Scenic area.
The second (one-day tour) is to visit Kanas Lake, Guanyutai, Kanas New and Old Villages, and then return by bus, hike Shenxian Bay, Moon Bay and Wolong Bay, and then leave the scenic spot.
The third (two-day tour) is to visit Kanas and surrounding attractions on the first day; to go to Baihaba Village (the first village in the northwest) on the second day, you need to apply for a border defense certificate.
My friend and I chose the third way to play. After seeing Kanas Lake on the first day, after staying by the lake for a long time, we hiked to Kanas New Village and stayed overnight. We watched the night view at night. Kanas after sunset was still a bit cold. , Fortunately, I didn't bring a jacket. The next morning, I went to Guanyutai by car (you need to buy a section ticket, 20 yuan per person for a round trip), and also hiked to Guanyutai. It takes about 1.5 hours one way. You can try it if time permits, but if the weather is good, the sun is too hot to be careful. ! At noon we went to Baihaba Village by car, tickets + shuttle bus 75 yuan per person. The overall feeling of Baihaba Village is nothing, just a border village, where you can stay. Due to time constraints, after a hasty turn for an hour, I took the bus back to Kanas, and there are still three bays to visit. We took the shuttle bus from Kanas Lake to Shenxian Bay, then went to Moon Bay, and then hiked to Wolong Bay. There are plank roads along the way. The lake and mountains are very beautiful. Take a car in Wolong Bay and return to the entrance of the scenic spot. There is a free transfer bus from the entrance of the scenic spot to Jiadengyu.
After visiting Kanas, we drove back to Burqin and stayed there.
Drive: 150km one-way Time: 3.5h one-way Ticket: 230 yuan (single entry and exit), and 270 yuan for two-way entry
Day 5 Burqin - World Devil City
The journey on this day is relatively far, nearly 500km. We are going to visit the Devil City. The driving time: 235km and time: 3h, and then go to Kuitun and stay in Kuitun City for 245km, which takes 3h.
In layman's terms, Devil City is weathered mounds, hillsides, etc., Danxia landforms, human-faced sphinx and other scenic spots, as well as scenic spots such as Seven Swords Under Tianshan and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Personally, I have no feeling for this ghost city. Tickets are 62 yuan per person, including the shuttle bus.
Day 6 Kuitun - Sailimu Lake - Yining
Sailimu Lake is beautiful and worth a visit. You can drive around the lake by yourself or take a shuttle bus. It is nearly 50 kilometers around the lake. If you stay at each scenic spot, it will be time-consuming. We spend a lot of time talking about the scenic spots in front of us, and we just spend a lot of time in the back.
P.S.: The name "Salimu" is very special to friends from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, O(∩_∩)O haha~. You know
1. The driving distance of Kui stage: 305km (excluding the distance around the lake) Time: 3.5h Tickets: 145 yuan per person (self-driving and shuttle bus are the same)
2. From Sailimu Lake to Yining: 120km, via the Guozigou Bridge, and stay in Yining. Time spent: 2h
Day 7 Yining - Turks City
In the morning, I visited Yili River Ethnic Cultural Tourism Village and ate local buns and two-color Liangpi. The buns had a strong smell. The ice cream sold locally is delicious, and a ball is only three yuan, which is very refreshing!
In the afternoon, I went to Bagua City - Turks
Driving distance: 128km, via: S220, G577 Time spent: 2.5h
In Turks, there was a sandstorm, and the hotel’s electricity was cut for a while, so I ran to eat a barbecue, but it was closed because of the power outage, and finally found a ramen shop with electricity to eat bowl noodles. Walk around the streets of Bagua City and look at the Ferris wheel, because the whole picture of Bagua City cannot be taken with a mobile phone, and it is another matter if you have a drone. I went to the supermarket at night and bought a bag of Kavas (2L) to taste. It was delicious. It was made of honey. I didn’t dare to drink it during the day while driving, and I didn’t drink too much at night. In addition, it was hot during the day, so I didn’t drink it and it turned bad. Just throw it away.
Day 8 Kalajun Prairie--Xinyuan County
After breakfast, we went straight to Kalajun, it was cloudy, but the weather turned better in the afternoon. In the early stage of development of the Kalajun Prairie, there were not many tourists. The scenery is pleasant, with a sea of flowers, snow mountains, virgin forests, and grasslands. It is one of the favorites in this trip. Along the way, you can also see marmots playing out of their holes. My friend likes it very much. He wants to eat biscuits, but he has not been able to do so. Self-driving is not allowed in the scenic area, and a large urban area needs to be built. We only bought tickets for the prairie, and there is also the Grand Canyon to play. After watching Kala Jun, I drove to Xinyuan County and stayed here.
Turks-Kalajun: 16km Time spent: 0.5h Tickets: 140 per person
Kalajun--Xinyuan County: 175km Time: 3.5h, via G577, G578 Accommodation: Xinyuan County
Day 9 Nalati - Duku Highway - Alehui
The focus of this day's tour is the Duku Highway, because I didn't go to Nalati to find a girl after I went to Kalajun. I took a photo when I passed by and booked a seat to show that I came here. Ha ha. Part of the section of the Duku Highway to Urumqi was under construction, so I failed to return the car to Urumqi on time, so I rented a car for an extra day, which cost more than 260 yuan. Then take a detour to Alehui, and then go back to Urumqi via S103.
You can enjoy the scenery of the four seasons on the Duku Highway, indeed, The scenes are marvelous and splendid. The better with friends, in the future you will have the opportunity to take the entire Duku Highway from Dushanzi to southern Xinjiang. looking forward to ing....
After walking the Duku Highway, I was told by the traffic police that the speed limit was 60 yards. At the beginning of the period, I drove slowly. After seeing the cars behind me roaring past, I drove boldly, but I didn’t exceed 80 yards, uh uh uh uh. On the road, there are rivers similar to 18 bends, grasslands, sheep and so on. The scenery is not bad either!
Driving distance: 490km Time spent: 9h (including viewing the scenery) Accommodation: Alehui
Day 10 Alehui--Urumqi
Alehui is a small town with average accommodation conditions. I couldn't think of A Lehui going directly back to Urumqi from S103, but it was getting late, and the forecast said there would be thunderstorms on the mountain, so I stayed in A Lehui. My friends also advised me to start slowly the next day after finishing up.
After staying in Alehui for one night, we went to Urumqi. Fortunately, I listened to my friend's suggestion to stay overnight at Alehui, otherwise the road conditions of the large trucks along the way were extremely bad, and driving late at night would be very dangerous. The 155-kilometer journey took nearly 4 hours to arrive in Urumqi. Tired and tired. . . The road is full of potholes and pits from big trucks. Cars have to drive slowly so as not to damage the chassis. SUVs are better.
After a tiring journey, I went to Urumqi to wash the car, find a hotel to put my luggage, and after returning the car, I went to the Grand Bazaar to shop and eat. I ate the gardener’s barbecue jar meat (the store is very small, there are too many people, and you need to share a seat) for 28 yuan a piece, 15 yuan for a skewer of barbecue, naan, and yellow ice cream (it’s not delicious, milk is heavy, I’m not used to it, but I still miss it Ice cream at Yining Folk Village).
Day 11 Urumqi - Xi'an
In the morning, I went to Hongshan Park for a walk, and in the afternoon, Jiangxi Airlines returned to Xi'an on RY8940.
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So far, my 11-day self-driving tour in northern Xinjiang has come to an end. Although self-driving is tiring, it is free and you can stop at any time.
It is roughly estimated that the cost per person is about 4,000 yuan, including round-trip air tickets, car rental, fuel costs, tolls, accommodation, meals, and tickets.
