In the morning, you will visit the Chaiwobao Salt Lake and the ancient Ulab City. They are both located to the east of Urumqi. To enjoy fully flexibility, we suggest that you hire a car for the tour. Here we would like to offer some vehicle rental companies information in Urumqi for your reference: Guoyu Rental(Add: No. 32, Beijing Nan Road, Urumqi; Tel: +86-991-3825128); Oulande Rental(Add:Cangfanggou Road, Urumqi; Tel: +86-991-5890226).

One day hiking tour to Chaiwobao Salt Lake

Drive east on the Lian-Huo highway for about 40 km and take the Chaiwobao Exit. There you will find the Chaiwobao Lake(28 square km), the largest freshwater lake near Urumqi. Thus, it also become the aquafarm of fishes like cyprinoid, grass carp, chub, herring and river crab. Then, you may either trek or drive to the Chaiwobao Salt Lake (27 Square Kilometer) which 5KM to the southeast of Chaiwobao Lake. Nicknamed as the “Chinese Dead Sea”, the Salt Lake is impregnated with salt riching in Glauber's salt. Nowadays, it is not only a place of the origin of salt, but also a popular tourist site. The entrance fee to the Chaiwobao Salt Lake is ￥30.00. Optional attractions here include swimming, salt bath, salt field, salt hill, races on salt course, Salt Museum and fishing. Besides the two lakes, Chaiwobao has earned its fame from the delicious dish "Braised Chicken with Potato and Red Pepper" for the last 15 years. You should not miss it. The most famous restaurant is the Yangle Restaurant. It is very easy to find. At the Chaiwobao Salt Lake Resort, there are a few newly-built hotels for travelers to spend their time at lesiure.

In the afternoon, you will drive to visit the ancient Ulab City. It is located 17km to the south of Urumqi and neighboring the Ulab Reservoir. Some scholars believe the city was the ancient Luntai City on the north branch of the Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty. It was mentioned in some poetry of the Tang Dynasty and Ci (another form of the poetry) in the Song Dynasty like ”Alfalfa in northwestern region lush, and horses in Luntai fat”. There is no entrance fee for the city, but visitors should get the oral permission from the Ulab City Villagers Committees(Tel: 86-991-5861126) at the west side of the old city. If you did not bring any lunch, you may eat at Villagers' Committees or with a local family introduced by the Villagers Committees. The meal charge with be discussed then. Acts like camping in the ancient city or climbing the city wall are all prohibited. If interested, you may walk to the nearby Ulab Reservoir, but any activity that might pollute the water is prohibited. Return to Urumqi, where the pleasant tour ends here.