Things to do in Aksu Prefecture

Xinjiang Trip Day 9 ✨ Tangbula Hundred-Mile Gallery—Duku Highway—Urumqi What incredible luck today! I woke up this morning to find out the Duku Highway was reopened! ✨ What would have been an 11-hour drive was reduced to just 8 hours! What amazing luck! 🌄 Surprise at the start: The Hundred-Mile Gallery is breathtakingly beautiful! Every snapshot is wallpaper-worthy scenery 🏞️ The Duku Highway truly deserves its title as Xinjiang's most beautiful highway 🏆 Today we witnessed: ✓ 20°C summer at the foot of the mountain vs. a sub-zero snowy world at the summit ❄️ ✓ A changing panorama of scenery throughout the four seasons: grassland → spruce forest → snow-capped mountains → Danxia canyons ✓ A southerner screamed with excitement upon touching a real snow-capped mountain for the first time (I won't say who it was 😝) 🚗 Driving Tips: 1️⃣ Duku Highway Opening Hours: June 1st - October 15th 2️⃣ Restricted Hours: 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM 3️⃣ Essential Items: Thick coat! Sunscreen! Sunglasses! (Don't ask how I know, I just got three shades tanned 😭) 💯 Today's highlights: A snowball fight at the foot of the snow-capped mountains ☃️ Zero traffic jams + zero livestock = a silky smooth experience Still savoring the experience on the way back to Urumqi, this was definitely the most worthwhile day of my Xinjiang trip! I highly recommend that everyone visiting Xinjiang add the Duku Highway to their must-see list~ #XinjiangTravel #DukuHighway #HundredMileGallery #TangbulaGrassland #UrumqiTourism

Kuche Old Town, Kuche Grand Temple, Qiuci Music and Dance, Qingcheng Lane, Linjilu Memorial Hall, and Kuche Palace are all nearby. You can visit them all at once. It's quite nice and worth a visit!

Aksu Old Street is a new attraction for homestays and night markets that was renovated from the old city. It has a strong ethnic flavor. The homestay can rent a courtyard. I asked for a price of 1,600 yuan for five rooms at Dexiang Homestay. It was just right for dinner at the night market at around 8 or 9 in the evening. The streets and courtyards have been built and packaged as a whole. There are no homes. The original homes have been moved to new residential areas. All of them are homestays designed and renovated by the Tourism Bureau. You can come and experience them.

The ancient coin hall on the second floor is worth seeing. There are ancient Chinese coins (minted in Aksu) and gold and silver coins from various ancient countries (Byzantine, Parthia, etc.), proving that Aksu has been an important transportation station on the Silk Road and an important node for cultural exchanges among countries since ancient times.

The colorful streets of Restan are lined with various shops and delicacies. Next to it is the Qiaotou Night Market, which is very lively after 10 o'clock. This is the essence of traveling to southern Xinjiang, integrating into the local people!

Starting from Kuqa, drive north along the Duku Highway for 120 kilometers into the heart of the Tianshan Mountains. Before crossing the Tielimati Daban, there are two alpine lakes on both sides of the road, one large and one small, which are the Big Dragon Pond and the Small Dragon Pond. The Big Dragon Pond has a surface area of ​​about 2 square kilometers and is surrounded by mountains. The mountains are covered with snow that never melts all year round. Above the snow line grows the precious Chinese medicinal material, snow lotus.

The Aksu National Wetland Park is very large. It is recommended to enter from the east gate, first visit the east half to the south, and then visit the west half to the north. If you walk, it will take 2 to 3 hours to complete the tour. The scenery is really beautiful.

This ancient desert city makes people curious and amazed by the ambitions of the people at that time. They were not afraid of hardships, but built it with wisdom and sweat. What it leaves to future generations is a journey of curiosity and admiration, and they can feel the happiness of their current life in the desolation.

20230725 afternoon: 1. "Tarim River" is located in the 4A scenic spot "Lobu Village". Lobu Village is an original Lobu theme cultural park, with large and small desert lakes scattered all over the place, commonly known as "Lop Nur", gathering oasis, poplar forest, Taklimakan Desert, Goddess Lake, Tarim River and other different landforms, is a good place for sightseeing photography, desert entertainment, and cultural experience. The scenic area is divided into four major areas: Lobu Cultural Exhibition Hall, Abudan Square, Desert Area, and Goddess Lake. The scenic area is the filming location of TV series such as "China Exploration", "The Great Protector of the Western Regions", and "Anarhan". ① Address: No. 53, Forestry Bureau, Bayingu West Road, Yuli County, Bayingol Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. ② Transportation: No public transportation, easy to park by car. ③ Peak season: In autumn, the poplar forest is golden, and the hottest season has passed. ④ Time: 4 hours. 2. On the big screen in the visitor center, the beautiful scenery of golden poplar trees dotted in the desert oasis in autumn is played in a loop. However, it is summer now and most of the poplar trees are green leaves, so you can only feast your eyes on the screen. Below the screen is a sand table model map of the core area of ​​the scenic area, which is more intuitive. 3. The Tarim River is the longest inland river in China and the mother river in southern Xinjiang. It originates from the Tianshan Mountains and the Karakoram Mountains. It is 2,179 kilometers long. The main road flows into the "Taitema Lake" and once flowed into Lop Nur in ancient times. The river is relatively wide, and there is a wooden bridge on the lake. The totem signs at both ends of the bridge are photo spots.

Kuqa Grand Bazaar is located at Tuanjie New Bridge. The bridgehead here was the ancient ferry crossing and the most prosperous place of the former Qiuci Kingdom. There are no fixed stalls in the bazaar, all stalls are set up on the ground.