How to get here?

You can get here by taking a bus from Ürümqi at either 09:00, 10:00 or 11:00. You can buy bus tickets here at the international bus station: https://surl.amap.com/mM7sTU1g1lk. Go to the second floor of this building by taking the stairs, and go to the ticket office. If you ask around for “Tianchan Tianchi” people will know what you want. Bring your passport since you need this to buy tickets for the bus.

You can either go early in the morning to buy tickets for the bus, but in holiday seasons it might be busy. We arrived at the bus station around 08:30, and were able to buy the last tickets for the 10:00 bus. You can go a day early and try to buy tickets.

You buy a round trip bus ticket. So if you buy tickets for the 10:00 bus, you will have a return bus at 18:00. You will get instructions during the bus ride about return times. These instructions will be in Chinese, so you will probably have to ask around with a translator to get the information.

What to do?

You start at the international bus station and take a bus for more than an hour. After the ride you arrive at the entrance, where you can either buy tickets, or use your tickets from Trip.com to enter. After the entrance you will go into another bus which will bring you closer to the lake. This is included in the Trip.com tickets.

You can either choose to stay around the lake, or you can go all the way to the top of the mountain by cable car. This cable car is more expensive than the actual entrance tickets, but it is beautiful at the top.

If you want to go to the cable car you have to take another bus, which will bring you to the cable car. After the cable car you can walk to the top by using the wooden boardwalk and stairs that are built there. You enjoy the scenery at the top, and return in time for your return bus back to Ürümqi.

Weather and clothing

Normal shoes are fine, since you will be hiking on wooden boardwalks and stairs. Keep in mind that it can be quite cold at the top of the mountain do to the altitude.

Additional information

No need to make a reservation. Bring your passport because you will need this to enter the park.

You can buy your tickets online on Trip: https://www.trip.com/travel-guide/attraction/fukang/tianshan-tianchi-76471/

Just make sure to buy the “Admission ticket + shuttle buses” ticket. This has entrance tickets included. The shuttle bus is for the bus inside the park. You have to buy the bus to get here separately. See the “How to get here?” section for more information.

Tianshan Heavenly Lake is also known as Tianshan Tianchi, and this is the name in Mandarin: 天山天池.