Nestled at the foot of the Altai Mountains in the northwestern corner of China, lies the border town of Burqin, quietly resting along the Irtysh River like a spilled palette of colors – vibrant yet serene. For many international travelers, Burqin might be an unfamiliar name, but mention Kanas Lake, and people’s minds immediately fill with images of majestic mountains and emerald-blue waters – this breathtaking scenery is precisely located within Burqin County.
Burqin is not just the gateway to Kanas and Hemu; it’s a tourism destination that blends diverse ethnic cultures with spectacular natural landscapes. In recent years, Burqin County has branded itself as “Fairy-Tale Burqin,” continuously improving tourism services and developing diverse travel experiences, making this small town a shining pearl on Xinjiang’s tourism map.
Natural Wonders: Where God’s Palette Meets Earth
Kanas Lake: The Mysterious Color-Changing Alpine Gem
Kanas Lake is undoubtedly Burqin’s most brilliant calling card, renowned as one of “China’s Ten Most Beautiful Lakes.” This mysterious water body is famous for its color-changing waters – deep emerald green on sunny days, and ivory white with a hint of blue-green during summer. Legends of a “lake monster” add to the mystical atmosphere surrounding this beautiful landscape.
The observation deck offers the best panoramic view of Kanas Lake, where you can take in the stunning vista of snow-capped mountains and lush forests. The first rays of morning light kissing the lake surface, or the golden hours at dusk, provide perfect moments for photography enthusiasts to capture the beauty. For hiking lovers, the lakeside trail offers convenient access to experience the lake’s clarity up close, surrounded by majestic snow-capped peaks.
Colorful Beach: A Visual Feast of Danxia Landforms
Located on the north bank of the Irtysh River, Colorful Beach is a spectacular Danxia geological park. Here, valleys and hills create a dramatic landscape of varying heights, with strange rock formations resembling giant’s feet in diverse shapes. The formation of Colorful Beach resulted from river erosion and wind weathering, creating unique landforms with steep platforms and wide, shallow grooves.
Dusk is the most enchanting time at Colorful Beach, when the setting sun casts its remaining light on the rock layers, presenting multiple colors of red, yellow, green, and purple, reflecting beautifully with the opposite shore’s poplar forests in the water. This is not just a paradise for photographers but also an unmissable destination for geology enthusiasts.
Hemu Scenic Area: The Pastoral Poetry of Tuvan Villages
Hemu Village, known as “God’s Garden,” is a traditional Tuvan settlement where simple wooden cabins scatter across mountain valleys, presenting a uniquely rustic and tranquil experience. In the early morning, cooking smoke slowly rises, enveloping the entire village like a fairy-tale realm.
Haden Observation Platform is the best spot to appreciate Hemu’s morning mist. Visitors are recommended to climb the platform before 6 AM to witness the dreamlike scene of Hemu Village shrouded in morning mist, scattered along the Hemu River. If lucky, you might also catch the spectacular “Sunshine over Golden Mountains” view here.
Cultural Heritage: Where Diverse Ethnic Cultures Converge
The Kanas Grassland Stone Figures Scenic Area at Agongaidai boasts the largest collection, tallest forms, most complete shapes, and most historically significant grassland stone figures in China. These millennia-old grassland stone figures and rock carvings provide an excellent window to understand and experience local traditional culture and folk customs.
Visitors here can not only explore the historical footprints of ancient nomadic peoples but also enjoy spectacular equestrian performances and traditional games like “Girl Chasing,” deeply experiencing local traditions and feeling the charm of prairie culture that has lasted thousands of years. According to the scenic area manager, this year the area has added multiple tourism service projects, including comfortable rest areas, free parking lots, and optimized accommodation and dining services to provide better experiences for visitors.
Colorful Beach
Intangible Cultural Heritage: Living Inheritance of Ethnic Crafts
Burqin County is home to over 20 ethnic groups, nurturing distinctive intangible cultural heritages. The generations-old “thread twisting” craft, historically significant horse-drawn sleds, and exquisitely designed embroidery works have long become important symbols of Burqin’s tourism industry.
In rural areas, against the backdrop of inheriting excellent traditional culture and promoting rural revitalization, villagers are using creative approaches to make “ethnic style” travel further. Many villages have established embroidery professional cooperatives, attracting women from their own and surrounding villages to produce embroidery products. Tourists can not only experience the craftsmanship process but also purchase several embroidered pieces to take home memories of Burqin.
Music and Arts: Fusion of Modern and Traditional
Established in 2018, the Horse Hoof Band is a well-known local band from Hemu Village in Burqin County. In their performances, you’ll see different instruments like dombra, guitar, accordion, and Tuvan drums, and hear various music styles including folk, pop, rock, and original compositions.
Since the band’s formation, they’ve embedded their love for hometown and enthusiasm for tourists into their melodies. Visitors can hear lyrics like “The fame of China’s Snow Capital spreads far, Kanas water flows to distant places…” These locally distinctive musical performances add rich auditory experiences to Burqin’s cultural tourism.
Seasonal Charm: Burqin’s Beauty Through the Year
Spring and Summer: A Flowering Fairy-Tale World
May to August is Burqin’s ideal tourism season. During this time, Burqin presents the purest natural scenery with lakes under blue skies and lush green mountains. In spring and summer, the architecture within Burqin County town, along with flowers, plants, and trees along the streets, make people feel as if they’re in a garden.
This season also hosts the Kanas Cycling Festival, attracting cycling enthusiasts from across the country. Visitors can experience magnificent scenery during the day and relax in the streets at night, making it hard to leave.
Autumn: A Visual Feast of Colors
Autumn in Burqin, especially in the Baihaba area, transforms into a golden fairy-tale world. Golden wooden cabins against distant reddish snow-capped mountains make one feel as if they’re inside a painting. The forests around Kanas Lake display layered colors of autumn foliage, making it photographers’ most beloved season.
Winter: The Magical Wonderland of an Ice-Sealed Snow Kingdom
Each winter, Burqin transforms into a Narnia-like magical wonderland. Kanas Lake freezes into opaque turquoise ice layers, while in snow-covered forests, spruce branches bend under cotton-candy-like heavy snow.
Winter in Burqin offers various unique experiences: experiencing horse-drawn sledges led by local Tuvan guides, trying ice fishing for burbot at dawn followed by grilling the catch over a campfire, or snowshoe hiking to Fish Watching Pavilion to enjoy frozen river views. The Chonghuer Town Rime Festival is a winter tourism highlight, where visitors can take horse-drawn sledges to explore Chonghuer Town’s attractions and experience the unique charm of “soaking in wellness hot springs, visiting the rime town.”
Hemu Scenic Area
Travel Experiences: Beyond Sightseeing to Deep Exploration
New Facilities and Cultural Venues
This year, Burqin County has launched many new venues and landmarks, further enriching tourists’ journeys. The Kanas Natural Museum uses imaging, lighting, and interactive technologies to let visitors travel through time and decode “Kanas’ ecological secrets.”
The new Burqin County Museum welcomed continuous streams of visitors during its trial operation. The exhibition hall displays 324 cultural relics, from pottery and stone figures of the pre-Qin period to the “museum treasure” – the seal of Wulianghai Left Wing Left Banner Jasak, to the rock painting thematic exhibition hall, each piece carrying the historical years of this small town.
The Burqin County Ice Sports Center also brings unique experiences to visitors. The venue opened on May 29, hosting a primary and secondary school short-track speed skating competition on its opening day. The 2025 China Figure Skating Club League third station also successfully concluded here, igniting people’s yearning for this “sports city.”
Special Activities and Festivals
Burqin shows innovative vitality in cultural IP development. Dragon boat races, poetry recitation conferences, “Blood-Sweating Horses, Hot Burqin City” parades, and other activities open a path for tourists to explore deeper into the small town.
The Rime Festival is a major highlight of Burqin’s winter tourism. During the eighth Rime Festival, 32 travel agencies signed tourism cooperation framework agreements with Chonghuer Town, reaching cooperation intentions in tourism product development, market promotion, tourist reception, and tourism facility construction. Visitors can take horse-drawn sledges to appreciate ice, snow, and rime, experiencing the cultural charm of the “origin of human skiing.”
Rural and Pastoral Healing
In Burqin’s rural tourism, visitors can experience learning to play the dombra with locals, participating in making baurscak tea snacks, watching exciting buzkashi competitions on the grassland, and other activities. These colorful folk cultural experience activities are highly attractive to tourists from outside Xinjiang.
Kiziljala Village quietly comes into view on the way to the Colorful Beach scenic area. Attracted by its “artistic style,” artists, entrepreneurs, and tourists engage in a “two-way journey” with the village – this is both a “Chinese Minority Characteristic Village” inheriting distinctive culture and a “farmer painting base” nourishing creative inspiration.
Practical Travel Information &Transportation Guide
The most convenient way to reach Burqin is through Altay Airport, which has sufficient flights. Upon arrival, you can take a bus directly to Burqin or choose chartered vehicles straight to scenic areas for convenience and time-saving. There are dedicated transportation lines from Burqin to Kanas scenic area, requiring advance booking during peak season.
For self-driving tourists, note that mountain road conditions can be complex, requiring careful driving. Burqin County departments and tourism-related enterprises jointly promote all-for-one tourism development, providing thoughtful services, complete facilities, and convenient transportation, allowing visitors to freely pursue “poetry and distant places” along the Irtysh River.
Accommodation Recommendations
Burqin offers diverse accommodation options, from county town hotels to scenic area characteristic homestays. Hemu Taoyuan Mountain Villa is a popular accommodation choice in the Hemu scenic area, conveniently located near Hemu Bridge for early morning visits to Haden Observation Platform. The hotel offers good service with a beautiful attached cafe, providing free afternoon tea during stay.
Within the Kanas scenic area, you can choose to stay in heated wooden cabins in Kanas Village, where elk antlers replace coat hooks, full of Northern Xinjiang characteristics. In the county town, various priced and styled hotels can meet different travelers’ needs.
Culinary Experiences
Burqin’s cuisine blends Xinjiang characteristics with local flavors. The county town has many Xinjiang characteristic restaurants: authentic big plate chicken, hand-grabbed lamb, grilled fish, all available to explore. The Riverside Night Market continues centuries of street life atmosphere, letting tourists taste the “old flavors” of the “century-old night market.”
Particularly recommended is tasting Burqin’s grilled fish, which has long mastered capturing both “southern stomachs” and “northern stomachs,” becoming an seemingly inconspicuous yet unforgettable delicacy in the night market. Additionally, Burqin Old Town Restaurant (on Burqin County Old Town Road) mainly serves Xinjiang home-style dishes, about half an hour from scenic areas, ideal for tasting before returning to your hotel.
Burqin Travel Tips
– Climate and Clothing: Burqin has significant temperature differences between day and night. Even in summer, bring light jackets. Winters are extremely cold, requiring preparation for -40°C wind chill with warm clothing.
– Sun Protection: Scenic areas have strong UV radiation, requiring essential sun protection equipment and sunglasses.
– Document Carrying: Remember to carry your ID card when entering scenic areas, as ticket checks are strict.
– Itinerary Suggestions: Reserve two days for visiting Kanas Lake – one day only allows superficial viewing, while two days allow proper appreciation of lake scenery and magnificent changes in different weather.
– Respect Local Customs: In ethnic minority gathering areas, remember to respect their culture and customs.
China Dragon Travel Special Recommendations
China Dragon Travel has deep experience in Xinjiang tourism for many years, carefully designing multiple deep travel routes to Burqin for international tourists. Whether you want to experience Burqin’s vitality in spring and summer, autumn’s brilliance, or winter’s tranquility, we can customize unforgettable travel experiences for you.
Our professional guide team is proficient in multiple languages and has deep understanding of Burqin’s history, culture, and local customs, able to reveal hidden stories of this land. China Dragon Travel’s special services include: private tour customization, small group tours, photography-themed travels, ethnic cultural experience tours, etc., meeting different travelers’ personalized needs.
China Dragon Travel promises not only to show you Burqin’s beautiful scenery but also to help you deeply experience local culture, establishing genuine connections with this land. We cooperate with local communities, supporting sustainable tourism development to ensure your travel is both wonderful and responsible.
Burqin, A Fairy-Tale Story Waiting for You to Write
Burqin, this border town located in China’s northwestern corner, is like a fairy-tale book waiting to be opened, with every page full of surprises. From Kanas Lake’s magical colors to Colorful Beach’s splendid beauty; from Hemu Village’s morning mist and cooking smoke to grassland stone figures’ millennia-old guardianship; from the Irtysh River’s westward flow to Burqin River’s quiet meandering – Burqin’s diverse aspects are enough to satisfy every traveler’s pursuit and imagination of beauty.
Whether you’re a relaxation-seeking vacationer, a nature-loving adventurer, or a learner curious about diverse cultures, Burqin can provide unforgettable experiences. This small town, with its open-mindedness, complete services, and unique charm, awaits international tourists’ arrival to write their own fairy-tale stories.
China Dragon Travel sincerely invites you to explore this “Fairy-Tale Burqin” with us, discover its hidden treasures, and create your exclusive memories.
