Beitun Travel Guide

Beitun is a county level city directly under the jurisdiction of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. It is located in the northernmost part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with a total area of 911 square kilometers and a total population of 74,196 under the jurisdiction of 3 subdistricts and 4 towns. Beitun City is a multi-ethnic settlement with Han nationality as the main population and 25 ethnic minorities including Hui, Dongxiang, Kirgiz, Tibetan, Manchu, Kazak, Tujia, Uygur, Salar, Mongolian, Xibo, Miao, Yi, Russian, Buyi, Yao and so on.

Beitun City is about 580 kilometers away from Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and 60 kilometers away from Altay Airport. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the west, Russia to the north and Mongolia to the east. The transportation of Beitun City takes railway, high grade highway and aviation as the main lines and national and provincial highways as the auxiliary transportation framework. The national highway 216, provincial highway 318 and provincial highway 319 intersect here and the national and provincial arterial roads pass through five border ports, including Takeshiken Port, Hongshanzui Port, Kanas Port, Ahetu Buick Port and Jimunai Port. 

According to the Popular History of Xinjiang, after the appearance of ancient humans, the magical land of the Erhe River Basin began to be beautiful and rich. The records of rock paintings and stone carvings in the Yahe River Basin prove that this area was an important stage in the process of human civilization. Beitun is not only a place of war, but also an important station on the Grassland Silk Road. In Eurasia, the world's largest continental plate, it is also an important passage connecting Asia and Europe and the meeting point of Chinese and Western civilizations.

● What to do & where to go in Beitun

Beitun is adjacent to the Kanas Lake Scenic Area with Swiss scenery. There is the Dingshan Botanical Garden named "Genghis Khan Zhuangtai" and many tourist attractions such as the South Lake, Brentoh Sea Scenery Park, Baisha Lake, Singing Sand Mountain, Red Leaf Forest and Irtysh River Valley Forest.

Beitun has 8 national A-level scenic spots. Among them, there are one 5A(first level) scenic spot, 36 star level farmhouses, 6 star hotels, 1 famous tourist town with landscape characteristics, 1 national demonstration county of leisure agriculture and rural tourism, 1 China's most beautiful leisure village, 3 famous towns with the construction corps landscape characteristics, 1 national all-region tourism demonstration area and 4 key villages of national rural tourism.

● What to eat in Beitun

Xinjiang saute spicy chicken, mutton braised cake, stewed mutton, baking gluten, barbecue mutton, pilaf with lamb chops, pilaf with leg of lamb, pilaf with special lamb spine and so on

● Transportation 

Railway: about 12 hours to Urumqi. 

Highway: national and provincial trunk highways go directly to five border ports, including Takeshiken Port, Hongshanzui Port, Kanas port, Ahetubuick Port and Jimunai Port. It is approx 7 hours to Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 

Airport: Altay Xuedu Airport,60 km from Beitun City. There are flights to Urumqi, Kashgar, Yining, Korla, Aksu, Bole, Burjin, Karamay, Fuyun, Chongqing, Xian, Beijing and Zhengzhou.

● Climate

The climate of Beitun City is characterized by cold winter, dry and windy spring, long winter and short summer. The average frost free period is about 120 days and the shortest period is only 74 days. The extreme minimum temperature is -49 ℃, the average annual temperature is 3.6-3.9 ℃, the annual precipitation is 87mm-188.6 mm and the evaporation is 1,900-2,300 mm.