Alashankou Travel Guide

Alashankou City, subordinate to Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is built according to Alashankou port, located between Alatou Mountain and Baluk Mountain. It is adjacent to Kazakhstan in the north, Tori County in Tacheng District in the east, Aibi Lake, Jinghe County and Shuanghe City in the south, Bole City in the west. The total area is 1249 square kilometers. Alashankou is a county level city built on Alashankou port, relying on port transportation. It is 79 kilometers away from Bole City, capital of Bortala Prefecture, 477 kilometers and 500 kilometers away from Urumqi by railway and highway respectively and 12 kilometers away from the neighboring Kazakhstan Dostek Port. The total area of Alashankou City is 1,249 square kilometers. Jurisdiction of Alatou Street and Aibi Lake Town, resident population of 11,000. The main ethnic group is Uyghur, in addition to the Han, Mongolian, Kazakh, Hui and other 24 ethnic groups.

In May 2011, The State Council approved the establishment of the Alashankou Comprehensive Free Trade Zone. In December 2012, Alashankou City was established.

The topography of Alashankou slopes from northwest to southeast, between the Alatou Mountain and Baruch Mountain. Between 190 and 340 meters above sea level.

● What to do & where to go in Alashankou 

Ebinur Lake Wetland National Nature Reserve covers an area of 2,670.8 square kilometers. Ebinur means "toward the sun" in Mongolian. Because it is a salt lake, people also called it the Salt Lake.

Sayram Lake, known as the "Clear Sea" in ancient times, is located in the North Tianshan Mountains in Bole City, Bole Prefecture, Xinjiang Province, China. It is close to Huocheng County, Ili Prefecture. It is a mountain Lake with beautiful scenery. The lake is 2071.9 meters above sea level, 30 kilometers long from east to west and 25 kilometers wide from north to south. It covers an area of 453 square kilometers with an average depth of 46.4 meters and a maximum depth of 106 meters. The water storage capacity is 21 billion cubic meters. Best time to visit: Sayram Lake is at its best from late May to mid-June when the snow on the top of the mountain has not completely melted and streams flow through the grassland.

Sheril means "Yellow Hillside" in Mongolian. It is a newly added nature reserve in Xinjiang with a total area of 314 square kilometers. The west is the middle and high mountain belt covering an area of 220 square kilometers. The central part is a low and medium mountain area covering an area of 36 square kilometers. It is a natural corridor connecting the east and west parts, thus maintaining the integrity of the natural environment in the region.  The east is for low mountains and desert plain Gobi zone, the total area of 58 square kilometers.

Rocks Valley Scenic Area is located on the Chinese side of the China-Kazakhstan border about 38 kilometers northeast of Bole City. Between 780 and 1350 meters above sea level, it is composed of more than a dozen valleys, extending 18 kilometers from east to west, about 13 kilometers wide from north to south. The largest width is 22 kilometers, the total area is 230 square kilometers. It is the world's largest granite porphyry strange rock group scenic spot.

Ganjia LAKE National Haloxylon Persicum Nature Reserve is located in the western part of Junggar Basin and belongs to Ebinur Lake Basin in topographic units, covering Wusu, Jinghe and Toli counties and cities. The reserve area is 546.66 square kilometers. It is the world's second, China's largest wild secondary forest and haloxylon persicum reserves. More than 270 species are covered in the control area, 32 of which are endangered.

● What to eat in Alashankou 

Youtazi steamed bread, Kazakh milk tea, pilaf, hand-served mutton, braised or steamed trout, Bole tea.

● Transportation

Railway: Alashankou City is 477 kilometers and 500 kilometers away from Urumqi, capital of the region.

Highway: Alashankou City is 79 kilometers away from Bole, capital of the prefecture, 500 kilometers away from Urumqi, capital of the region and 12 kilometers away from the neighboring Kazakhstan Dostek Port. 

Airport: Bole Alashankou Airport is 18 kilometers from Bole City in the west, 57 kilometers from Alashankou Port in the north and 30 kilometers from the China-Kazakhstan border.  It has flights to/from the six cities within the region such as Aksu, Altay, Urumqi, Korla, Kashgar and Karamay.

● Climate

Alashankou City is an extremely arid temperate desert type with long sunshine time and rich heat. The annual sunshine hours are 4,444.9 hours, the sunshine percentage is 60%, the annual average temperature is 8.5℃, the annual average wind above grade 8 is 166 days and the wind direction is mostly northwest.