Golmud

Golmud, literally meaning 'a place with congregated rivers' in Mongolian, is the third largest city inferior to Xining and Lhasa in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Enjoying an advantageous location to the west of Xining, east of Xinjiang, south of Dunhuang, and north of Lhasa, the city is often select as a rest stop for travelers to the west.

The city is at an average altitude of about 2,800 m. (9,186 ft.), situated in the south of 'Treasure Bowl' - Qaidam Bain and leans against the great Kunlun Mountain, which endows it with spectacular natural scenery and abundant natural resources. Here you can see year-round snowy mountains, immense deserts, extensive grasslands, rich oasis, steep icy peaks, multitudinous lakes, deep valleys, lucid springs, salt bridge, and peculiar Yardang Landform.

The most unique attractions of Golmud are Kunlun Mountain and Charham Salt Lake. Kunlun Mountain is renowned as 'Father of All Mountains' and is the holy land of Taoism. Charham Salt Lake is the largest salt lake in China and the second in the world. The lake covers an area of 5,800 sq km. (1.4 million acres), well-known for the wonder of 'Ten-thousand-Zhang Salt Bridge' (Zhang is a Chinese unit, 1 zhang equals about 3.3 m. (10.8 ft.)). It refers to the 32 km. (about ten thousand zhang)-long Xining-Golmud Road traversing the lake, which is completely paved with crystal salts.

The city has opened several distinctive tour routes, such as Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Exploration by auto, Southern Silk Road, Marco Polo Journey, Kunlun Mountain, Mongolian grassland tour, and others. So a sojourn in the city before going to the surrounding cities will add much flavor to your trip.   

 Transportation
Golmud is about 845 km. (525 mi.) away from Xining, with air, train and coach all available for traveling between. Besides, there are also flights to Xian, trains to Lhasa and Lanzhou, and coaches to Lhasa and Dunhuang in Golmud.

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