Why Go
A Lake the Size of a Small Sea
1. Water, grass and mountain
Sayram Lake is fed by glacial meltwater and by rain and snow from the surrounding ranges. It sits at about 2,070 metres in the northern Tianshan, and from the shore the water changes from pale to deep blue across the surface.
The ground to the shore is grassland. There are low rocks and gravel at the water's edge, boardwalks along parts of the shore, and wide, open views of the lake against distant snow-topped ranges.
2. On an old route
The lake lies along the northern branch of the historic Silk Road. The surrounding mountains were thinly settled, but nomad groups passed through the valleys to the east, and rock art, tombs and old way stations are scattered around the shore.
A 13th-century Taoist monk, Qiu Chuji, described the lake as spanning two hundred li and ringed by snowy summits, calling it a heavenly pool.
