Aletai (阿勒泰; Ālètài; also known as Altay) is a city in Xinjiang Province of China. Go 100 km or so in any direction except south and you hit a border: Mongolia to the east, Russia to the north, Kazakhstan to the west.

Get in

• 1 Aletai (Altay City), A county-level city and capital of Altai Territory in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in the western Altai Territory, at the southern foot of the Altai Mountains and at the northern edge of the Junggar Basin (Aviation, Automotive). Altai City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the county-level city and capital of Altai region, is located in the western part of Altai Krai, the southern foothills of Altai Mountains, the northern edge of Junggar Basin. Altai City has a total household registration population of 196,200 as of 2020, and as of June 2023, Altai City has four streets, five townships and six townships. City Hall in Jinshan Road Street.
  Altai City was in ancient times a herding place for ethnic minorities in China. According to historical records, the tribes that lived here in the Qin Dynasty were the Cypriots who migrated from the area of Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. Since the Western Han Dynasty, successive central governments have set up administrative organs here. On November 17, 1984, Altai County was abolished and replaced with Altai City. Altai is a Turkic word meaning "Golden Mountain", which is named for the gold deposits in the mountains. In 1989, it was approved by the State Council as an open city; there are many attractions in China, such as Birch Forest Park and Crane Riverside Scenic Area.
  Altai City has won more than 30 awards, including "origin of human skiing", "China Snow Capital", "China Excellent Tourism City", "first national ski resort", "national sports industry demonstration base", "China natural oxygen bar". In December 2018, Altai was awarded the Climate Ecology National Climate Mark.
  In 2023, Altai City achieved a gross regional product of 11.92 billion yuan, an increase of 4.8%. (updated Oct 2024)
• 2 Aletai (Altay City), A county-level city and capital of Altai Territory in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in the western Altai Territory, at the southern foot of the Altai Mountains and at the northern edge of the Junggar Basin (Aviation, Automotive). (updated Oct 2024)

By plane

The Aletai City airport (AAT) is 17 km from the town center and can be reached by taxi. The only destinations you can fly to are Urumqi, Xi'an, and Lanzhou. The airport only operates 5 months in each year and closes during winter.

• Altai Airport, southwest of Altai City, 10 km from the city center. Altai Airport is located southwest of Altai City, 10 km from the city center. Southern Airlines Xinjiang Company carries out Urumqi-Altai flights, Guangzhou-Zhengzhou-Altai and other routes. Altai Airport radiates to key scenic spots in the region, realizes ring (string) flight routes of Altai, Fuyun and Kanas regional airports, and opens direct or suspended routes with 11 cities in Urumqi, Kashgar and Klamay. (updated Oct 2024)

By train

Overnight trains arrive from Urumqi via Kuytun and Beitun. Allow 9 to 10 hours. Pickup a bus from the Aletai station to town ¥5.

• 3 Altai (Altay City), A county-level city and capital of Altai Territory in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in the western Altai Territory, at the southern foot of the Altai Mountains and at the northern edge of the Junggar Basin (Aviation, Automotive). On June 10, 2017, the Northern (Tun) Altai (LeTai) Railway opened and operated. From the Beitun city station, through the Baribagai station and Altai station 2 stations. On December 6, 2020, the Altai-Fuyun section of Afghanistan Railway opened and operated (updated Oct 2024)

By bus

The bus station is at Tuanjie Road.

• Burqin — takes about 1.5–2 hours, a bus every hour, costs ¥21
• Urumqi — takes about 12 hours, sleeper ¥160-170
• Yining — takes about 2 days
• Altai. By 2022, Altai City's road access mileage reached 1,364 kilometers, and the road network density reached 14 kilometers per hundred square kilometers. Altai city rural highway has 571 total miles of 1618.49 km, a total of 11 townships (towns), 102 formed villages, Xinjiang's first desert highway S21 Altai to Urumqi highway (updated Oct 2024)

Get around

By bus

Aletai buses cost ¥1 per person between any two stops within the town. Just put ¥1 in the container.

• 101 — from the bus station will to the city center, People's Square (人民广场) and near the PSB
• 1 — from the bus station to city center

Regional buses from Aletai

The following services were available from the bus station on Tuanjie Road (200m north of Yinshui Rd corner) as 5-Oct-2019. May change seasonally. Alternative spellings possible

Destination	Direction	Distance	Cost	Departure Times
Burqin	West	107km	¥24	10:00 and every hour until 19:00
Beitun	Sth West	60km	¥12	On demand as buses fill. Rail service.
Fuhai	Sth West	98km	¥23	On demand as buses fill for Beitun
Fuyun	Sth East	230km	¥60	10:00 and every hour until 17:00
Ginggil/Qinggil	Sth East	314km	¥74	10:00, 12:00, 16:00
Kaba/Habahe	Nth West	161km	¥36	11:00 via Burqin
Jeminay	West	196km	¥57	10:00, 11:00, 15:00, 16:00

See

• Birch Forest Park. Prime bird-watching spot as well as amply endowed with wildflowers. 
• Five Fingers Spring Scenic Area, Within the territory of Khandega Special Township, Altai City, about 5 km from the seat of Khandega Special Township Government. The spring water is cool and sweet, and it is worshipped as divine water by the local Mongolian herdsmen. Drinking this spring water can be auspicious and healthy, and bathing with spring water can cure many diseases. The whole area is surrounded by exposed granite, which has been eroded into turtle-like, frog-like, ghost-faced rocks by the icy water wind, which is really strange, thought-provoking, and a good place for scientific exploration and tourism. Altai residents take their families and families to avoid the cold on weekends, holidays and hot summer days.
  At the top of the fountain, there is a huge rock (commonly known as a probe stone), sticking out more than 3 meters east and looking up, the whole boulder is like a huge left hand palm, palm lines are clearly distinguishable, finger shape is appropriate. (updated Oct 2024)
• 1 Lake Tangba Water Park (塘巴湖), Tangba Lake is within the jurisdiction of Hongdun Township, 32 kilometers from Altai City. The bottom of the lake is flat, shallow to deep, and is a good place to swim. The sand in the lake is quartz sand, but it contains more mica, and under the sun, the golden glow, the sunset, the lake and the sunset reflect, and the water and the sky are one, making people fantasize. Every year, snow and ice melt, and birds flock to the shore to live in grass and flourish.
  Preliminary research includes yellow geese, hemp geese, cranes, swans, ducks, gulls and so on. The water is rich in a variety of delicious fish, mainly carp, silver carp and other fish.
  From December to March of the following year, the ice is 0.6 to 0.8 meters thick, when the earth and the lake are covered with snow, mountains are undulating, silver-clad, and a snowy landscape. Foxes and hares often haunt the area, making it a good place for ice cave fishing, hunting, and sports. (updated Oct 2024)
• 2 Kanas Scenic Area (喀纳斯风景区), A scenic spot in the middle of the Altai Mountains of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, bordering China on Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. The core essence of Kanas scenic area is the glacier is strongly shaved, and the ice and stone surface is blocked in the valley, forming the end surface ridge into a lake. The lake is 1375 meters above sea level. Lake shaped like a curved moon, 24.5 kilometers long, 1.9 kilometers wide, average depth of 90 meters, maximum depth of 188.4 meters, an area of 69,000 acres, water storage of 4 billion cubic meters, one of China's deep-water lakes. There are 55 scenic spots in Kanas scenic area, which are divided into 33 basic types, including Hanas National Nature Reserve, Kanas National Geopark, Baihaba National Forest Park, Jadenyu National Forest Park, Kanas Valley, Hemu Valley, Narin Prairie.
  It's also the location of 《My Altai》. (updated Oct 2024)

Do

Difficult to find anything to do here, it takes 1 hour to walk through the town, though doing some shopping is not a bad idea.

• Kanas Scenic Area. In May 2024, the TV series "My Altai" hit the air, bringing Altai a lot of play items. Altai local, especially cultural and tourism departments, responded quickly, combining local natural scenery, historical culture and folk customs, and launched "travel with film and television" multi-line play strategies. Born from the TV series "Rainbow Brack Village", it is now literally in front of people; under the "Batai Tree", tourists and herders dance together with enthusiasm… "My Altai" left Altai with an endless aftertaste of attractions. (updated Oct 2024)

Buy

All kinds of crystals.

Eat

Lamb shishkebab, in local dialect is called Kebab, and in Chinese is called Yangrouchuer. Beshbarmak, the traditional dish of the Kazakhs is a mixture of boiled lamb, potatoes, carrots and noodles usually eaten with the hands.

Drink

• Original Kazakh yoghurt, in Kazakh is called airan. In Chinese it is Suannai.

Sleep

• Aletai Diqu Hotel (Aletai Diqu Bingguan) (in city center, alone the Kelang River), ☏ +86 906 2122188. Local three star hotel, probably the best you can find, no one speak English there, the hotel restaurant is also decent. 
• Bus Station G.H (just beside the bus station). Clean rooms and hot water. Double ¥100. 
• Golden Bridge Hotel (in city center), ☏ +86 906 2127566. Local three star hotel, no one speak English. 
• Postal Hotel (next to the post office). Two star hotel. They do not speak English. Pay no attention to the marked prices and bargain it down to ¥140. 

Cope

Visas

• PSB - visa extensions. M-F 10AM-noon, 1PM-6PM. Can give you just 7-10 days and will probably send you to Urumqi. Nobody speaks English. ¥160. 

Go next

• Hanas National Nature Reserve — approximately four hours away by bus