Nalati Grassland
One of the world's four great alpine valley grasslands, its Kazakh name meaning "the place where the sun is first seen", with summer pastures rolling along the Kunes River valley
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 08:00-19:00
- Ticket
- CNY 95 + shuttle bus
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
One of the world's four great alpine valley grasslands, its Kazakh name meaning "the place where the sun is first seen", with summer pastures rolling along the Kunes River valley; the "Sky Grassland" road spirals up to snow-peak meadows, the river-valley grassland with streams and forest belts is great for cycling, and Snow Lotus Valley is famed for high-altitude wildflowers framed against snowy peaks. In the Kazakh yurt camps you can experience a horseback tour, and clusters of ancient Wusun tombs are scattered across the area — the core destination of Ili's grassland stretch.
Getting there: self-drive from Xinyuan County (approx. 250 km)
Photos
More in Yining & Khorgas
- Kazanqi Folk Custom Tourism Area
A Uyghur and Uzbek quarter of Yining's old town, named after its blacksmith workshops ("Kazanqi" means pot casters), with stretches of blue walls, wooden doors and colorful courtyards; visitors call it "the Morocco of China"
- Liuxing Street (Six-Star Street)
A hexagonal, radial street district laid out to a German designer's plan in the 1930s, with six streets radiating from the central square in six directions; multiple ethnic groups have lived side by side here for nearly a century
- Ili River Bridge · Swan Spring
The mother river of the Ili Valley: the Ili River Bridge south of Yining is the No.1 sunset photo spot of this "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall" — at dusk the bridge's silhouette and golden ripples on the river share one frame
- Lin Zexu Memorial Hall
An exhibition hall commemorating Lin Zexu's historical legacy during his exile in Ili, showcasing his contributions to water conservancy (the Aqiwusu Canal), reclaiming wasteland for garrison farming, and surveying the frontier
- Han Princesses Memorial Hall
Commemorates the marriage-alliance history of Western Han princesses Xijun and Jieyou, who married the Kunmo (king) of the Wusun far away: the two Han princesses lived in the Ili River valley for decades, helping forge a Han–Wusun alliance to fight the Xiongnu together
- Huiyuan Ancient City
Military and political center of Xinjiang under the Qing dynasty: in 1762 the Qing government appointed the Ili General as Xinjiang's highest military and civil authority, who was stationed here and built the city — known in history as the 'First Prefecture of the Western Regions'