Qinghai Lake (Lake Kokonor), Xining: How to Visit and What to Do Nearby

Qinghai Lake is the largest lake in China by surface area, covering roughly 4,400 square kilometers at an elevation of 3,205 meters on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai province. The saline lake is surrounded by high-altitude grassland where Tibetan and Mongolian herders graze yak and sheep. Bird Island on the western shore hosts one of inland China's largest breeding colonies of bar-headed geese, cormorants, and brown-headed gulls from April through June. The lake is about 150 kilometers west of Xining by road, and a 360-kilometer cycling route around its perimeter draws thousands of riders each summer. When in Xining it's worth considering not only but another main attraction like Tibetan Medicine Culture Museum.