14 Days in Hulunbuir

Dongshan airport sits 12 km from downtown; Beijing flights take about 2.5 hours, Harbin night sleepers 10-12. Ease in with the square, the museum and a Yimin River evening — two weeks need no rush.

1. hulunbeier genghis khan square
2. hulunbeier hulunbuir museum

Only 38 km north, so go deep — horse out to the Mergel bends (200 yuan and up by route), herder-family lunch of hand-pulled mutton, and either a yurt camp night or a 90 km push to Ergun.

1. hulunbeier jinzhanghan grassland

The overlook above Ergun city frames the river oxbows and Horseshoe Island; mornings are quiet, sunsets turn the water gold. Pair it with the city's small night market.

1. hulunbeier ergun wetland

The white-birch park is about 40 km north of Ergun, an hour of boardwalks; 50 km more brings you to Enhe for log cottages and warm leba bread from a Russian-descendant oven.

1. hulunbeier ergun birch forest
2. hulunbeier enhe russian township

About 70 km of border road, with the Hauer River gorge scenic area between; in Shiwei take the 30-minute Argun boat and watch the Russian bank slide past.

1. hulunbeier shiwei russian township

Roughly 80 km on via Taiping village and Eagle Beak; the park road runs nearly 100 km deep toward Bailu Island. Start early — mid-September amber is worth timing a trip around.

1. hulunbeier moerdaoga forest

Two hours southeast to Genhe, the self-styled cold pole; the Evenki camp about 4 km from town lets you feed reindeer with moss. Even August nights take a jacket.

1. hulunbeier aoluguya reindeer

About 250 km south (3 hours). The memorial park preserves the fortress tunnels the Japanese army started in 1934 — bring photo ID, and give the exhibits two hours.

1. hulunbeier hailar antifascist memorial

Some 200 km west lies Hulun Lake, over 2,000 square kilometers of water that named the region together with Lake Buir; the Xiaohekou shore is about 30 km short of Manzhouli. Overnight in the border city.

1. hulunbeier hulun lake

Passport required for the border zone — the fifth-generation gate rises 43 meters beside boundary marker No. 41, and the matryoshka square (about 100 yuan in high season) is best after dark.

1. hulunbeier manzhouli national gate
2. hulunbeier manzhouli matryoshka square

Twenty minutes from Manzhouli, the Zhalainuoer museum keeps the mammoth fossils unearthed in 1980 and the park scatters some 80 mammoth sculptures. Drive back to Hailar (200 km); in late December the ice Nadam opens nearby — recent editions have moved between the Huhe Nuoer grassland and the Yimin riverfront in Hailar.

1. hulunbeier zhalainuoer mammoth park

A long transfer day, 400-odd km and 6-7 hours, through New Barag Left Banner — pause at Ganjuur Temple, the region's largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery — then over into neighboring Arxan (Xing'an League). The next two nights sit outside Hulunbuir.

1. hulunbeier ganzhuoer temple

Tickets run 180 yuan plus 105 for park buses; crater lakes, lava fields and the Halha gorge fill a full day above 1,000 meters. Pack layers — nights stay cold even in July.

1. arxan forest park
2. arxan tianchi

The 1937 Japanese-era station is the town's postcard; soak the hot springs, then leave from Yiershi airport or ride about 250 km (3 hours) to Ulanhot for onward trains and flights.

1. arxan railway station