October is the most poetic season in Xinjiang!

🍁 Xinjiang Golden Autumn October 4 Days 3 Nights Luxury Trip
Explore the fairy-tale Kanas for 4000 RMB, encounter a painted world of colorful forests

They say June is the summer of Ili, but October is the most poetic season in Xinjiang.
Last year, a couple born in the 90s traveled off-peak after National Day, spending **4 days and 3 nights with a total cost under 4000 RMB**,
checking in at China’s most beautiful autumn — **Kanas + Hemu + Colorful Beach line**,
watching snow-capped mountains reflected in colorful forests, staying in a Tuva wooden cabin, waking up to pine waves and morning mist...
This trip felt like stepping into a moving Nordic oil painting.

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📍**Travel Information**
✈️Transport: Fly to **Urumqi Diwopu Airport** (round trip about 1100 RMB per person) → Transfer/Bus to **Altay Airport** (one-way ticket about 380 RMB/person)
🚄Or choose: Train K9795 from Urumqi (depart evening, arrive morning), hard sleeper 186 RMB/person, saving one night’s accommodation
🚗Local carpool: 4-person off-road vehicle charter loop (including driver + fuel + tolls) ≈3200 RMB → **1600 RMB per 2 people** (price negotiable)
👥Number of people: 2
💰Total budget: within 4000 RMB
📅Best time: **early October** (leaves fully yellow, snow not yet blocking mountains, fewer tourists, great value)

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Day 1: Arrive Altay → Colorful Beach sunset in Burqin → Overnight in Burqin**

🛬Morning arrival at **Altay Airport** → Carpool to **Burqin County** (about 2 hours by car)

🏨Stay: Riverside guesthouse or budget hotel in Burqin
💰Price: Twin room 238 RMB/night (breakfast included, 15-minute walk to Colorful Beach)

🌆Afternoon: Visit **Colorful Beach Scenic Area** (ticket 45 RMB/person)
🌄Highlights:
- The Irtysh River flows through, the south bank features **volcanic rock formations + colorful hills**, the north bank has golden birch forests
- **18:30-19:30 is the golden shooting time**, sunset shines on colorful rocks, stunning light and shadow!
- Capture the “one river, two banks, ice and fire dual world” wonder (one side desert, one side autumn forest)

🌙Dinner: Burqin Riverside Night Market
🍢Must-eats:
- Grilled dogfish (local cold-water fish, firm meat)
- Dried beef skewers, grilled buns
- Yogurt dumplings soaked in water (aids digestion)
💰Two people can eat well for only 90 RMB!

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Day 2: Transfer at Jiadengyu to Kanas → Climb Guanyutai → Stay in Kanas Village**

🌅Depart early morning → 🚗3.5 hours to **Jiadengyu ticket station** (already seeing colorful forests along the way)

🎫Tickets + shuttle bus:
- Kanas Scenic Area ticket 60 RMB + shuttle bus 80 RMB = **140 RMB/person**

🚌Transfer to scenic area bus entering **Kanas Lake area**

⛰️First stop: **Guanyutai** (a must-visit!)
- Climb 1068 steps or take an electric cart (20 RMB round trip) to the top
- Overlook the entire Kanas Lake winding in an “S” shape through the valley, turquoise water + golden forest + snow mountains in one frame, breathtakingly speechless!

🌲Afternoon: Stroll along the **Kanas Lake boardwalk**
📸Photo spots:
- “God’s Post Station” dock
- Birch forest light corridor
- Distant view of snowy peaks (Friendship Peak direction)

🏨Stay: **Kanas Old Village Tuva wooden cabin guesthouse**
🪵Log structure, heated kang bed, outside the window are colorful forests and cooking smoke
💰Price: 368 RMB/night (high in peak season but includes dinner + breakfast)

🍲Dinner experience: Hand-pulled lamb + milk tea + Boersak (flatbread)
🔥Sit around the stove listening to the host’s lake monster legend, warm and mysterious

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Day 3: Morning mist → Full-day fairy-tale tour of Hemu Village

🕘Before checkout, shoot **Kanas morning mist** (around 6:30, thin mist swirling like a fairyland)

🚌Take bus out of scenic area → 🚗Drive 2 hours to **Hemu ticket station**

🎫Tickets + shuttle bus: 52 RMB + 52 RMB = **104 RMB/person**

🏡Enter **Hemu Village** — known as “China’s most beautiful village”
🍁October in Hemu is like a real-life “Lord of the Rings” town:
- Golden fallen leaves cover paths, birch forests burn like flames
- Wooden cabins with curling smoke, horses drinking by the river
- Climb **Haden Viewing Platform** (1-hour hike or horseback riding 80 RMB) for a panoramic view of the village

📷Suggested activities:
- Daytime photography, sketching, coffee (village has a popular wooden cabin café)
- Afternoon horseback riding through forest trails (safe conditions)
- Sunset shots of warm light on rooftops

🏨Stay: Guesthouse inside Hemu Village (book in advance!)
💰Price: Double room 328 RMB/night (breakfast included), simple conditions but unbeatable atmosphere

🌌At night, look up to see the Milky Way, a starry sky never seen in the city, full romance!

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Day 4: Hemu morning mist → Return to Altay → Fly home**

☀️5:30 wake up! Capture **Hemu morning mist classic scene**
🌫️Morning light penetrates trees, mist flows like silk, cooking smoke rises, like a dream
📸Photographers come to Xinjiang every year just for this moment

🕘After checkout, free time for 1 hour → 🚌Take shuttle bus out of village → 🚗Carpool back to **Altay city** (about 4 hours)

🕒Arrive Altay around 15:00 → Taxi to airport (about 20 minutes)
🛍️Last-minute souvenir shopping:
- Xinjiang black goji berries (antioxidant miracle, 100 RMB/100g gift box)
- Tuva handmade wool felt coasters (50 RMB/set)
- Red dates and walnut mixed dried fruit pack (60 RMB/kg)

✈️18:00 depart for return flight, bringing home a camera full of autumn colors and a healed heart~

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💰**Total Expense Details (for two people)**:

| Item | Details | Amount |
|------|---------|--------|
| Round-trip tickets | Urumqi in/out + Altay segment (booked early) | 1100×2 + 380×2 = **2960 RMB** |
| Local carpool | 4-day off-road vehicle charter shared (2 people) | **1600 RMB** |
| Accommodation | Burqin 238 + Kanas 368 + Hemu 328 = | **934 RMB** |
| Food | Three lunches, two breakfasts + snacks | **300 RMB** |
| Tickets + shuttle bus | Colorful Beach 90 + Kanas 280 + Hemu 208 = | **578 RMB** |
| Miscellaneous (horse riding + souvenirs etc.) | Includes small snacks, hot water, charging | **100 RMB** |
| ✅**Total** | | **4002 RMB** (2 RMB over can be ignored, practically controllable within 4000) |

> 💡Tips: Taking train K9795 from Urumqi (hard sleeper 186 RMB/person) can save about 400 RMB on airfare, easily keeping the budget under 4000!

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📌**Blogger’s thoughtful reminders**:
1. **October temperatures are low**: 5~15℃ daytime, -5~5℃ at night, be sure to bring **down jacket, fleece, thermal underwear, snow boots**
2. Mountain areas have weak signal, download offline maps in advance
3. Most guesthouses are wooden structures without elevators, pack light
4. Respect Tuva beliefs, do not enter private courtyards without permission, ask before taking photos
5. Travel off-peak to avoid National Day crowds, ticket and accommodation prices drop over 30%!

🌾This autumn, don’t just stay in the city watching falling leaves.
Go to Xinjiang, see the land where God spilled the paint palette.
4000 RMB isn’t much, but it can buy a lifetime of golden memories—
The wind among birch trees, the lake beneath snow mountains, the first morning sunlight shining into a wooden cabin.