Arxan National Forest Park

Arxan sits in the Greater Khingan mountains where volcanic activity within the last few hundred thousand years left a field of craters, lava flows and dammed lakes now covered in larch and birch forest. The park strings its sites along a single road: Tianchi, a crater lake at over a thousand metres with no visible inlet or outlet; Diyi Tianchi and the Duolun lakes; the stone sea, a lava field of black rock stretching for kilometres; and Bright Moon Lake. The town takes its name from a Mongolian phrase for hot holy water, and its mineral springs, dozens of them at different temperatures, have been used for bathing for centuries. Winters here reach minus forty.

What you actually see

• The crater lakes - Tianchi and others filling volcanic vents.
• The stone sea - a black lava field spreading through the forest.
• The larch and birch forest - turning gold in September.
• The hot springs - dozens of mineral springs at varying temperatures in town.

When to go

June to September for the forest and lakes, with the gold larch in late September; January to February for snow, ice and hot spring bathing in extreme cold. Spring and late autumn are transitional and many facilities close.

Honest expectations

The park is long and thin, and getting between sites requires the shuttle bus system, which adds cost and time. Arxan is remote, with a full day of travel from Beijing. Winter is genuinely severe, with temperatures below minus thirty routine.

Nearby

The Hulunbuir grasslands lie north; the Mongolian border is west.