We left Hemu Village on day 10 of our Xinjiang trip, headed for Kanas Lake. It’s the next stop on the same Altay/Kanas region loop. That loop started with our drive up the Ahe Highway to Hemu and three days exploring the village itself, most recently Hemu’s sunrise, the Hundred Year Old House and Hongbasi Grassland. Getting from one to the other turned out to be more involved than we expected, and most guides skim past it. This post covers exactly how we got there. It also covers what Kanas Lake actually cost us and the permit admin we had to sort out along the way.
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Quick facts: Hemu to Kanas Lake
- Transfer: no self-driving allowed. Take the twice-daily bus from Hemu to Jiadengyu, or a shared car (we paid 50 CNY/8 USD per person for a sedan).
- Journey time: around 2 hours by sedan, longer by bus (capped at 40 km/h on this stretch).
- Kanas entry ticket: 230 CNY (32 USD) for a one-entry adult ticket, valid 48 hours, includes the round-trip Jiadengyu-Kanas shuttle and in-park buses.
- Permits: none needed for Kanas Lake or Hemu Village. You only need a separate border permit if you’re continuing on to Baihaba Village.
- Where we stayed: Fire Fox Homestay (火狐狸民宿), Kanas New Village, 1,361 CNY (189 USD) per night for a 3-person room.
Leaving Hemu for Kanas Lake: getting to Jiadengyu
Kanas can’t be reached from Hemu without going through Jiadengyu first. Jiadengyu (贾登峪) is the gateway town for the whole Kanas area, and just like Hemu, there’s no self-driving in. Everyone takes a designated bus or car.
We took the 10am park bus from Hemu Village back to the Hemu Tourist Service Centre. From there we had two options for the next leg: the direct bus (11am and 4pm departures, 38 seats but usually only around 20 passengers since most tourists self-drive) or a shared car.
A guy at the bus stop said he worked at the tourist centre and offered us a lift, since he was heading to Jiadengyu for work anyway. He quoted us the same price as the bus, 50 CNY (8 USD) per person. My mum gets car sick, so a sedan sounded better than a bus, and he offered to take corners slowly for her, which sealed it. Everyone in the car paid their own way, including one more passenger we picked up along the route. Our group of three came to 150 CNY (21 USD) total.
We can’t say for certain how common this kind of shared-ride arrangement is, but it worked well for us and cost exactly the same as the bus would have.
The route has changed, and it takes longer than it used to
There used to be a direct 1-hour route between Hemu and Jiadengyu. As of 2026, we were told the government closed it to everyone except locals. The reason was a high number of traffic incidents caused by tourists stopping mid-road for photos and picnics. Everyone now takes a detour that runs 2 to 3 hours instead.
It took us about 2 hours in the sedan, helped by not being on a bus. A 40 km/h speed cap applies to buses on this stretch for safety, a limit that doesn’t apply to smaller vehicles. We hit fairly typical morning traffic in the last 5 km before Jiadengyu. Our driver told us the pattern reverses in the afternoon, with traffic heading away from Jiadengyu.
One tip worth knowing before you go: foreign passport holders need to collect a physical ticket before passing through the gates to the transfer bus into Kanas. Budget a few extra minutes for that at Jiadengyu.
Kanas Lake ticket prices and what they actually cover
A Kanas one-entry adult ticket costs 230 CNY (32 USD), valid for 48 hours, and covers the round-trip shuttle from Jiadengyu plus all in-park buses around Kanas Village. We paid 300 CNY (42 USD) total for two senior (60+) tickets for my parents.
We arrived at Kanas Tourist Service Centre at 12:45pm, about 2 hours after leaving Hemu. The round-trip shuttle bus alone runs 75 CNY (10 USD) per person if bought separately. It’s already folded into the 230 CNY combined price, though, so most people won’t pay for it twice.
One thing worth getting right in the terminology: this is technically a “one-entry” ticket. It covers a single round of entering the park and using the shuttle within 48 hours. If you’re staying outside the park (in Jiadengyu, for example) and need to come back in on a second day, you’d need the separate two-entry ticket instead, which costs more. We stayed inside Kanas New Village for all three nights, so the one-entry ticket was exactly right for us and we never needed to re-enter from outside.
Seating tip: our driver recommended sitting on the right-hand side of the bus from Jiadengyu to Kanas for the best scenery. There are river views for about the first 20 km. Closer to Kanas, the views of the Three Bays switch to the left-hand side.
The journey from the tourist service centre to Kanas Village itself is 32 km, about an hour. We left around 1pm and arrived at 2pm at the Integrated Tourist Centre.
Settling in near Kanas Lake: Kanas New Village and the permit admin we had to sort out
We were staying in Kanas New Village since we hadn’t managed to book anything in the old village. Accommodation books out fast here in peak season, same as Hemu. We’d locked ours in 1 to 2 months ahead, which lines up with what’s generally recommended.
Our accommodation, Fire Fox Homestay (火狐狸民宿), sent a car to pick us up from the Kanas Tourist Service Centre. We checked in at 2:30pm.
Sorting out permits for the rest of the trip
Kanas Lake itself needs no permit. After a break with snacks for lunch, we hopped on the in-park bus back to the tourist service centre to sort out border permits for our next stop after Kanas. I already had a permit covering Baihaba Village (白哈巴), near the Kazakhstan border, since that’s where we’re planning a day trip next. As a foreigner wanting to visit Baihaba specifically, you need to apply for a border permit in person with your passport. Most of the year you do this at the tourist service centre. In winter it moves to the police station in the old village.
We weren’t sure if we needed a separate permit for the stop after Kanas, so we asked around to get it sorted properly. In hindsight, it would have saved a lot of hassle to sort all our Xinjiang permits in one go back in Ürümqi or Altay. China’s permit jurisdiction runs by city, county, town, and village level. Each level can authorise different things, which makes it genuinely confusing to figure out on the fly.
Our next stop after Kanas is Bole (博乐), where we’re staying to do a day trip out to Sayram Lake (赛里木湖). After a lot of asking around, we confirmed we didn’t need a permit for either Bole or Sayram Lake. My mum had been stressed about it. Travelling without a required permit risks getting turned away at checkpoints or blocked from boarding trains. Your passport carries your permits and doubles as your ID for travel within China.
Our first look at Kanas Lake
At 6pm we took the blue in-park bus to Kanas Lake, getting off at Kanas Lake Station. The village stretches along both sides of the lake and river. The lake sits at the top, and the river runs down through the middle, a bit like a balloon on a string.
We walked down from the lake along the river, and the views were genuinely incredible. From there we continued along the river to the old village, then caught a bus back to the tourist service centre and on to the new village. It’s the same system as Hemu: the tourist service centre is the hub every bus route runs through.
Dinner and where we stayed at Kanas Lake
We had dinner at 9pm at 鹿呜山居 (Lù Míng Shān Jū), a Xinjiang restaurant near our accommodation in the new village. Our order included 烤包 (kǎobāo, a baked meat pastry, a bit like a Chinese empanada) for 8 CNY (1 USD) and rice for 10 CNY (1 USD) across two orders. We also had a lamb soup (缸子羊肉汤) that came out basically the size of a washbasin for 198 CNY (28 USD), plus stir-fried romaine lettuce for 38 CNY (5 USD).
The food was decent, though the lamb in the soup was less tender than other places we’d tried. The whole meal ran expensive, in line with the generally high cost level we found across both Hemu and Kanas.
We booked our stay at Fire Fox Homestay through Trip.com, listed there as “Adherent · Fire Fox | Mountain House Light Luxury Vacation Homestay (Kanas).” It cost 4,083 CNY (569 USD) across 3 nights in a 3-person room. That works out to 1,361 CNY (189 USD) per night. The room was really clean and nicely laid out, and felt a bit more western style than most places we’d stayed so far. The biggest surprise was a giant Marshall Acton II speaker sitting in the room, a genuinely unexpected perk. There was also a teapot and a couple of small cups provided. We appreciated it a lot, since we’re the kind of family that travels with a bag of assorted loose-leaf tea wherever we go.
What our day 10 trip to Kanas Lake cost us
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Shared sedan, Hemu to Jiadengyu (50 CNY/person x3) | 150 CNY (21 USD) |
| Kanas entry ticket, adult (1) | 230 CNY (32 USD) |
| Kanas entry ticket, senior 60+ (2) | 300 CNY (42 USD) |
| Dinner at 鹿呜山居 | 254 CNY (35 USD) |
| Accommodation at Fire Fox Homestay (1 of 3 nights) | 1,361 CNY (189 USD) |
| Total (3 people) | ~2,295 CNY (~320 USD) |
Accommodation here is one night of three, since the Fire Fox Homestay stay spans days 10 to 12 of our trip.
FAQ
Do you need a permit to visit Kanas Lake as a foreigner?
No. Kanas Lake itself needs no permit, just your passport and entry ticket. You only need a permit for the border area at Baihaba Village specifically. Baihaba sits within the wider Kanas region, but the rules there differ, due to its location near the Kazakhstan border.
How do you get from Hemu Village to Kanas Lake?
You can’t drive yourself. Take the park bus from Hemu Village to the Hemu Tourist Service Centre, then either the direct bus to Jiadengyu (two departures a day) or a shared car. From Jiadengyu, you transfer again into Kanas on the in-park shuttle included with your entry ticket.
How much is the Kanas Lake entry ticket?
A one-entry adult ticket costs 230 CNY (32 USD), valid for 48 hours. It includes the round-trip shuttle bus from Jiadengyu to Kanas plus the in-park buses. We paid 300 CNY (42 USD) total for two senior tickets for my parents.
Is the direct road from Hemu to Jiadengyu still open?
Not to tourists as of our trip. We were told the government closed the old 1-hour direct route to everyone except locals after repeated traffic incidents from tourists stopping mid-road for photos. Everyone now takes a 2 to 3 hour detour instead.
Do you need a permit for Bole or Sayram Lake after Kanas?
No. We confirmed with local staff that neither Bole nor Sayram Lake required a permit for us, unlike Baihaba.
Made this trip yourself, or planning to? Share your own Hemu to Kanas experience, or drop a question this guide missed, in the comments below.
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