Tianshan is a huge mountain range stretching across Xinjiang. You cannot miss it when you visit the main areas around Urumqi, Tulpan and Hami. The mountain range brings water to these towns, a la oasis, for the famous Hami Melons, super juicy grapes and whatever Urumqi has - because that's the least interesting of all towns in all of Xinjiang. Basically Urumqi exists because it's got the water supply and is this whole hub where people go to find jobs, snowball effects kick in and suddenly you have a huge city. But anyhow, while not related to much to the mountains these all wouldn't exit if not for the water they supply.

The northwestern areas of Tianshan are pretty hard to reach on your own. Seeing that foreigners, even with residence permits will have a hard time accessing the place you may want to forget renting a car. Getting out there will be on a long tour, sanitation facilities aren't exactly great and while I wouldn't call it unsafe it just doesn't seem worth going unless you are hardcore hiker. There aren't any hiking trails so you'd be backcountry hiking like Canadians which...is GREAT but maybe not in Xinjiang in my opinion So unfortunately the best way to see it is to visit Tianchi just west of Urumqi. It's more or less Lake Louise of Tianshan but it's nowhere near as gorgeous. I wouldn't call it crappy like Pirin National Park (Google is for the lousy pictures) and a daytrip isn't too much to ask to visit. However, this isn't Banff so that's the ONLY thing you will see in the area and the rest is just dirt roads and police checks. 

To get to Tianchi you can either take a special bus from Urumqi People Square (check if it still runs though because it didn't for me), several in the morning from the Central Bus Depot (same as the highspeed railroad) and if you miss those then you can take an indirect bus but I don't recommend that for time wasting and having to pay extra again when you transfer. I mean, the last bus on the schedule was 11am so I think you shouldn't have an issue.

Tianchi is super touristy. It reeks tourism from the parking lot and it's so crowded you may wish you had never gone when you see it. There are tons of people trying to take pics and squeezing through the small wooden plank paths going around the side of the lake. You can choose to go all the way around it and it's gonna be nice and empty but the best views are from the front as seen in the picture. I spent 2 hours walking left to a boat dock, then then turned back and past the main arrival point to the other side but it was all the same thing in the end - plank walks, trash thrown away by tourists, weeds growing along the path and the hot sun backing wannabe hikers. You can also take a boat trip around the lake if that makes you happy - it's not cheap and won't get you much closer to the mountains seen in the picture.

So you've entered the core zone and got some of the "beauty" out of it, but you'll see no wildlife and none of the things that Tianshan got inscribed for. A quick read shows it's for the debatable "exceptional beauty" - a criteria I hate because it's so subjective and biased from the state party's own view, and evolution? Well, that's great but you can't find this while visiting and you'll have to take their word for it - or maybe really go backcountry hiking! I can see how the mountain range between two desert zones can lead to a more isolated evolution process but you'd have to have a guide point all this out on the hike or be a real expert on the topic.

Average visit but unfortunately a "must do" in Urumqi.