Erhai is the lake the Dali basin is built around: roughly forty kilometres long and up to nine wide, shallow, and shaped like an ear, which is what the name means. The Cangshan range rises immediately to the west of it, reaching over four thousand metres, and the plain between mountain and water is where the Bai villages, the farmland and the old town of Dali are. The lake sits at about two thousand metres, and because it is large and shallow it reads more as an inland sea than as a lake, with weather, wind and a horizon of its own.
The shoreline
The western shore is the populated side, strung with villages and small towns from Xiaguan in the south to Shuanglang in the north, with Dali ancient town a few kilometres inland and Xizhou and its market further north. There are parks, causeways, small temples and lakeside pavilions at intervals, and the whole shore is walkable and cyclable on a continuous path in several stretches. The eastern shore is hillier, drier and far less developed, with a road that runs high above the water and views back across to the mountains.
The water and its problems
Erhai has suffered from the classic pressures of the last two decades: nutrient runoff from farmland and from tourism development, algal blooms and falling water quality. The provincial and local governments have responded with a large programme of protection, including the closure and relocation of buildings within a buffer zone along the shore, restrictions on farming practice and heavy investment in sewage treatment. Water quality has improved, but the lake remains a case study in the tension between development and a fragile body of water, and visitors will notice the cleared shoreline and the limits on building close to the water.
Practical notes
The lake is free to visit and the shore is open at all hours; individual parks and villages may charge small fees. The light is best in the morning, when the mountains are clearest, and the wind frequently rises in the afternoon. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons; summer is the rainy period and winter is clear and cold with strong winds. Cycling and boats are both available, and the northern towns around Shuanglang are the quietest places to stay on the water itself, though the development restrictions have changed what is available.
