Jingpo Lake is 45 kilometres long but most visitors see only the northern end, near the waterfall and the main resort hotels. Boat tours from the lakeside hotels and from Jingpohu Town offer access to the quieter southern sections, where the forest comes down almost directly to the water and the reflections that gave the lake its name — Mirror Lake — are most likely to appear on calm mornings.
The lake is swimmable in summer at designated areas and is heavily used by domestic visitors on summer weekends. The boat tours typically cover the major viewpoints, the smaller waterfalls and cave entrances that can only be reached from the water, and the narrow channels between the forest-covered shores. A two- to three-hour boat circuit in the early morning, before the day-trippers arrive, is the best way to see the lake at its most still.