Nilek, in Mongolian, means "baby". Nilek County is located in the northwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, bordering Yining County in the west, Gongliu County across the river in the southwest, Xinyuan County in the southeast, Hejing County in the east and Jinghe County in the north. The county extends from east to west in a long strip, like willow leaves, with a total area of 10130 square kilometers. The county governs 1 town and 10 townships (including 1 ethnic township). The northern part of the territory is Kogurqin Mountain, Bolekonu Mountain, and Ilianhabiga Mountain, while the southern part is Abule Mountain, with four mountains and one valley, high in the east and low in the west, high in the north and low in the south, and inclined from northeast to southwest.

Nilek County has jurisdiction over 5 towns, 6 townships, 1 field and 1 regiment, and is composed of 32 ethnic groups, including Han, Kazakh, Uyghur, Hui and Mongolian. In October 2018, the People's Government of Xinjiang Autonomous Region agreed to withdraw Nilek County from the poverty-stricken county. In 2019, the annual local GDP of Nilek County was 5.9 billion yuan, up 4% year on year. In 2019, the registered residence population of Nilke County was 179506. On July 29, 2020, it was included in the naming list of national health towns (counties) in the 2017-2019 cycle.

The tourism resources of Nilek County can be divided into five major categories and 17 basic types, including geographical and cultural landscape, water landscape, biological landscape, historic sites and buildings, leisure and fitness. According to its characteristics and distribution, it can be divided into three major scenic spots: the eastern Tangbulabali scenic spot, the central Jirentai valley scenic spot, and the western Kashgar valley scenic spot.