Kuqa Grand Canyon

Let's visit the mysterious grand canyon and splendid red cliffs.

Introduction of Kuqa Grand Canyon:

Located in Kuqa county in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Kuqa Grand Canyon undoubtedly showcases another masterpiece of earth movement.

Kuqa Grand Canyon also known as the Kizilia Grand Canyon, in Uygur language Kizilia means "red cliffs" because the Grand Canyon is made up of huge red-brown mountains. 

What to visit in Kuqa Grand Canyon?

The canyon exhibits the typical character of yardang landform with its rocks covered by many ridges and grooves in either bright red or golden yellow. Years of wind erosion has sculpted the rocks into different shapes, stone pillars or empty castles that lined up along your walk through the canyon. 

The mysterious A-ai Grottoes is situated 2 kilometres away from the mouth of the canyon. The grottoes are suspended on the cliff, originally they can only climb a staircase more than 30 metres high. Nowadays the stone steps trestle road has been built. According to textual research, the grottoes were built in the mid-Tang Dynasty, compare with other grottoes, this grotto is quite small, less than 5 metres deep, and the roof of the cave is arched. There are remnants of murals on three sides of the grottoes, and Chinese characters are rare on the murals, which are quite different from hundreds of other Grottoes in the ancient Western Regions.

When is the best time to visit Kuqa Grand Canyon?

From June to October is the best time to travel to Kuqa. Among them, Kuqa County is situated in the warm zone, dry climate, less precipitation, hot summer, dry and cold in winter, annual temperature and sunshine are different, so it belongs to the warm zone continental arid climate. Due to the complexity of the landform, there are obvious regional climate differences.

In summer, with intense light and ultraviolet radiation, even if you wear sunscreen, you'll get a tan. Meanwhile, Aksu's snowscape will surprise you, if you would like to travel in winter. However, the dry and cold weather is not generally adaptable.

Other information about Kuqa Grand Canyon:

The place remained obscure until 1999 when a local farmer accidentally had run into a grotto in the canyon area to avoid heavy rain. Now, Kuqa Grand Canyon has become another landmark in Xinjiang.