2 Days Essence Turpan Tour

    Drive 200km eastwards to Turpan today. On the way, visit Gaochang Ancient City, Astana Tombs, Thousand Buddha Caves. 

Gaochang Ancient City(40) The city's name means 'the King City'. It was founded during the first century B.C. and abandoned during the 15th century. Ascending a height to enjoy a distant view, you can see the whole city in a plane shape of an irregular square, which is divided, into three parts the exterior city, interior city and the palace city. The total area is about two million square meters. 

Astana Tombs(20) where the ancient people of the Gaochang city are buried. It is famous for its terracotta figurines and tomb paintings 

Thousand Buddha Caves(20): Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves is at the Mutou Valley of the Flaming Mountain. Buddha niches scatter around within the area of about 1 kilometer on the broken cliffs in the west side of the valley. 83 caves are preserved, 40 of which were decorated with murals. The total murals find here reach up to 1,200 square meters.

Visit Suleiman's Minaret, Karez Well,Jiaohe Ruins today, drive back to Urumqi in the late afternoon.

Suleiman's Minaret: This was built in 1777 to commemorate and praise Turpan's ruler, Emin Khoja, who had achieved brilliant military success in suppressing the armed rebellion

Karez Well: This irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels is considered to be one of the three great ancient projects in China. 

Jiaohe Ruins:Jiaohe is a famous historical and cultural city built with local conditions by ancient nationalities of Cheshi,Han, Uighur,etc. As a city consisting of earth constructions, it is seldom seen in the world both in ots size and good preservation situation. Now it is a major cultural site under state protection