3 Day Urumqi and Turpan Tour

Upon arrival at the airport, our guide will meet you at the flight arrival and transfer you to the hotel. At the hotel the guide will go over the details of your upcoming trip and answer any questions you may have.

At afternoon, we will take a short cozy drive to Heavenly Lake. This alpine beautiful lake got fame as ‘jewel in the crown’ with sea level above 1900 meters. It is particularly refreshing for travelers arriving in Urumqi from the barren deserts of Xinjiang. To the east of the lake stands the Bogda Peak-the highest peak in the east part of Tian Shan Mountain, which is capped by glacier and snow glistening in the sun, finely contrasted with blue lake water, forming a fabulous scenery. 

 Today we will firstly back to Urumqi and visit Xinjiang Museum, and then Drive 300km eastwards to Turpan. Xinjiang museum is the main institution to collect and investigate the unearthed cultural relics and specimens in Xinjiang. There are more than 50 thousand pieces of various kinds of cultural relics stored in the museum, among them, the ancient mummies represented by ‘the Loulan Beauty', manuscripts in Chinese, Kharosthi, Qiuci, Yanji, Tibetan, Uigurian and other characters prevailed in ancient Westen Regions, the silk ,wool, cotton and hemp fabrics and folk rainment, etc., are unusual tidbits in the world. When we arrived in Turpan, our tour will start from Gaochang Ruins, its name means the King City. Gaochang ruins 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. Then we will visit another historical reserve, Astana Tombs, where the ancient people of the Gaochang city are buried. It is famous for its terracotta figurines and tomb paintings

Thousand Buddha Caves: 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.

Today we will have another day tour in Turpan start from visiting Suleimans Minaret, it was built in 1777 to commemorate and praise Turpans ruler, Emin Khoja, who had achieved brilliant military success in suppressing the armed rebellion. And then continue our sightseeing to Karez Well, this irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels is considered to be one of the three great ancient projects in China, you will be impressed by the intelligence of ancient people. Our last stop is Grape Valley, with its shady vineyards and trees, this provides a welcome place of relaxation amidst the hundreds of square miles of sand. You may take a seat under the vintage frames, savor various grapes, enjoy the beautiful Uigur girls in their ornate costumes, and be fully intoxicated by this refreshing palace of grapes. Taking a walk along the grape corridor, you will find drying rooms on nearby slopes. Every year over 300 tons of raisins are made here.

Our final tour will end up here, and now we will drive back to Urumqi, have a good rest.