Turpan 吐鲁番Tǔlǔfān

About Turpan

The Turpan Basin sinks to 154 m below sea level at Aiding Lake, the lowest point in mainland China. Snowmelt from the Tian Shan reaches its oases through karez, hand-dug underground channels, watering the vines of Grape Valley and the airy brick houses where grapes are dried into raisins. Around the oasis lie the ruined Silk Road cities of Jiaohe and Gaochang, the Bezeklik cave murals above the Flaming Mountains, and the patterned brick Emin Minaret.

What to eat in Turpan

• Turpan raisins (吐鲁番葡萄干)

Featured places in Turpan

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  Turpan & Jiaohe Ruins 吐鲁番交河故城

  A 2,000-year-old city carved out of a river island, in China's hottest basin

  Best time: Apr–May, Sep–Oct · Time needed: 1–2 days · 4A scenic area · National heritage site · UNESCO World Heritage

Listed sites in Turpan

16 sites in Turpan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Grape Valley 葡萄沟 5A scenic area
  Grape Valley is a green gorge cut into the Flaming Mountains on the north-eastern edge of Turpan, watered by the snow-fed Buyluk River and lined with vineyards, orchards and Uyghur villages.
• Flaming Mountains 火焰山 4A scenic area
  The Flaming Mountains are a long ridge of bare red sandstone across the Turpan basin, so deeply gullied that at certain times of day they look as if they are on fire; in the novel Journey to the West the Monkey King has to borrow a magic palm-leaf fan to put out their flames.
• Gaochang Ruins 高昌故城 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  Gaochang, also known as Qocho, was the leading city of the Turpan basin for some 1,400 years: capital of the Gaochang kingdom, a Tang county seat and then capital of the Uyghur Qocho kingdom, until war destroyed it in the 14th century.
• Huoshanhong Winery 火山红酒庄 4A scenic area · on the map
  A modern winery and leisure resort in Turpan's Gaochang District, where visitors ride sightseeing carts round the estate.
• Karez Folk Custom Park 坎儿井民俗园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A company-run park opened in 2000 on the West Gate karez, an old underground irrigation channel on the western edge of Turpan's old town.
• Kumtag Desert Scenic Area, Shanshan 库木塔格沙漠 4A scenic area · on the map
  The dunes of the Kumtag Desert, whose Uyghur name means 'sand mountains', run right up to the southern edge of Shanshan town.
• Loulan Winery 楼兰酒庄 4A scenic area · on the map
  A working winery of the Turpan Loulan Winery company at Shuangshuimo in Shanshan County, rated as a 4A scenic area in 2023.
• Turpan Karez Paradise 坎儿井乐园 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  Turpan's karez are hand-dug underground channels that carry snowmelt from the Tian Shan across the gravel plain to the oases, and this park, opened in 1992 by the Xinjiang Karez Research Association, is a place to see one from the inside.
• Turpan Museum 吐鲁番博物馆 4A scenic area
  Turpan Museum is one of China's national first-grade museums and holds finds from the oasis's ancient cities and cemeteries.
• Tuyoq Valley 吐峪沟 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  Tuyoq is an oasis village of mud-brick Uyghur houses in a gorge through the Flaming Mountains, with Buddhist cave temples cut into the valley walls above it.
• Astana Cemetery 阿斯塔那古墓群 National heritage site
  Astana was the main burial ground of the people of Gaochang from about the 4th to the 8th century, laid out in family plots on the gravel plain a few kilometres from the old city.
• Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves 柏孜克里克千佛洞 National heritage site
  Cut into a cliff above the Mutou Valley in the Flaming Mountains, Bezeklik was a Buddhist cave monastery used from about the 5th to the 14th century and served as a royal temple of the Uyghur Qocho kingdom; 83 caves survive, more than 40 with murals.
• Boxiha Caves 伯西哈石窟 National heritage site · on the map
  A small Buddhist cave temple of the Uyghur Qocho kingdom in the Mutou Valley area near Bezeklik, with ten caves and stupa remains on the ground above.
• Emin Minaret 苏公塔 National heritage site
  The Emin Minaret is a tapering tower of sun-dried brick built around 1777 in honour of Emin Khoja, a Turpan ruler who sided with the Qing; it is also called the Sugong Tower in Chinese.
• Liuzhong Ancient City Ruins 柳中古城遗址 National heritage site · on the map
  Liuzhong, today's Lukqun, was a garrison town from the Eastern Han dynasty, when Ban Yong based his Western Regions headquarters here in AD 123, and later a Tang county seat.
• Taizang Pagoda Ruins 台藏塔遗址 National heritage site
  Taizang Pagoda is the ruin of a large Buddhist temple-stupa from the Tang and Uyghur Qocho periods, a square mud-brick and rammed-earth mass that still rises in stepped tiers lined with niches, some with traces of paint.

Getting to Turpan

Train, flight and driving times from the cities most visitors come from, with stations, fares and how many run a day; each opens the full comparison.

• Ürümqi 乌鲁木齐 high-speed train 51 min, 29 a day, from ¥49

All routes

Trips with Turpan

• The Silk Road by train: Xi’an to Dunhuang, Turpan and Ürümqi 11 days · Xi'an, Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang, Turpan and Ürümqi
• Xinjiang: Ürümqi, Turpan, Kashgar, Karakul Lake and Kanas 11 days · Ürümqi, Turpan, Kashgar and Burqin

On the map

Open Turpan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)