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Turpan Private Day Trip to the Ruins of Gaochang Ancient City, Bezklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Flaming Mountain, Emin Minaret & Karez Wells

Turpan Bezklik Thousand Buddha Caves

Turpan Bezklik Thousand Buddha Caves

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Book from: $ 88.00 per person
1 person - per adult:
$438.00
  • 2 persons - per adult: $248.00
  • 3 persons - per adult: $188.00
  • 4 persons - per adult: $148.00
  • 5 persons - per adult: $138.00
  • 6 persons - per adult: $128.00
  • 7 persons - per adult: $118.00
  • 8 persons - per adult: $108.00
  • 9 persons - per adult: $98.00
  • 10 persons - per adult: $88.00
Child (Age 2-12): 80% of adult price
Infant (Age 0-2): free
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Tour Highlights
• Wander through the Ruins of the Ancient City of Gaochang
• Visit Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves containing fascinating Buddhist art work dating from the 6th to 14th centuries
• Pass by the surreal sight of the Flaming Mountains, a scorching set of red sandstone ridges
• Admire the Central Asian-style Emin Minaret, intricately sculpted with traditional floral patterns
• Explore Turpan's ingenious ancient Karez water system, one of the oldest irrigation systems in the world
• Daily round-trip transport with experienced English speaking guide and hotel pickup/drop-off service

About This Tour
• Departure: Daily departing from Turpan
• Tour Duration: Approximately 8 hours.
• Guide Languages: Chinese & English.
• Pick-up Time: Between 07:00 and 10:00, choose a departure time most suitable for you.
• Pick-up & Drop-off Place: Your self-booked accommodation in Turpan
• Advice on Meals: Lunch is not included in this tour, please have a big breakfast and pack snacks just in case you get a bit peckish during sightseeing. If you want to try authentic local food for lunch, please feel free to inform your guide who is always ready to help.

Tour Itinerary at a Glance
• Pick up from your self-booked accommodation in Turpan
• Visit the Ruins of the Ancient City of Gaochang (1 hour)
• Bezklik Thousand Buddha Caves (1 hour)
• Stop by the Flaming Mountain
• Lunch on your own
• Visit the Emin Minaret (30 minutes)
• Visit Karez Wells (45 minutes)
• Transfer back to your hotel in Turpan

Tailor This Tour to Meet Your Needs and Requirements
• If you want to modify this itinerary, please feel free to contact GoGrandChina by WhatsApp (+86-18309280878), Wechat (+86-18309280878) or email (info@GrandChinaTravel.com), we will create a tailor-made tour package for you.

Tour Prices (US$ Per Person)

1 person 2 people 3 people 4 people 5 people 6 people 7 people 8 people 9 people 10 +
$438 $248 $188 $148 $138 $128 $118 $108 $98 $88


Price Remark
• Prices are not valid during China's Official Holidays (such as National Day & Chinese New Year Festival etc.).

Price Inclusions
• Professional English language speaking private tour guide
• Air-conditioned vehicle with private experienced driver
• All admission tickets to sightseeing places
• All government taxes

Price Exclusions
• Hotel accommodation.
• Your personal expenses.
• Meals are excluded allowing you flexibility on menu.
• Travel insurance is not included. Please purchase before your trip to provide for any unforeseen circumstances.
• Gratuities to guide & driver. They are customary and would be of great encouragement and reward for quality service.

Additional Info
• Confirmation will be received at time of booking.
• Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately.
• The itinerary is subject to change due to traffic conditions or bad weather.
• The itinerary is flexible; changes can be made upon written request from travelers.
• IMPORTANT: It is required by the government regulations that travelers must provide their name, gender, nationality, passport number and date of birth to their tour operator upon booking a tour. Failure to do so could result in being denied access or admittance to sites and attractions during sightseeing. When you book this tour, please complete all required fields at checkout. Please bring your passport with you on the tour.

Cancellation Policy
• You may cancel the booking and receive a full refund up to 24 hours prior to the date of your tour.
• Cancellation within 24 hours or after the tour begins is non-refundable.
• Cancellation request will be confirmed in 2-5 business days, you will receive your refund within 14 working days.

Why Travelers Have to Choose GoGrandChina Private Tours?
• Choose your most suitable departure time, whether you are an early bird or you prefer sleeping in.
• GoGrandChina private tours are more flexible, allowing you to adjust everything on your trip to your wishes.
• GoGrandChina tour guides will be at your service to make sure you get the most from each destination. They are there for you and are responsible for making your journey special – and your needs always come first.
• GoGrandChina offers comfortable and luxury vehicles with a private & experienced driver who’s always by your side and ready to take you to your next destination.
• No shopping stops & factory visits, no chance of getting ripped off.
• No hidden costs, rest assured that there are no nasty surprises.

Details

Know Before You Go
• Keep your passport on you constantly. It might be needed to buy entrance tickets.
• Add us on WeChat (+86-18309280878) or WhatsApp (+86-18309280878) to reach GGC service staff at anytime.
• Pick-up time, guide's name & contact information will be confirmed by WhatsApp, WeChat or email.
• Your guide will hold GoGrandChina welcome sign with your name, waiting at the appointed meeting place.
• Meals are not included; please feel free to ask your guide for recommendations.
• Please note that if you book accommodation on Airbnb, you may not be picked up and dropped off at the door.
• We provide up to 20 minutes of waiting. If you don’t show up and cannot be contacted, this tour will be cancelled and you will receive no refund.

Hotel Pick-up & Transfer to the Ruins of the Ancient City of Gaochang
Your private guide will be holding GoGrandChina pick-up sign and waiting for you in your hotel lobby (or other appointed meeting place) at the appointed time. You will be transferred to the Ruins of the Ancient City of Gaochang (30 minutes).

Visit the Ruins of the Ancient City of Gaochang (1 hour)
The ancient city of Gaochang was built as a garrison town in the first century B.C. By the 14th century, the city was damaged and abandoned due to warfare between Mongols and Uyghurs. After 2,000 years, the weather-beaten (worn by exposure to the weather) ancient city still displays its past greatness and glory even though the walls are incomplete the huge and magnificent outline ruins. The ruins are an irregular square, covering an area of about 2,200,000 sq meters and it is composed of three sections: an outer city, an inner city and a palace city. The outer city with a perimeter of 5.4 kilometers, is enclosed by a city wall of 12 meters thick and 11.5 meters high, and built with tamped earth. Nine city gates are located in the four cardinal points: three in the South, and two in each of the other directions. The gates in the west are the best preserved. There are two Buddhist temples ruins in the southwestern and southeastern parts of the outer city. The temple in the southwestern corner consists of a gate, a courtyard, a sermon hall, a sutra depository and monks' abodes. The southeastern temple consists of a polygonal tower and a worship grotto, where splendid murals remain well preserved. The inner city, situated right in the middle of the outer city, has a perimeter of 3 kilometers. The western and southern parts of the city walls are well preserved. The eastern and southern parts were badly damaged, only with the northeastern highlands and the southeastern earthen platforms are still visible. No trace of the inner city's gates remain. The Palace City is located in the north of the inner city, sharing its southern wall with the inner city and northern wall with the outer city. It is a rectangle with a perimeter of 700 meters. Within the city, many large cornerstones remains are still visible, with an average height of 3.5 meters to 4 meters. These cornerstones are relics of a 4-storied palace. An irregular adobe square standing in a high earthen platform is called "Khan's Castle", which was the imperial residence.

Lunch at Your Own Expense
Please feel free to ask your guide for suggestions and recommendations.

Visit Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves (1 hour)
Bezeklik means "a place with paintings" or "a beautifully decorated place," in Uyghur language. Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves are situated high on the cliffs of the west Mutou Valley near the ancient ruins of Gaochang. It is recorded that the construction of these grottoes was started from the 5th century and completed only in the 14th century, but most of the caves that existed today were constructed by the devout Buddhist Uyghurs around the 10th - 13th centuries. The Uyghurs were Manichaean, later converted to Buddhism, and finally converted to Islam by Muslim Chagatai Khanate ruler, Khizr Khoja. There are around 77 rock-cut caves at this grottoes and Buddhist arts were painted all over the ceiling and walls of the grottoes. Visitors to the caves today, however, will no longer find exquisite murals adorning the cave walls. One reason is that after Uyghurs converted to Islam, they destroyed the images and arts in the caves. Uyghurs also took out the pieces of murals which were used as fertilizer. Another reason is the survey methods used by the various international expedition teams that traveled to the area from nations, such as Germany, Japan and Britain approximately one hundred years ago. Removing murals, manuscripts, and Buddhist sculpture from the caves, the foreign expeditions took the art and artifacts back to their respective homelands as the fruits of their labor in the Central Asian deserts.

Pass by Flaming Mountains for Photo Taking
Located on the northern edge of the Turpan Basin, Flaming Mountain runs 10 kilometers east of Turpan city, stretching up to 100 kilometers from east to west and about 10 kilometers from south to north. As one of the hottest places on earth, Flaming Mountain has always been a famous tourist attraction, with its harsh yet unique natural conditions, as well as abundant cultural heritage. Known as Red Rock Mountain in ancient Chinese classics, or Keziletage ("Red Mountain") in Uygur, Flaming Mountain is largely made up of bare rock. Not a single blade of grass grows on the hills of Flaming Mountain and there are no traces of birds or animals there. When the July sun heats the bare rocks, the blazing air current rolls up like burning flames. In the summer, the region gets so hot that you can "hard boil" an egg by burying it in the sand for just a few minutes. With strong direct radiation from the sun, the highest temperatures can reach 47.8 degrees Celsius and the earth's surface temperature can top 70 degrees. From a distance, at the foot of the mountain, dozens of the red rock hills look like flaming fireballs under the blazing sun - hence its name, Flaming Mountain.

Visit Emin Minaret (30 minutes)
The Emin Minaret is one of the most famous mosques in China. The exquisitely formed minaret with its helmet-shaped top is one of the most famous examples of Islamic architecture in Xijiang. Built in 1777 in Emperor Qinglong’s reign of the Qing Dynasty in honor of the heroic Turpan general Emin Khoja (or Goja), the Emin Minaret was built by Emin Khoja’s son Sulaiman and it was completed the next year. This minaret was designed by the Uygur architect Ibrahim in a pre-Safavid Iranian, some suggest Afghani, style. There are two steles at the entrance of the Minaret, one is in Chinese and the other is in Uyghur language. Inscriptions in Chinese explain the purpose of the minaret was to show gratitude to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) while the Uyghur inscription on the other side gave thanks to Allah. The circular tower is 44 meters (144 ft) high, and is made of sun-dried bricks that are decorated with delicate geometric and floral patterns with an epitaph inscribed in both Uyghur and Chinese. Set against the azure sky, silvery Tianshan Mountain, and the scarlet Flaming Mountain, Emin Minaret is one of the most impressive examples of Islamic architecture in Xinjiang.

Visit Karez Wells (45 minutes)
The word “Karez” means well in Uyghur language. The reason of building Karez Well in Turpan was because of the local natural geographical conditions. The temperature in Turpan can go as high as 80’C, annual rainfall is less than 16 mm. Therefore the ancient people in Turpan built Karez to find water resources. The Karez well generally consists of vertical wells, hidden channels, open channels and small reservoirs. There are more than 1400 Karez wells in Turfan. The total length amounts to more than 5000 km with an annual runoff volume up to 300 million cubic meters. Karez well can realize irrigation by water flowing automatically. It reduces evaporation, and avoids contamination caused by sand storm, to ensure the regular flow of irrigation water. It is stable in runoff volume and good in water quality to meet the standard for drink and irrigation. The technological requirement for the construction of the Karez well is not very high, and there is no lining for protection. The cover material is very simple and handy in local places with rather low cost. Spreading all over the Turpan Basin, the crisscrossing Karez transport snow water from Mount Tianshan into the Turpan oasis, nourishing orchards, farm and people living in this area.

Transfer Back to Your Hotel
Your guide and driver will transfer you back to your hotel.

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