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Photo: via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.5 es
Stand high on the cliffs of west Mutou Valley under the Flaming Mountain. Of the 83 original caves, 57 caves remain. The murals cover an area over 1,200 square meters in more than 40 caves. Beginning in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the construction experienced Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, Song and Yuan dynasties. The caves had been the Buddhist center of Gaochang. Near the end of the 13 century, the royal family of Gaochang moved to Yongchang, Gansu. Around this same time, Buddhism in Turpan began to decline in popularity with the introduction of Islam. Subsequently, the religious importance of the Bizalkik Thousand Buddha Caves became less apparent. Many of the caves were destroyed during the ensuing religious clashes. Vandals dug out the eyes of many of the portraits human figures contained in the murals. Later, at the beginning of the 20 century, foreign explorers robbed the caves of much of the treasures. Despite all the destruction, the surviving parts, such as the delicate Buddha seat and the bright color of the murals, give us some idea of its past glory.
The Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves is a complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of Turpan and Shanshan (Loulan) at the north-east of the Taklamakan Desert near the ancient ruins of Gaochang in the Mutou Valley, a gorge in the Flaming Mountains, in the Xinjiang region of western China. They are high on the cliffs of the west Mutou Valley under the Flaming Mountains, and most of the surviving caves date from the West Uyghur kingdom around the 10th to 13th centuries.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
吐鲁番葡萄沟; Tǔlǔfān Pútaogōu
Nicknamed Green Pearl City, an oasis of greenery, made up of more than 200 hectares of grape. The best grapes in China have been grown here for more than 1,000 years.
吐峪沟; Tǔyùgōu
A pretty Uygur village at the base of dramatic sandstone hills. As of April 2025, this village was in the process of being rebuilt for mass tourism, in the same vein as Kashgar’s new Old Town.
额敏塔; Émǐn Tǎ; also known as 苏公塔, Sūgōng Tǎ
Emin Minaret was built in 1777 in honor of the heroic Turpan general, Emin Khoja; it's the tallest minaret in China.
also called Jiaohe Ruins; 交河故城; Jiāohé gùchéng
Ruins of an ancient Silk Road town. This city was established during the Western Han Dynasty and continued through from the period of Northern Wei Dynasty. (If you want to take the bus, take off the bus 102 at the last stop and walk the next 5 km. Alternatively, from the last stop of the line 102, you can hire a vehicle for around ¥10 to take you the rest of the way to the site.)
It's a few kilometers to the south of Turpan and marks the lowest point of China and is 154 meters below sea level. The salt lake completely dry, and there's a globe monument marking that point. You can rent bicycles for ¥20 to cycle the 3km from the entrance the globe. Not a whole lot to see.