11-Day North Xinjiang Scenery Tours

map
Daily Tour 5 day
Urumqi

Tour Highlights

  • Enjoy the best “mineral stones museum” Koktokay Park.
  • Enjoy the second largest Desert in China.
  • Visit Karez underground irrigation channels one of the three Great Projects in China.
  • Experience the live ancient Tuyuk Village with a lunch at a local house.
  • Kanas Lake “Paradise on Earth” “Garden of Gods”.
  • Discover the beauty of Hemu village “a virgin forest in China” by walking around or riding horse.
  • Admire the breathtaking scenery of colorful Bay by Irtysh River.
  • Enjoy interesting geological erosion of the Ghost City.
  • Visit the picturesque scenery of Heavenly Lake at the Tianshan Mountains.
Day 1, Arrive in Urumqi

Activities: Warmly welcome you at Urumqi airport and transfer to your hotel
Details:Our guide will pick you up from Urumqi airport and accompany you to your Hotel. For the first day in Xinjiang you are free to explore on you own as you will.
Urumqi is the capital city of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the people’s republic of China. It is located in the north – west of the country. Urumqi was a major hub on the Silk Road during China’s Tang dynasty and developed its reputation as a leading cultural and commercial center during the Qing dynasty. Literal translation of Urumqi means “beautiful pasture” in Mongolian language. It is the largest city in China’s western region. Since 1990s Urumqi has developed economically and now serves as a regional transport hub, educational,cultural and commercial center.

Day 2, Urumqi to Fuyun

Activities: drive drive through Kurban Tongut desert, Visit Wucaicheng on the way. Arrive in Koktokay town in the late afternoon and stay overnight
Details:After breakfast, you’ll meet your tour guide and driver in your hotel lobby to start the tour, drive to Fuyun County through Kurbantongut desert and en-route, to enjoy the vast second largest desert steppes in China 
After 3 hours of driving we’ll stop at Wucaicheng also known as Wucaiwan, the multi-colored bay. The bay presents the visitor with an artist’s composed colors of reds, yellows, greens, grays, blacks and whites. The multi-colored Bay was one of the main locations for the Oscar Winning Best Foreign language film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”.
Enjoy the Bay about an hour then continue driving through “Karamay Wild Animals Protection Area.” On a good day, you’ll hopefully see some of the many wild horses, camels or deers during our crossing. We can stop to take photos at any time you want.

Day 3, Fuyun/Koktokay to Burjin County

Activities: Visit Koktokay National park and then drive to Burjin county
Details:After breakfast drive to Koktokay National park which is a well-known high rock stone mountain peaks in different shapes surrounded by forests and Irtish River. During the tour visit Irtish River valley, Shenzhong Mountain which means “holly Bell Mountain” , it is named like this as the shape of this mountain looks like a bell , you’ll also visit camel peak and Elephant Peak mountains , formation of the peaks are similar to these animals.
After lunch drive to Burjin county which takes about 4-5 hours.
Upon your arrival, check into your hotel . We also suggest you to go to Burjin night market to taste local fish, the night market is quite busy and interesting

Day 4, Burjin to Hemu Village

Activities: Drive to Hemu village and visit Wusaitan on the way
Details:After breakfast visit Wucaitan which is also known as “Rainbow Beach” and “Five-Colored Hills”,
located about 25km from Burjin county, Wucaitan means “multi-colored beach” as it is formed with many different colors and located on the North Side of Irtysh River while South Bank is luxuriantly trees, rolling forests, the distant meandering hills with panoramic view of the desert scenery.

Then keep driving through some beautiful grasslands and zigzagged mountain roads with pine trees. 

Arrive in Hemu village in the afternoon and relax for the rest of the day. Rest of the day is free to Hike around the village and grassland. 

Stay at Tuwa wooden guesthouse 

Hemu village has been ranked by China National Geography as one of the six most beautiful villages in China.

Day 5, Hemu Village To Kanas Lake

Activities: Drive to Kanas lake and spend the rest of the day
Details:Get up early in the morning and hike up TO Meilifeng which is a nearby hill provides a great opportunity to take spectacular photos and enjoy panoramic view of the small village at Sunrise.
Then have breakfast and leave for Kanas Lake.
spend whole rest of the day around Kanas lake which is a great place for some outdoor activates.You will have chance to hike around the lake,go for boating, horse riding, river rafting as you like (on your own expenses).
End of the day take shuttle bus and come back to Jiadengyu which is the entrance of the lake for overnight stay

Day 6, Jiadengyu/Kanas lake to Burjin

Activities: Spend whole morning around the lake and drive back to Burjin in the afternoon
Details:After Breakfast get the shuttle bus to the lake again.
1. During shuttle bus ride Between entrance and the lake, you can stop at several spots along the Kanas River like Laying Dragon Bay, Immortal Bay and Moon Bay which are the most well-known and beautiful sceneries in this area.
2. Take shuttle bus to GuanYuTai ( Fish Watching Pavilion) which is the highest point and the best place to take incredible panoramic view of the whole lake (on your own expenses). The Kanas Lake is famous for changing its colors. The color of the water changes several times in a day, from dark green to sky blue, then to gray and white. The higher you climb up, the more colors you will see.
when finished drive back to Burjin and stay overnight

Day 7, Burjin to Kuitun

Activities: whole day drive to Kuitun, visit Ghost city and oil zone on the way
Details:After breakfast at your hotel set out for Kuitun. First stop at Wurghu town and visit Ghost City where you’ll also have an opportunity to stretch your legs have a short walk and back in time.
The Ghost Town is the nickname for Feng Cheng (the Windy Town) and it is named as such for just the wind rather than its appearance. After millennia of erosion by the wind and the rain, the present strange sight of Yardang landform was formed. This is not only a good place in which to travel but it also attracts a great deal of attention and interest of those who appreciate its scientific value.
You’ll also visit the Oil zone of Karamay along the way. Arrive at the hotel by dinner time and stay overnight.

Day 8, Kuitun to Urumqi

Activities: Drive to Urumqi visit Heavenly lake on the way
Details:Our guide and driver see you at the hotel lobby and Leave for Urumqi after breakfast. Today you will visit beautiful and crystal-clear waters of Heavenly Lake which is guarded by the Tianshan mountain. Once you are at the like, you will have free time to roam around the lake, simply trekking up the mountains through the various valleys, go for boating or take cable car(own expense) up to the top of the mountain for full scenery of the lake.Whenever you are finished with the lake drive back to Urumqi and stay overnight.

Day 9, Urumqi to Turpan

Activities: Drive to Tupan and visit Yargul (Jiaohe) Ancient city, Karez underground Irrigations system and Emin Minaret
Details:After breakfast, drive to Turpan on the first class highway for about 2.5 -3:00 hours. On the way stop at Dabancheng power station, the largest wind power station in Asia and second largest in the world, also drive through salt lake which provides the best quality salt in Xinjiang region.
Once you arrive Turpan first visit Yargul (Jiaohe) Ancient City which is one of the best preserved ancient cities in China. The ruins of the buildings are divided into temples, civilian dwellings and government offices. Workshops,residential houses and the streets are still visible and time there is a time spent in a long lost world.
After an hour of touring around the ancient city, we’ll drive on to see the world famous Karez Underground Irrigation System, unique to this part of the world. The system is considered as one of the three great projects in China with the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.
Then visit Emin Suliman minaret which is a magnificent combination of ancient Uighur and Islamic architecture. It is the tallest ancient tower in Xinjiang and the only Islamic ancient minaret in the country. Locals call it “pure tower.”

Day 10, Turpan to Urumqi

Activities: Visit Idikut (Gaochang) ancient city, Toyuq village, Bizeklik Thousand Buddha caves and Flaming Mountains, then drive to Urumqi.
Details:We start our tour in Turpan with a visit to the ancient city of Idikut (Gaochang). The city was first built in the first Century BC and later became capital of the Idikut (Gaochang) Uighur Kingdom in the 8th Century.
We’ll spend about 40 minutes in this ancient city and then drive to Toyuq village which is an old, beautiful and timeless village with a friendly Uighur community. Here we visit several local families and have lunch with one of them in their home. This could be the highlight of your tour.
After lunch we visit Bizeklik Thousand Buddha caves which used to be an important center for Buddhist worshipers under the Xizhou Huigu government of the Idikut (Gaochang) Kingdom.
Finally on the way back to the Urumqi we will stop at the Flaming Mountains which people claimed to be the hottest and driest along the silk road that “flying birds even a thousand miles away dare not to come”.
Arrive Urumqi by dinner and time check into your hotel.

Day 11, Urumqi To Your Destination

Activities: See you off at Urumqi airport
Details:Today is the last day of your tour with us, so we hope this tour shouldn’t be the last. We strive to make every day of your time with us the one that you’ll always remember and if you’d like to book some other tours please Contact us for more information.

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