Search hotels in Xinjiang, China

A big, busy Chinese city. Not pedestrian friendly. Little Uyghur culture remains. The highlight is the Xinjiang museum. Hongshan ( Red Mountain) park is pleasant to stroll around in the evening.

It's not worth to go out of your way to get there. But if you are travelling to/from Kazakhstan, it's not a bad place to stop: the river area is nice, there are still some Russian-style buildings remaining in the back alleys, and downtown area is leafy and definitely seems pretty well-off. It's not Shanghai, but it's better that many other places in Xinjiang.

For the travel better visit other cities of Xinjiang - Urumqi is crowded, people are rude and there is not much of a culture to see. It's just a modern business center.

Tulufan or Turpan, or Turfan.... a Depression area in the Xinjiang desert, purportedly the world's 2nd LOWEST point on EARTH, about 150m below sea level, in a land as far away as possible from the closest Sea or Ocean. Famed for its production of very nice sweet grapes (Red & Green, Globe & Elongated), also famous for it's HEAT and Sunshine, daily averaged at 38 degrees Celcius, has a few significant Historical sites, and part of the ancient Silk Road that dates back by a couple of millennium. Great for 3-4 days.

I loved everything about Turfan, the ruins, thousand years old cities, the villages and people. It is a must go place if you visit Xinjiang.

-nice to see the diverse culture and contrast to other Chinese provinces, but not much to do in Urumqi -Grand Bazaar was a little disappointing, Heavenly Lake is hit or miss depending on weather (often raining/foggy, and it's a long trip there and back), and the parks are nice to stroll through but nothing spectacular -better to use Urumqi as a passthrough to other cities in Xinjiang - 2 days/1 night is enough

An interesting desert town and a good introduction to Uyghur culture, there are a number of interesting sights around the city to see using Turpan as a base, but they are expensive to visit and quite spread-out. The current heavy-handed Chinese security crackdown in Xinjiang also makes Turpan, like the rest of Xinjiang, feel a bit like occupied territory.

I would advise not going to Urumqi city. A lot of attractions to see in Xinjiang but a few hours drive from urumqi. Might be better to stay in Turpan (Tulufan).