Photo adjustments
EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Explore the region
About Kizil Ghost City
The Aksu prefecture media centre puts the site about 70 km from Baicheng and describes it as a typical yardang landform geological site (雅丹地貌地质景观), its rock mainly brownish red and ginger yellow. Erosion, wind abrasion and running water have cut that rock into interlocking gullies, ridges, platforms and isolated hills across an area the same page gives as nearly 50 square kilometres.
China News Service Xinjiang explains the catalogue's name: the site, it records, is also called Ghost City (魔鬼城). It places the same 50 square kilometres of scenery at an elevation of about 1,300 m. The two accounts do not use the same landform term for it: the prefecture media centre calls the rock a typical yardang (雅丹地貌) while China News Service describes the extent as 丹霞. This record uses the prefecture media centre's term for the landform.
The prefecture media centre records a national 3A tourist attraction rating in October 2022, and lists a visitor service centre, a Camel Bell post station, a costume-change check-in shop, a Baicheng gifts shop, a convenience store and other facilities on the site. Neither account says which parts of the area are open to visitors, and neither is a government notice of access.
What to look for
- The gullies, ridges, platforms and isolated hills that erosion, wind abrasion and running water have cut into the rock, as the prefecture media centre describes them
- Rock whose colour the prefecture media centre gives as mainly brownish red and ginger yellow, and which the same page records turning a hot gold-red at sunrise and sunset
- Rock forms the prefecture media centre likens to people, turtles, camels, carp and other shapes
- The extent itself: nearly 50 square kilometres, a figure both the prefecture media centre and China News Service give
Location & getting there
Getting to Kizil Ghost City
Use an authorised visitor route. Cave sections, geological sites and access roads can close independently, so confirm the area that your ticket covers.
- Search for 克孜尔魔鬼城 with 阿克苏地区 and 拜城县.
Find Kizil Ghost City
克孜尔魔鬼城 · 拜城县
No reliable map pin yet: search by the Chinese name.
Sources & visit information
The linked sources support the identity and background described in this introduction. Opening hours, admission, activity availability and exact arrival arrangements have not been comprehensively checked. Confirm current visitor information with the venue; the original catalogue locality and editorial review flag are retained.