Day Tour to Seven Old Castles of Ancient Khorezm

Day tour to the Golden Ring of Ancient Khorezm - Kyzyl Kala, Tuprak Kala, Ayaz Kala, Kirkkyz Kala, Janbas Kala, Koy Kyrylgan Kala, and Guldursun Kala

08:00 Start your tour "The Golden Ring of Ancient Khorezm" - Trip to Seven Old Castles of Ellik Kala.

Visit Kyzyl Kala (Red Fortress) - The fortress is located 27 km from Beruni town. The total area of the fortress Kyzyl Kala is 65х63 meters. The ancient structure was built as a defensive fortress and was part of a chain of Khorezm fortifications, created by the state for protection of north-east borders of ancient Khorezm. The fortress’ walls were 8 meters thick.

After exploring Kyzyl Kala, drive to Tuprak Kala - a ground a fortress. Tuprak Kala castle is a rectangular structure with dimensions of 500 x 350 meters. The total length of the perimeter walls is more than a kilometer, and the height reaches 8-9 meters in some places. The castle was severely damaged. Only the southeast corner is well preserved.

Drive to Ayaz Kala (Fortress in the wind). Ayaz Kala is situated on a hilltop overlooking the Kyzylkum Desert. The fortress remained unfinished and it never became habitable. The fortress has a rectangular shape with dimensions of 152x182 meters. Along the perimeter of the outside, the wall surrounds 35 unfinished towers in the form of a semicircle. The surviving fragments of double-row outer walls are at the base of slightly more than 2 meters. A two-level corridor between them with a width of 2,5 meters, also remained.

Visit Kirkkyz Kala (Fortress of Forty Virgins) - The sizes of the fortress Kirkkyz is 65х63 meters, it was located on the flat district. The external wall possessed two circles with arrow-shaped loopholes. According to researchers, the fortress was erected to protect northeast borders of ancient Khoresm. Archeologists found the burials made on a ceremony of ancient fire worshippers in a site of ancient settlement. Bones of the person were laid in ceramic jugs – huma, the heads of the woman having a form. This fortress was those times a trade place of the Great Silk Road.

Visit Janbas Kala - a frontier fortress in the south-eastern border of ancient Khoresm. Janbas Kala is located on the way to Turtkul. It is a showy and fascinating ruins on the slope, with a view to old horn of Amudarya. The fortress has a rectangular shape of 200 to 170 meters and it is quite accurately oriented to corners of the earth.

Drive to Koy Kyrylgan Kala. The clay construction of the Fortress was enormous. Diameter of the central building was 42 m, height in the best remained part was about 8 m, the diameter of the whole construction - about 90 m.

Visit Guldursun Kala. Guldursun Kala is a relative latecomer as it was built in the XII-XIII centuries. It is also one of the region's largest fortresses with slightly over 1 kilometer of perimeter walls bounding an area of about 6.4 hectares.

Drive back to Khiva. End of the Tour.