A site-by-site guide to the Kushan-era Buddhist monuments around Termez: the Fayaz Tepa monastery, the Kara Tepa caves, the Zurmala stupa and the Archaeological Museum, with practical access notes and the link to Chinese and Japanese Buddhist history.
Facts, prices and schedules checked on November 4, 2026
Most visitors know Uzbekistan for its mosques and madrasahs. Few know that in the first centuries of the common era, the south of the country, on the banks of the Amu Darya, was one of the great Buddhist landscapes of Central Asia. Around ancient Termez, then a Kushan frontier city on the road between India and the north, stood a dozen monasteries, and three of them can be visited today: Fayaz Tepa, Kara Tepa and the tower-like stupa of Zurmala.
This guide describes each site in turn, what survives, how long to allow, what to ask about access and how the monuments connect to the wider Buddhist world, including the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang and the Japanese conservation work at Fayaz Tepa. Details such as opening hours, tickets and border-zone rules change, and different sources disagree, so confirm them with a local guide before you go, as of November 2026. For the wider region, see our guide to Termez and Surkhandarya.
Why Termez was a Buddhist centre
Termez, the ancient Tarmita, stood at one of the oldest crossings of the Amu Darya. In the first centuries CE the Kushan Empire, which united Bactria with lands to the south and east, ruled the region. Under the Kushans, Buddhism travelled north from Gandhara along the trade routes and put down roots in the oases of Bactria.
Termez was a natural stopping point. Merchants and monks passed through, and the city and its surroundings gained monasteries, stupas and shrines, built in mud brick, fired brick and stone. The monuments here are not the colossal Buddhas of Afghanistan or the cave temples of China, but they are among the earliest and most northerly Buddhist remains in Central Asia, and they show the faith at a point of transition between India and the Silk Road.
In the 7th century the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang passed through Termez on his way to India, and his account notes monasteries and monks in the region. By then the great age of Buddhism here was drawing to a close, and the monuments you see are the remains of the earlier, Kushan-era flowering.
Fayaz Tepa: the monastery
Fayaz Tepa (Fayoz Tepe) is the easiest of the three sites to visit and the best preserved. It was a Buddhist monastery complex, begun in the 1st century CE, with its most active phase in the 3rd and 4th centuries under the Kushans, and it appears to have declined around the 5th century.
The site came to light in 1968, when a local man found an alabaster sculpture of the Buddha in the dunes. Excavations followed, and the archaeologist Lazar Albaum worked at the site between 1968 and 1976. The layout is clear: a central temple with a courtyard of roughly 33 by 20 metres, a monastery to one side with cells for the monks, and service buildings. A stupa stands outside the central area, and in the courtyard there is a small pond with a lion-shaped spout.
The finds are scattered across museums. A carved relief showing the Buddha between two monks, dated to the 3rd or 4th century, and an inscription mentioning the Kushan king Huvishka, are among them, and most of the paintings and reliefs are in the State Museum of History of Uzbekistan in Tashkent.
Part of the site has been conserved and restored. A UNESCO project funded by Japan, in the early 2000s, helped to protect the stupa, and today a protective dome covers it. Visitors should not expect a romantic ruin: some of what you see is reconstruction. Allow about 45 minutes.
Kara Tepa: the cave monastery
Kara Tepa (Qoratepa), the Black Hill, lies about a kilometre from Fayaz Tepa. It consists of three low hills, and its monks carved cells and sanctuaries into the rock and built courtyards, stupas and halls around them. Archaeologists believe it was active from about the 1st to the 3rd or 4th century CE.
Excavations began in the 20th century and have continued with Uzbek and international teams, including Japanese researchers. Finds include sculpture fragments and inscriptions in several scripts, described as among the oldest Buddhist texts from Central Asia.
What you see now is a landscape of low mud-brick walls, cave entrances and a reconstructed stupa, with the Amu Darya and, on the far bank, Afghanistan in the distance. It is atmospheric rather than monumental.
Access is the issue. Kara Tepa lies within the border zone. Some sources describe it as restricted, one describing it as closed to visitors, while a local guide may be able to arrange a pass in advance, and you need your passport on the day. Rules change, so ask your operator to confirm before you plan a day around it. Do not photograph border installations or guards. A combined ticket with Fayaz Tepa was reported at around 60,000 som in 2026, a figure we could not confirm independently.
Zurmala: the tower at the edge of town
The Zurmala stupa is the oldest standing structure of its kind in Uzbekistan, though that claim comes with a qualification: what you see is a core, not the original building. It is a cylindrical tower of brick, roughly 12 metres high and more than 14 metres across, though sources vary on the figures. It once stood on a platform that is now underground, and its original height was probably about 16 metres.
It was built in the 1st or 2nd century CE, in the Kushan period, and archaeologists believe it was originally faced with fired brick and stone carved with Buddhist scenes. The upper part is thought to have held a room for sacred scriptures. The facing has long gone, and the weather has done its work on what remains.
Zurmala stands on the edge of Termez, in fields, with little around it. There is nothing to do but look and photograph, and 15 to 20 minutes is enough. Late afternoon light brings out the brickwork. Reports suggest it is free to visit in daylight hours, which we have not confirmed.
The Termez Archaeological Museum
Visit the museum first if you can. It opened in 2002 and is regarded as one of the best regional museums in Uzbekistan, with galleries that run from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages and finds from across Surkhandarya: Buddhist sculpture and wall painting from Kara Tepa and Fayaz Tepa, terracotta figures from Khalchayan, coins and ceramics. Japanese government support under UNESCO has been reported for the museum.
Reported tickets are roughly 25,000 to 30,000 som, and opening is usually from 09:00 to 18:00, though some listings show weekend closures. Labels in English are limited, so a guide adds a great deal. Allow 90 minutes. The museum gives you the context that makes the empty hills make sense.
Planning a day: order, timing and practical notes
A good order for a single day, if Kara Tepa is open to you:
- Morning: the Archaeological Museum, then Fayaz Tepa and Kara Tepa on the same trip.
- Midday: lunch in Termez.
- Afternoon: Zurmala at its best light, then the Islamic shrines of Termez, including Al-Hakim at-Termizi and Sultan Saodat, which are treated in our Termez guide.
Practicalities:
- Go in spring or autumn. Summer in Surkhandarya is the hottest in Uzbekistan, and there is almost no shade at the sites.
- Wear a hat, sturdy shoes and sunscreen, and carry water.
- Photography of the monuments is normally fine, but not of border posts, soldiers or the river crossing.
- Bring your passport, as you may be asked for it at checkpoints, and ask your operator about a pass for Kara Tepa.
- Most travellers reach Termez by air or rail from Tashkent, and our Termez guide covers the options.
The sites make a natural pair with the Silk Road story: for the wider context, see our Silk Road history and our guide to the Chinese Silk Road in Uzbekistan.
Buddhist connections for visitors from Japan, China and Korea
For travellers from East Asia, Termez offers something different from the usual Silk Road route. Buddhism reached China and later Korea and Japan along these roads, and Termez was one of the places it passed. Xuanzang, whose journey to India inspired the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, passed through here, and the monasteries he described explain the setting of the sites.
Japan has a particular connection. Japanese and Uzbek specialists have worked on Fayaz Tepa and, according to published accounts, on Kara Tepa, and the museum has received Japanese support. Visitors from Japan often travel with a particular interest in the conservation work. We can arrange a guide who knows the archaeology and, on request, interpreters. Ask us about the options.
Doing it with TourEast
We can add Termez and its Buddhist sites to a Silk Road itinerary, with a private guide and driver and pre-arranged passes where needed. Because the sites sit near the border and access can change, we confirm the situation a few days before you travel. Tell us your interests on WhatsApp or in our trip builder at /trip-builder, and we will plan the Termez leg for you.
