8-day Xinjiang Silk Road Highlights

Day 1 Shanghai or Beijing/Dunhuang
Meals: None
Places to visit: Shazhou Night Market  
You are met by our tour guide at the airport and will be escorted to the Hotel. Then start an evening visit to Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market.

Shazhou Night Market: It is a night market held on the main thoroughfare, Dong Dajie, in the city centre of Dunhuang, popular with tourists during the summer months. Many souvenir items are sold, including such typical items as jade, jewelry, scrolls, hangings, small sculptures, leather shows puppets, coins, Tibetan horns and Buddha statues. A sizable number of members of China's ethnic minorities engage in business at these markets. A Central Asian dessert or sweet is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nuts and dried fruit, sliced into the portion desired by the customer.  


Day 2
Dunhuang/Turpan (Train Overnight)
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Mogao Caves, Echoing-Sand Mountain and the Crescent Lake, Camel Riding

Mogao Grottoes, housing the ancient thousand buddhas and mural paintings from the 4th to the 14th centuries, are the famous Dunhuang highligh of buddhist art treasures shrine on the north-west Silk Road China.Cameras are not permitted.

Echoing-Sand Mountain, Crescent Moon Lake is quite literally an oasis surrounded by sand dues. It is a good place to ride a camel or climb stunning the dunes for spectacular view, 5 kilometers (about three miles) away from the city of Dunhuang.

Train information (overnight soft sleeper with good aircondition, 4 berths in one compartment)


Day 3 Turpan
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Bezklik Grottoes, Astana Tombs  
Meet guide at train station and drive 40 minutes to the hotel in Turpan. And then visit Astana Tombs, the Flaming Mountain, Bezklik Grottoes and Local Uyger family in the Vineyard.

The Astana Cemetery or Astana Graves is a large site 37 km southeast of present-day Turpan, 6 km from the ancient city of Gaochang. It served mainly as the cemetery for the descendents of Chinese settlers in Gaochang from the 4th century to the first half of the 8th century. The complex covers 10 square kilometres and contains over 1,000 tombs. Due to the arid environment many important artifacts have been well preserved at the tombs, including natural mummies.

The Bezeklik/Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves: Bezeklik means a place with beautiful decoration. It is famous for ancient murals with exsiting 60 caves, and over 40 caves have ancient murals of 1200 square meters.


Day 4 Turpan/Urumqi (190kms 2.5 hrs drive/ 1 hrs bullet train )
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system, Sugong Minaret
Pay a morning visit to Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system, Sugong Minaret; Back to Urumqi after lunch in Turpan, then visit Erdaoqiao & International Bazaar.

Jiaohe Ruins, is an archaeological site with the largest, oldest, and best preserved city gates, streets and lanes, government office, temples, domestic houses, cave houses, wells, and an underground temple, showing it as an important stop on the Ancient Silk Road.

Karez Irrigation System, made up of vertical wells, underground channels, ground canals and small reservois, is one of China's three greatest feats of ancient engineering of underground irrigation channel, along with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.

The Sugong Pagoda, or Emin Minaret is a local Islamic building. At the time of some traditional festivals, Muslem people push their way to the Sugong Pagoda to pray for blessing just like a pilgrimage.


Day 5 Urumqi/Kashgar by Air
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake
Visit Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake with a boat cruise. Then you will take the afternoon flight around 17:00 to Kashgar and will be picked up to check in the hotel upon your arrival.

Xinjiang Museum is the main institution to collect and investigate the unearthed cultural relics and specimens in Xinjiang. There are more than 50 thousand pieces of various kinds of cultural relics stored in the museum, among them, the ancient mummies represented by ‘the Loulan Beauty', manuscripts in Chinese, Kharosthi, Qiuci, Yanji, Tibetan, Uigurian and other characters prevailed in ancient Westen Regions, the silk ,wool, cotton and hemp fabrics and folk rainment, etc., are unusual tidbits in the world.

Heavenly Lake, covering an area of about 5.9 square kilometers, has eight beautiful scenic spots in the lake scenic area; they are "A Ray of Stone Gate", "Dragon's Pool and Green Moon", "Magic Needle for Guarding the See", "Three Stones Bearing the Sky".


Day 6 Kashgar
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Karakul Lake (200kms 3 hrs drive)
After breakfast take the drive to visit the Karakul Lake and enjoy the Pamir landscape.

The Karakul Lake is a paradise of bonfire night parties for boy and girl khalkhas with tourists. The party is full of ethnic songs and dances, as well as good smell of roast lamb skewers.


Day 7 Kashgar
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Sunday Bazaar, Id Kah Mosque, Old Town, Apak Hoja Tomb, Handicraft Street

In the city east, Kashgar Grand Bazaar, Sunday Bazaar, Mal Bazaar or the livestock market on Sundays, daily Yengi Bazaar etc. show the glory of the largest international trade market or fair on ancient China Silk Road. Before 1992, Kashgar grand bazaar was only held on Sunday. So that foreiners called it Sunday Bazaar on travel guidebooks. In fact, the market is open everyday for people,but the highest busy tide still comes on Sunday.

The Id Kah Mosque is located on the central square in Kashgar City, Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. As the biggest mosque in China, it is a group of old Islamic constructions with strong ethnic style and religious features.

Kashgar Old Town is the best place to see how the local Uyghur ethnic group has lived for centuries. The old town district has a history of over 2,000 years.


Day 8 Kashgar Departure
Meals: B
After breakfast you will be escorted to the airport for your next destination by air.

Service ends