6 Days Silk Road Experience Tour

Day 1

Arrival Lanzhou    Jiayuguan City
Arrive in Lanzhou, your local guide will meet you at the airport. Have a short rest, have a city tour covering a visit to White Pagoda Hill Park and Gansu Provincial Museum, after dinner, you will be transferred to the railway station for your overnight train to Jiayuguan City. Taste the famous Lanzhou Hand-pulled Noodle with Beef will be a good choice for your optional.
Meals: Lunch
Accommodation: On the train

Day 2

Jiayuguan City    Dunhuang
In the early morning, you will arrival Jiayuguan City. Have a short rest, take a visit to Jiayuguan Pass, which has been praised as 'Mighty Pass No.1 under Heaven'. After tour, take about 4.5hours driving (385km) to Dunhuang.
Meals: Lunch
Accommodation: In Dunhuang
 

Day 3

Dunhuang    Liuyuan    Turpan
Start your exciting tour with a visit to Mogao Grottoes, the largest, oldest and best-preserved array of Buddhist grottoes in the world, after lunch, continue your visit to Crescent Spring and Singing Sand Dune (Mingsha Hill). Then be transferred to Liuyuan railway station (2 hours riding) for your overnight train to Turpan.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: On the train
 

Day 4

Turpan    Urumqi
Arrival Turpan in the early morning, your local guide will meet you at the railway station then accompany you for a wonderful visit to Jiaohe Ancient City, Grape Valley and The Flaming Mountains. After lunch, continue your visiting to Karez Well, the underground water system. Then, spend about 3 hours driving to your next destination Urumqi.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Urumqi
 

Day 5

Urumqi
After breakfast, taking 1.5hours driving to Heavenly Lake (Tianchi Lake), the clear holy water under the Heaven Mountain. Enjoy your relaxing visiting there then be transferred back to Urumqi, on the way, if the time permits, you can have a short stroll to Erdaoqiao Great Bazaar.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Urumqi
 

Day 6

Departure Urumqi
Be transferred to the airport for your flight to next destination.
Meals: Breakfast

Service Ends

Day 1

Arrival Lanzhou      Jiayuguan City
Arrive in Lanzhou, your local guide will meet you at the airport. Have a short rest, have a city tour covering a visit to White Pagoda Hill Park and Gansu Provincial Museum, after dinner, you will be transferred to the railway station for your overnight train to Jiayuguan City. Taste the famous Lanzhou Hand-pulled Noodle with Beef will be a good choice for your optional.
Meals: Lunch
Accommodation: On the train

Lanzhou is situated on the upper course of the Yellow River, where the river emerges from the mountains. It has been a center since early times, being at the southern end of the route leading via the Hexi Corridor across Central Asia. It also commands the approaches to the ancient capital area of Changan (modern Xi'an) in Shaanxi province from both the west and the northwest, as well as from the area of Qinghai Lake via the upper waters of the Yellow River and its tributaries.

White Pagoda Hill Park, or we called Bai Ta Shan in Chinese, locates at the North Bank of the Yellow River, is a very large and quiet place which was first established in 1958. 

Gansu Provincial Museum covers more than 6.6 Hectares of land and has a total floor space of 18,000 square meters. Built in Russian architectural style, the museum is shaped like the letter "E". This is one of the best sights in the city. The museum has an excellent selection of exhibits relating to Gansu and the Silk Road. The collections include an extensive range of Neolithic pottery, dating back between 7,000-500BC.
 

Day 2

Jiayuguan City    Dunhuang
In the early morning, you will arrival Jiayuguan City. Have a short rest, take a visit to Jiayuguan Pass, which has been praised as ‘Mighty Pass No.1 under Heaven'. After tour, take about 4.5hours driving (385km) to Dunhuang.
Meals: Lunch
Accommodation: In Dunhuang

Jiayuguan City is famous for its Jiayuguan Pass.
Jiayuguan Pass is the western terminus of the Great Wall, built more than 600 years ago. Its majestic and solid construction is so full of power and grandeur that it has been praised as ' Mighty Pass No.1 under Heaven'. Unlike the Shanhaiguang Pass or the Juyongguagn Pass on the Great Wall, it nestles against Mt. Qilian and Gobi Desert and is therefore imposing in its own way. It was a strategic point at the western section of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty and is the best preserved pass along the entire length of the wall. It is a magnificent castle, composed of an inner and an outer section, an enclosed gateway, a gate tower, watch towers and parapets.

Dunhuang is located on the western end of Hexi Corridor, at the juncture of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang in the Northwest of China. Known as Shazhou (sand bank) in ancient times, Dunhuang served as a rest stop for traders and due to its unique geographical location, it was the gateway through which Buddhism, Islam and Christianity entered China.
 

Day 3

Dunhuang    Liuyuan    Turpan
Start your exciting tour with a visit to Mogao Grottoes, the largest, oldest and best-preserved array of Buddhist grottoes in the world, after lunch, continue your visit to Crescent Spring and Singing Sand Dune (Mingsha Hill). Then be transferred to Liuyuan railway station (120km) for your overnight train to Turpan.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: On the train

Lying at the foot of Sighing Sands Dune, Mogao Grottoes has more than 700 caves, of which 492 caves hold more than 2,000 painted sculptures and 45,000 square meters of murals. It is the largest, oldest and best-preserved array of Buddhist grottoes in the world, and three famous ancient sculptural sites of China, together with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes.

Singing Sand Dune starts from East of Mogao Grottoes. It is 40 km from East to West, and 20 from South and North. Described as the dune with an elegant shape; when people slide down along the slopes, the sands make a distinctive sound, hence the name. Encircled by the sand dunes is Crescent Spring, an oasis shaped like a crescent moon. It is a miracle that the spring has never dried up over the past thousand years. Alongside the Crescent Lake is a traditional Han Chinese pagoda.
 

Day 4

Turpan    Urumqi
Arrival Turpan in the early morning, your local guide will meet you at the railway station then accompany you for a wonderful visit to Jiaohe Ancient City, Grape Valley and The Flaming Mountains. After lunch, continue your visiting to Karez Well, the underground water system. Then, spend about 3 hours driving to your next destination Urumqi.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Urumqi

Turpan, an oasis city, is located at the southern foot of Bogda Peak and in the center of Turpan Depression. Because of the drastic 5,000-meter difference in height between the mountain tops and the bottom of the depression, the scenery too, varies greatly at different altitudes from perpetual snow at the summits to green oasis at the foot of the mountains. After a long journey from the desert, tourists are always fascinated by the extraordinary beauty of the depression with its snow-capped mountains, salt lake, and particularly the Flaming Mountains.

Jiaohe meaning in Chinese where two rivers meet was once the most forward outpost in the West for ages. Historical records and excavation reveal evidence of a prosperous ancient trading center and military stronghold from 1,600 years ago. Owing to the arid climate and remote location, Jiaohe remains relatively intact, leaving us a rare example of an earthen castle, the largest, oldest and best-preserved earthen city in the world.

The Grape Valley is located in Flaming Mountain. From ancient times, this place has been famous for the cultivation of the sweetest, tastiest grapes. Be enticed by the sight of bunches of green pearl-like grapes hanging from the vines in splendid profusion. It’s a great relief to recline in the shade of the green leaves and delight in the fresh juicy fruit, appreciating the coolness after the heat outside.

Karez is reputed as one of the three major construction projects in ancient China, together with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal. The history of this unique underground irrigation system can be traced back over more than 2,000 years: The combined lengths of the underground Karez channels in Xinjiang amounts to 5,000 meters. It provided an innovative and elegant resolution to several problems, capturing melting snow and ice from mountains, and channeling it underground to where it was employed for irrigation, overcoming the interruptions to flow caused by sandstorms, wind and huge losses from evaporation that plague a ground-level, open canal system.

The Flaming Mountain is so named because in the evenings the red clay mountains reflect the heat and glow of the desert and seem to burn. Situated on the northern edge of the Turpan Basin, and stretching over 100 km long and 10 km wide, this is an intensely hot part of the desert without a single blade of grass to be seen for miles. In the severe heat of July, the mountains seem to be on fire in the burning sun and become a purplish-brown color. Hot steam rises upwards from the burning cliffs and it is no surprise that this is where the hottest temperatures in China ever, were recorded.
 

Day 5

Urumqi
After breakfast, taking 1.5hours driving to Heavenly Lake (Tianchi Lake), the clear holy water under the Heaven Mountain. Enjoy your relaxing visiting there then be transferred back to Urumqi, on the way, if the time permits, you can have a short stroll to Erdaoqiao Great Bazaar.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Urumqi

Heavenly Lake is located half way up Bogda Peak in Fukang County, 110km east of Urumqi City. As a natural alpine lake, it has an elevation of 1,980 meters. In the shape of a half moon, the lake is 3,400 meters long, about 1,500 meters wide, and 105 meters at the deepest point. With limpid water, the lake shines like a sapphire under the sun and is surrounded by green mountains. At the southeast end of the lake is the magnificent Bogda Peak, meaning "Sacred Mountain" in the Mongolian language.

Erdaoqiao is situated at the Erdaoqiao Block of South Jiefang Road in Urumqi, where you'll find a bustling market filled with fruit, clothing, crafts, knives, carpets and many antique items. The market has special space for grand ethnic songs and dances performances, and the folk street is furnished with a miniature landscape of Xinjiang's attractions. On Sunday, there are more stalls and more goods than any other days.
 

Day 6

Departure Urumqi
Be transferred to the airport for your flight to next destination.
Meals: Breakfast

Service Ends
 

Full price of this tour (per person in US$):

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