10-Days Silk Road Tour From Kashgar To Xi’an

travel-route
Daily Tour 10 day
Kashgar

Tour Highlights

  • Enjoy stunning sceneries along the Karakorom Highway with Tajik and Kyrgiz people’s cultures.
  • Enjoy the old city, livestock market, grand mausoleum and the rich culture of Kashgar.
  • Visit Karez underground irrigation channels one of the three Great Projects in China.
  • Experience the live ancient Tuyuk Village with a lunch at a local house.
  • Visit mysterious Crescent Lake in the middle of Gobi Desert.
  • Admire the most valuable Buddhist Treasure house of Mogao Grottoes in the World.
  • Understand the ancient history of China in Xi’an Museum.
  • Experience an ancient city by walking or biking on the Ancient Xi’an City Wall.
  • Visit a unique combination Chinese and Islamic architecture of the Great Mosque of Xi’an.
Day 1, Arrive and Tour Xi’an

Activities: Pick up from Xi’an train station and visit city wall.
Details:Our guide and driver will pick up you from train station and visit the city wall which is the symbol of Xi’an and the most ancient city wall in China until today. We enjoy the Wall for a few hours by walking around or riding bicycle as your like (on your own expenses).

Day 2,

Activities:
Details:

Day 3, Xi’an to Zhangye

Activities: Take a bullet train to Zhangye and visit Danxia National Geopark (Rainbow Mountain)
Details:After breakfast drive to Xi’an railway station take a fast speed train to Zhangye and upon arrival at Zhangye railway station, our guide and driver will pick up you and then visit Danxia National Geopark (also called Rainbow Mountain) which is Known for its colorful rock formations, known for the unusual colors of the rocks, which are smooth, sharp and several hundred meters tall. These are the result of deposits of sandstones and other minerals that occurred over 24 million years. It has been voted by Chinese media as one of the most beautiful landforms in China.
You’ll appreciate the splendid scenery of Danxia landform under the sunset.
After a day of exciting tour, you will check into the hotel which booked for you.

Day 4, Zhangye to Jiayuguan

Activities: Visit Giant Buddha Temple, Wooden Pagoda Temple and Mati Temple Grottoes;After lunch drive to Jiayuguan
Details:After breakfast our guide and driver will meet you at your hotel and visit Giant Buddha Temple then the Wooden Pagoda Temple in the morning. As a landmark of Zhangye, the Giant Buddha Temple is renowned for the largest indoor reclining Buddha in China. Even a single finger of the Buddha can allow one adult to lie down. It is said that this giant Buddha statue is made in the image of Sakyamuni. Our guide will also introduce other statues and delicate murals in the hall. Numerous scriptures and ancient books are also displayed here. In this temple, we will not miss the earth tower and a typical folk residence with traditional carved beams and painted pillars. Stepping out of the Giant Buddha Temple, we will drive to the Wooden Pagoda Temple built with wood and bricks.
Then drive one hour to visit the Mati Temple Grottoes. It is said that a heavenly horse once left its hoof print on a rock there and you can still find that print in the temple. It is a unique temple house buildings of both Han Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. Follow the guide to admire the Buddha statues carved in the caves and appreciate the painted scriptures of heroes in Tibetan myths.
After lunch drive to Jiayuguan which is about 3:00 hours driving distance.

Day 5, Jiayuguan to Dunhuang

Activities: Visit Jiayuguan Fort (pass), Great wall museum, and then drive to Dunhuang and visit Crescent lake
Details:After breakfast explore some exciting sites around Jiayugaun, first visit Jiayuguan pass (Jiayuguan Fort) also known as the “Impregnable Pass under Heaven,” Jiayuguan is the western end of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty as well as the most magnificent and well-preserved pass among over a thousand passes along the Ming Great Wall.
Then stop at Great Wall Museum which is one of the first museums to give a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the history of the Great Wall.
Then drive to Dunhuang which takes around 5 hours. Once arrive in Dunhuang First visit Mysterious Crescent lake which its name derives from the crescent moon shaped by the small pool of spring water between two large sand dunes. Here you’ll have chance to ride camels across the sand dunes of Sounding Sand mountain which makes sounds when the wind blows(camel is on your own expenses). If you like you can stay till sunset and back to the hotel later

Day 6, Dunhuang to Turpan

Activities: After breakfast Visit Mogao Grottoes; After lunch fast speed train to Turpan
Details:We spend the whole morning at Mogao Grottoes which were constructed over a millennium ago from the 4th to 14th centuries. The caves are also known as the Thousand Buddha Caves with two distinctions of being one of the most notable grottoes in China as well as the best-preserved treasure house of Buddhist art, sutras, murals and sculptures in the world.
After lunch drive Dunhuang fast speed train station for your journey to Turpan which is about 3:30 hours train ride. Our Turpan local driver/guide will pick up you from Turpan railway station and transfer to your hotel

Day 7, Turpan for whole day

Activities: Visit Idikut (Gaochang) ancient city, Toyuq village, Bizeklik Thousand Buddha caves and Flaming Mountains
Details:After breakfast at the hotel, We start our tour in Turpan with a visit to ancient city of Idikut (Gaochang). The city was first built in the first Century BC and later became capital of the Idikut (Gaochang) Uighur Kingdom of the 8th Century.
We’ll visit the city for about 40 minutes and then Move on to Toyuq village, an old, beautiful and timeless village with a friendly Uighur community. Here we visit several local families and have lunch with a local family at their home. This could be the highlight of your tour of the day.
After lunch we visit Bizeklik Thousand Buddha caves which used to be an important center for Buddhist worshipers under the Xizhou Huigu government of the Idikut (Gaochang) Kingdom.
On the way back to the hotel we will stop at the Flaming Mountain which people claimed to be the hottest and driest on the Silk Road that “flying birds even a thousand miles away dare not to come”.

Day 8, Turpan to Urumqi/Kashgar

Activities: visit Yargul (Jiaohe) Ancient city, Karez underground Irrigations system and Emin Minaret. Drive to Urumqi and take evening flight to Kashgar
Details:After breakfast at the Hotel, Our guide and driver will pick up you from your hotel
First we visit Yargul (Jiaohe) Ancient city which is one of the best preserved ancient cities in China.
The ruins of the buildings are divided into temples, civilian dwellings and government offices.
Workshops, residential houses and the streets are still visible and time there is a time spent in a long lost world.
After an hour of walking around the ancient city, we’ll head on to see the world famous Karez irrigation system, unique to this part of the world. The system is considered as one of the three great projects in China with the other two being the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.
Finally visit Emin Sulaiman Minaret which is a magnificent combination of ancient Uighur and Islamic architecture. It is the tallest ancient tower in Xinjiang and the only Islamic ancient minaret in the country. Locals call it “pure tower.”
we’ll leave from Turpan to Urumqi airport and take evening flight to Kashgar

Day 9, Explore Kashgar City

Activities: Visit Grand mosque, Apak Hoja tomb (which is also called Fragrant Concubine Tomb), Old city walking tours and dinner at a local Uighur family countryside of Kashgar.
Details:Explore the rich, endless culture of the Uighurs in Kashgar. Spend some time by the Id Kah mosque, the largest mosque in China and marvel at the intricate architecture of Kashgar’s historic Apak Hoja Tomb which is also known as Fragrant concubine tomb).
We’ll spend time in the Kashgar Old Town and have some walking tours through some ancient historical parts; Stop at a century-old tea house for a short break and taste local medicinal teas such as such as those containing rose, saffron, honey and other ingredients.
Finally conclude our city tour with a dinner at a local family in countryside which offers a great opportunity to deeply understand real local life, culture and traditions of local Uighurs.

Day 10, Kashgar to Tashkorgan After Livestock Market

Activities: Visit livestock market before driving along the KKH, Stop at Opal Village, Oytagh Kunlunshan Colorful mountain range, Gaz Valley and check point, Bulungkol Valley (white sand mountain), Karakul lake and local Kyrgyz family visit
Details:Drive to Livestock market and enjoy there for about one hour, then set out along the Sino – Pakistan Karakorum Highway, on the Pamir plateau (the roof of the world) visit Karakul Lake (3600m above sea level). The lake sits at the foot of the notorious, Muztagh Ata (7546m) and Gongur (7719m) mountains.
‘Muztagh Ata’ means Father of the Ice Mountains and is one of the most beautiful and mysterious mountains in the world.

Lunch will be at local Kyrgyz family or at the lake side restaurant as your like.
Arrive Tashkorgan in the late afternoon and stay overnight

Day 11, Tashkorgan to Kashgar

Activities: Visit Stone Fort, Tajik village, Hike on the Grassland and drive back to Kashgar after lunch
Details:Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county was once an important hub on the old Silk Road. The area borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan  via the Kunjerab Pass and Wahan Corridor.
After breakfast, you’ll have an opportunity to see the town’s ancient Stone Fort – still standing after 2200 years! ‘Tashkurgan’ is a translation of ‘Stone Fort.’ Later Hike on the grassland next to the Stone Fort.
After lunch, drive back to Kashgar and you can make stops along the way if you like.

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