8 Days Silk Road Highlights Tour from Dunhuang to Urumqi
Tour Overview
This tour will take you explore the historical towns and ruins, as well as the magnificant landscape along the way from Dunhuang to Urumqi....
Code of Tour: CDT0000000767
Length of Travel: 8 Day
Destinations of Tour: Dunhuang-Turpan-Urumqi-Kashgar-Karakul Lake-Kashgar
Departure City: Dunhuang
Price of Tour: Request
Type of Tour: Private
Features of Tour: Sunrise Sunset
The silk road is not only the “national highway” linking China and the west, but also an international channel for economic and cultural exchanges throughout the ancient world. It starts from Xian and Luoyang, through Gansu, Xinjiang, to central Asia and west Asia. This tour will take you explore the historical towns and ruins, as well as the magnificant landscape along the way from Dunhuang to Urumqi.
Highlights:
- Witness the great ruins of significant historical cities.
- Visit the glittering pearl that adorns the Silk Road – Mogao Grottoes.
- Experience the heat of “fire land” – Turpan.
- Enjoy the picturesque Heaven Lake and cruise on it.
Brief Itinerary
- Day 1: Dunhuang Arrival
- Day 2: Dunhuang-Turpan
- Day 3: Turpan
- Day 4: Turpan – Urumqi
- Day 5: Urumqi – Kashgar
- Day 6: Kashgar
- Day 7: Kashgar
- Day 8: Kashgar Departure
Google Map
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1 Dunhuang Arrival
Sightseeing and Activities: Shazhou Night Market
Accommodation: Dunhuang
Meals:
Upon your arrival, tour guide will pick you up from airport or train station and then transfer to your hotel in Dunhuang city. Have a rest and we will visit Shazhou Night Market in the evening.
Day 2 Dunhuang – Turpan
Sightseeing and Activities: Mogao Caves, Echoing-Sand Mountain and the Crescent Lake
Accommodation: Overnight Train
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
In the morning, our local guide will pick you up from your hotel. Then we will head to visit Mogao Grottoes that is known as “The Thousand Buddha Cave”, and noted as one of the most important cultural and historical sites in China.
In the afternoon, drive to Crescent Moon Spring, which is an oasis in the Gobi Desert. Enjoy the rare view where an oasis meets the desert and have some fun sand adventure. After that, ride camels across the sand dunes to Minsha Mountain which can make sounds when the wind passes.
After the visit, take an overnight soft sleeper to Turpan.
Day 3 Turpan
Sightseeing and Activities: Bezklik Grottoes, Astana Tombs
Accommodation: Turpan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Upon your Turpan Arrival, local tour guide will transfer you to hotel and have a short rest. Then head to visit Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, a complex of Buddhist cave grottos. Move on to Astana Graves, an underground cemetery of ancient Gaochang residents, which is considered to be one of the humblest burial sites in China.
Day 4 Turpan – Urumqi
Sightseeing and Activities: Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system, Sugong Minaret, International Bazaar
Accommodation: Urumqi
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Today drive to visit Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system and Sugong Minaret.
After the visit, have lunch in Turpan and then drive to Urumqi for visiting Erdaoqiao International Bazaar. Erdaoqiao Market is the largest retail and wholesale market for ethnic minority goods in Xinjiang.
Day 5 Urumqi – Kashgar
Sightseeing and Activities: Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake
Accommodation: Kashgar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
After breakfast at hotel and then head to Xinjiang Museum. A visit to Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi would be incomplete without a visit to the Xinjiang Museum. It is a comprehensive historical museum in China built in 1953, and famous for holding artifacts and mummies of Caucasians who lived in the region 1500 and 4000 years ago.
After that, continue today’s tour to Heavenly Lake, 98km northeast of Urumqi downtown. It is a crescent alpine lake in the north of Bogda Peak, which enjoys crystal water due to melted snow as its source. Cruise on the lake and stroll around the lake after that.
Then escorted to take a flight to Kashgar and transferred to your local hotel by tour guide.
Day 6 Kashgar
Sightseeing and Activities: Karakul Lake
Accommodation: Kashgar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning, drive about 200km to view the fantastic scenery of Karakul Lake. It is the highest lake of the Pamir Plateau. Enjoy the crystal water, the peaks and blue sky, and also the creatures here.
Then drive back to Kashgar for overnight.
Day 7 Kashgar
Sightseeing and Activities: Id Kah Mosque, Apak Hoja Tomb, Grand Bazaar
Accommodation: Kashgar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Today visit the famous attractions in Kashgar, including Id Kah Mosque, one of the biggest mosque in China, which was built by Saqsiz Mirza in 1442; Abakh Hoja Tomb, the largest Islamic mausoleum of Xinjiang and most known as the Tomb of Xiang Fei, who is one of theimperial concubines of Emperor Qianlong; and Sunday Bazaar, the busiest part of the city, which covers a total area of 0.17 square kilometers with more than 5,000 stable stalls.
Day 8 Kashgar Departure
Sightseeing and Activities:
Accommodation:
Meals: Breakfast
After breakfast at hotel, be transferred to the airport or train station for your next destination.
Service Included:
- Admission fees for all of the sightseeing spots listed in the itinerary;
- Meals as listed in the itinerary;
- Hotels as listed in the itinerary;
- Private English-speaking tour guide;
- Private vehicle for transfers & sightseeing with skilled driver;
- Service charge & government taxes;
- Luggage transfers between airports and hotels;
- Domestic train tickets of soft sleeper.
Service Excluded:
- Any arrival and departure international airfares or train tickets;
- Chinese visa fees;
- Excess baggage charged by Airlines;
- Single room supplement;
- Tips to guides and drivers;
- Personal expenses and gratuities to service staff;
- Personal travel accident insurance;
- All optional programs.
