4-Day Dunhuang Tour through the Silk Road

ransfer to Crescent lake, need 40 minutes driving, 20KM.

d by the small pool of spring water between two large sand dunes. Here you could slide down on the Sounding sand dunes to see if you can hear the sound from sand dunes. The Crescent lake also Known to the world as “the first spring in the desert”, no-one can explain the formation of such a geological oddity.visit would be a great experience. crescent lake is like a crescent moon, which is nestled in the vast desert for thousands of years, its water is very clear, sweet.

ence sand surfing and camel riding( on your own expenses). Mingsha Mountain starts from Mogao Caves in the east, 40 kilometers long from east to west, and 20 kilometers from south to north.

ight Market and you can have a dinner there. The Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market here is the biggest night market of the whole city and offering you a great opportunity for an evening walk and a souvenir shopping chance. The Night maket also is on behalf of Dunhuang Nightlife and regarded as a “nightlife landscape”. It is highly popular among the tourists all over the world with its featured local specialties as well as strong flavor of local culture.

You will be escorted to the well-known West thousands Buddhist Grottoes in around 40 minutes ride.

ated approximately 35 km southwest of the urban centre. The Western Thousand Buddha Caves, named for its location to the west of Mogao Grottoe, was excavated on the cliffs along the Danghe River. It was excavated earlier than Mogao Grottoes. Its structure, painted sculpture and mural art style are similar to those of Mogao Grottoes. There are 16 existing caves, only 5 of which can be visited. The murals are gorgeous in color, but the statues are basically destroyed.

“Yumenguan” means jade Pass in Chinese and it is said that the jades from Western region transported into central China only through this pass. It used to be the gateway to west region on the northern Silk Road. In ancient times, it also functioned as a military strategic pass and significant passage of the ancient Silk Road.

Unlike other parts of the wall brick and stone, this section is made of rammed earth, gravel and juniper. Over time, the wall has been badly damaged by nature and humans, but you can still see how the wall looked like at first. Then continue to River Storage City ,it is an important military storage city and played an important role on the ancient silk road from Weijin to Han Dynasty .people can’t see it before you get to it as it was designed very scentically and well preserved.

You will be escorted to the well-known Mogao Grottoes in around 30 minutes ride.

millennium ago, from the 4th to 14th centuries. The caves are also known as the Thousand Buddha Caves has 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, firstly we will see 2movies to get more information of background of Mogao Grottoes ,then take shuttle bus to see 8 original grottoes , after that take shuttle bus to Mogao grottoes visitor’s center and take our own bus back to a restaurant for lunch . In the afternoon we will visit some special grottoes that are very precious and not open to visitors unless we pay extra cost to see it , and those special grottoes are mainly for those who have strong interest in Buddhist art culture .we can see several of special grottoes . Cave 217# 45#57#220#156# 158#are highly recommended to tourists ; Cave 45 : famous for 7 exquisite clay sculptures and is really masterpiece of Tang dynasty in Mogao grottoes and has very high are value ; Cave 57: also well-known as “beauty cave” because of the beautiful Bodhisattvas which are very elegant .graceful and reseble smile but not smile ; The ancient artisans use color difference and western oil painting techniques for the painting and has distinctive art style ; Cave 156 : is famous for a Tang dynasty mural “ Zhangyi Chao go out for a war against Ancient Tibetan “, that are over 200 persons that are flag holders and musicians with different musical instruments and has a very grand occasion . Cave 158 : carved in Tang dynasty and is mainly famous for a clay sculpture of nirvana Buddha that is 15.80meters long and is the best nirvana Buddha in Mogao Grottoes ; Cave 217 :built in Tang dynasty (707AD-710AD),it was donated to be built by a local big family-Yin family, There are some verdant mountains and clear waters on the murals ; Cave220 : one of the most important early Tang dynasty grottoes , murals from this cave was not made by ordinary painters but by great masters ; we can see musicians playing musical instruments , peacock spreading wings and parrot singing and dancing in celebration of peace ;The grand occasion and gorgeous colors .vivid portraits give very good impression to visitors ,and reflect the splendid and prosperous Tang art .

ort or Dunhuang train station for your next destination.