5-Night Private Silk Road Trip from Dunhuang to Urumqi including Hotel Accommodations

tour operator

Upon arrival at Dunhuang Airport or Dunhuang Rail Station, meet your guide at arrival lobby and go to the hotel for check-in. You may spend the rest of the day at your leisure exploring the streets of Dunhuang. Be sure to explore the night market nearby the hotel in the evening!

You will visit the highlight of Silk Road today. Mogao Grottoes (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas), where you will be impressed by the fresco and statues in the caves. These caves are examples of rock-cut architecture of soft gravel conglomerate not suitable for either sculpture or elaborate architectural details. In the afternoon,  you will catch a bullet train to Turpan arriving in approximately 4 hours and be transferred to hotel in about 30 minutes.

After breakfast, you will start to visit Turpan, the centre of a fertile oasis and an important trade center along the Silk Road that was once adjacent to the kingdoms of Kroran and Yanqi. You will visit Emin Minaret which is the symbol of Turpan before sampling an authentic local lunch at a Uyghur home under the grape vine in open air.

Later in the afternoon, you will explore the Ancient City of Gaochang

turies by Buddhist monks who farmed the valley below.There are 77 rock-cut caves at the Bezeklik Caves. Most have rectangular spaces with rounded arch ceilings often divided into four sections, each with a mural of Buddha. The effect is of entire ceiling covers with hundreds of Buddha murals. Some ceilings in Bezeklik Caves are painted with a large Buddha surrounded by other figures, including Indians, Persians and Europeans. The quality of the murals varies, with some being artistically naive while others are masterpieces of religious art.

The Astana-Karakhoja Ancient Tombs are part of the Underground Museum of Turpan and the Living Archives of Gaochang. Astana means capital in Uigur; Karakhoja was a Uigur hero who protected his people from a vicious dragon.

Karez Irrigation System was created by ancient Uygur people at the second half of 18th century. It can mainly be found in the area of Turpan, Hami and Helei. If connecting all these underground channels together, the total length will reach more than 5000 km, so it is regarded as one of ancient China's greatest public projects.

After breakfast, you will take a 3-h ride to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The impressive stop of the day is Xinjiang Museum where well-preserved Chinese mummies are exhibited. Among which, you will find the spectacular one standing out from the rest named "Beauty of Loulan," who was buried 4,000 years ago near the town of Loulan in Taklimakan Desert. "Beauty of Loulan" was remarkably preserved in an open coffin under hot desert sands of the Takliamakan when she was excavated.

Today you will take a one hour ride to Heavenly Lake, which is located on the north side of the Bodga Shan range of the Tianshan Mountains to enjoy fantastic mountain views and serene lake scenery. Then you will be taken back hotel.