9 Days Silk Road Tour: Dunhuang, Turpan and Kashgar

Meet our nice guide and check into hotel,rest for the free time.Tomorrow starts your silk road tour.

Today you will take the Kashgar city tour to the Idigar Mosque,Apak Hoja Tomb ,Old Town and Handicraft street. 

Id Kah Mosque is the large Mosque in China and most famous one in Xinjiang. The Mosque started to build in the mid of fifteenth century, and has gradually developed to the present size. Id K ah Mosque, with about 16800 square meters in area, consisting of Pray Hall, the Koran teaching Hall, The Corridor, the Arches and other buildings attaching to it.

Apak Hoja Tomb This Mazar is the holiest place in Xinjiang and an architectural treasure Built in 1640, it is reminiscent of the Central Asian artistic style of Samarkand or Isfahan. A handsome blue-and-white tiled gate leads into the compound, which includes a small religious school and the Abakh Khoja family tomb. The latter is domed and faced with multi - colored tiles.

Old town will provide a sense of what this legendary Central Asian hub was like in the days when the Silk Road was at its zenith. 500-year old remnants of the city wall, narrow lanes and colorful multi-ethnic crowds combine to make Kashgar's historic district a highlight of any visit to the city.

Today is Sunday, you will experience the Sunday Livestock Market in the morning and then head to Tashkorgan county along the Karakom Highway. Enjoy the amazing landscape of Pamir Plateau, visit the Karakul Lake en route, arrive in Tashkorgan in the late afternoon.

Karakul Lake,At an altitude of 3,600 m. it is the highest lake of the Pamir plateau, near the junction of the Pamir, Tianshan and Kunlun Mountain ranges. Surrounded by mountains which remain snow-covered throughout the year, the three highest peaks visible from the lake are the Muztag Ata (7546m), Kongur Tagh (7,649m) and Kongur Tiube (7,530 m). The lake is popular among travelers for its beautiful scenery and the clarity of its reflection in the water, whose color ranges from a dark green to azure and light blue.

After breakfast visit Stone Fortress,and walk around the pastureland to see Local Tajiks customs.Afternoon back to Kashgar.

Stone fortress Located on a tableland northeast of the county seat of Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County, the covers an area of 100 thousands square meters and consists of ruins of city and temple of the Tang times and government office of the Qing Dynasty. A temple occupied the eastern part of the city. In the western and southeastern parts are found ruined houses. On the ruins of the temple the Pulitin Office of the Qing Dynasty was built. The city is oval in shape. The city walls were built with sun-dried bricks on stone foundation. It is 1285 meters in circumference outside.

After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport and take the flight to Urumqi and met our guide then drive about 120kms (1.5hrs) to visit the Heavenly Lake which is located in the deep of the Tianshan Mountain Ranges and back to Urumqi to visit Erdaoqiao Market & International Bazaar in the afternoon.

Heavenly Lake,110 kilometers from Urumqi, the Heavenly Lake is a long and narrow gourd-shaped moraine lake, 3400 meters long, about 1500 meters wide, 105 meters at the deepest point, with an average depth of 40 meters, covering an area of about 5.9 square kilometers. There are eight beautiful scenic spots in the lake scenic area, they are “A Ray of Stone Gate”, “Dragon's Pool and Green Moon”, “Magic Needle for Guarding the See”, “Three Stones Bearing the Sky”, “the Snowcapped Southern Mountain”, “Pine Billows in Western Mountain”, “the Hanging Waterfall”, and the “Sea Peak's Sunrise”.

In the morning head to Turpan which is famous for the grapes, hot weather and historical sites,and stop by the largest Wind power station in Asia. Visit the Tuyoq Village, Karez Well Irrigation system, Sugong Minaret and Jiaohe Ruins. The dinner in the local Uyghur Family recommended.

Jiaohe Ruins is located on a mesa in willow leaf shape between the Yarnaz River valleys 10 kilometers to the west of Turpan City. running from northwest to southeast, 1760 meters long and 300 meters across at the widest part. The city includes city gates, streets and lanes, government office, temples, domestic houses, cave houses, wells, and an underground temple.

Karez Irrigation System,The Karez System is a unique irrigation system in Turpan, which, taking advantage of the slopes, draws the underground water to flow by itself to irrigate farmland. It consists of four parts: vertical wells, underground channels, ground canals and small reservoirs

Sugong Minaret was built in the 41st year of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty,It is an embodiment of the ancient architectural arts of the Uygur nationality. The tower is 37 meters high and 10 meters in diameter at the base. The body of the tower is cylindroid in shape, built with bricks arranged in various symmetrical patterns.

Karez Irrigation System,The Karez System is a unique irrigation system in Turpan, which, taking advantage of the slopes, draws the underground water to flow by itself to irrigate farmland. It consists of four parts: vertical wells, underground channels, ground canals and small reservoirs
Sugong Minaret was built in the 41st year of the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty,It is an embodiment of the ancient architectural arts of the Uygur nationality. The tower is 37 meters high and 10 meters in diameter at the base. The body of the tower is cylindroid in shape, built with bricks arranged in various symmetrical patterns.

After breakfast take the taxi on your own (8yuan) to the train station and then take the express train to Dunhuang (Liuyuan Station) and met up with our guide, then drive about 2 hrs to Dunhuang, visit the Echoing-Sand Mountain and Crescent Lake, the Echoing-Sand Mountain, for many Chinese well known as Mingsha Mountain, is celebrated for the sound of the moving sand. In 1994 it was acclaimed as the national key scenic spot. Together with the Crescent Springand the Mogao Caves, the Echoing-Sand Mountain is most popular sitein Dunhuang travel.You may wonder why the sand makes these different sounds. and after dinner enjoy the relaxing walking in the Shazhou Night Market.

After breakfast visit the Mogao Caves,where you will visit the digital theater that help you have the clear mind of the Mogao in ancient times.and after lunch visit the Yumen Pass and the Great Wall of Han Dynasty.

 Mogao Grottoes:The traveler finds the Mogao Caves, a shrine of Buddhist art treasures, on the eastern slope of Mingsha Shan (Mount Echoing Sand). A network of plank reinforced roads plying north to south 1600 meters (5, 249 feet) long lead to the cave openings, which are stacked five stories high some reaching up to 50 meters (164 feet). By the way, Mogao means high up in the desert. The history of the Great Wall is said to start when seven powerful states appeared at the same time. In order to defend themselves, they all built walls and stationed troops on the borders. At that time, the total length of the wall had already reached 3,107 miles, belonging to different states.

Airport transfer and end of services