13 Days Silk Road Luxurious Tour from Xi’an to Urumqi

Please arrange for the international flight to get to Xi'an. We will meet you at the Xi'an airport, transfer you to the hotel and check you in. The rest of the day will be your free time to do a little exploration at your leisure.

Enjoy your breakfast at the hotel,spend the whole day exploring culture and customer in Xi'an. Drive to the countryside of the Xi'an city about 1hrs, we will visit the most impressive historic site Terracotta Warriors which are the most significant archeological excavations of the 20th century. Work is ongoing at this site, which is around 1.5 kilometers east of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Mausoleum in Lintong, It is a sight not to be missed by any visitor to China. Believe you will be amazed by the culture and history to get a feeling back to Qing Dynasty during the 3hrs experience. （No flash when take photos)Afternoon,  we will continue the sightseeing to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda built to house Buddhist scriptures collected by a Chinese Monk. Big Wild Goose Pagoda has 7 floors in total. Architecture is traditional Chinese style decorating with some Buddha statues. Tourists can see variety of Buddha statues and see the whole Xi'an city at the top floor.

Afterwards. you can walk around the city wall or experience the cycling.  then explore the Muslim Street, Relax with free walking along the street tasting he local delicious food and exploring the local lifestyle.

Today. head to the Ancient City Wall, This is the most complete city wall that has survived in China as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. you will enter the city wall through the ticket gate. Standing on the wall, you can't use your eyes to judge how long the wall is.

After Lunch, you will be transferred to the train station to take the express train to Lanzhou.

Today the tour will start from the Binglingsi Thousand Buddha Temple, take a speedboat from Liujiaxia Reservoir to Binglingsi in the morning. On the way, you will see the green water connects to the yellow water while the blue sky connects to the yellow earth. Perhaps this can only be experienced in Liujiaxia. Upon arrival, head to visit the Binglingsi Thousand Buddha Caves which is close to Liujiaxia Reservoir, These caves stretch for 200 meters, were built during the Western Qin, North Wei, Sui, Tang, and Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing dynasties (between the 3rd and 18th centuries). 

After the visiting, drive to Xiahe and stay overnight here.

Today in the morning, we will first pay a visit to the Labrang Monastery, the most populous monks outside of Tibet. You will stay at Thangka Sunning Terrace that is one of a good place to view the monastery and surrounding scenery. Inside the monastery, apart from magnificent Buddha stupas and wall paintings, prayer wheels are also the must-see spot. The whole monastery is surrounded by wheels, walk along the corridor, rotate the wheels and pray for chasing away the troubles.

The view of yaks roaming in the Sangke Grasslands amid green pastures is something to behold. In this area, nomadic people can still be found singing their traditional songs and this is often one of the highlights of any visit to Tibet. Then visit the Tibetan family and wear Tibetan cloth, drink milk tea and sample hand-grabbed mutton.

Afterwards, drive back to Lanzhou, visit Yellow River's Mother Statue,to explore the culture and local lifestyle.

Today we will take the morning express train to Zhangye, upon arrival, we are about to visit the Mati Temple where were built in Jin Dynasty. A series of horse shoe prints are visible in Grotto 9, which are said to be left by a heaven horse. As a result, the temple was named for the horseshoe prints left by the legendary heaven horse, which become the treasure of the temple. After that stay overnight in the hotel in Zhangye downtown.

Today we will first visit the Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park, which is 510 square kilometers in total, it located in the north of Qilian mountains, SuNa county territory. It includes the colour hills in Linze country ,ice hills, Danxia and GanZhou District and PingShan lake. The scenic Danxia, is a distance of 40 km from east Zhang Ye city, north from Linze county town by 20 kilometers, this is the most typical arid area of northern China.

After visiting, we will drive all the way to Jiayuguan. Then visit the Jiayuguan Pass. This Ming Dynasty fort guards the strategic Jiayuguan pass, at the western end of the Great Wall – this was the last section built by the Ming Dynasty. The Great Wall Museum opened to visitor in October 1989 and it is the first one to exhibit the Great Wall culture in a comprehensive and systematic way.

Today we will drive to Dunhuang, upon arrival, we will be visiting  tour of Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes, this UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the great artistic and religious wonders of the world and it is famous for its exquisite murals and various sculptures inside the caves, which was built in different dynasties, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art. 

In the evening, you will enjoy the walking tour to the Shazhou Night Market, the most bustling place of Dunhuang at night. It's easy to lose our sense of time wonder the market while enjoy your leisure time and taste some local cuisine.

After breakfast,visit the Echoing-Sand Mountain and Crescent Lake, Located 5 km (about three miles) south of Dunhuang City, 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. There is a legend that says how, in ancient times, a general with many soldiers came here to fight in a war with their enemies.

After that, transfer to the Liuyuan train station to take the express train to Turpan. Bet met and transferred to the hotel.

Morning visit the Tuyoq Village, constructed in eastern and western cliffs in Tuyoq valley . more than 40 caves, there are 10 preserving murals. Bezeklik Grottoes, (you can enjoy the outlook of Flaming mountain around Grottoes) which is a complex of Buddhist cave grottoes dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of Turpan and Shanshan at the north-east of the Taklamakan Desert near the ancient ruins of Gaochang in the Mutou Valley. And Jiaohe Ruins—with a history of 2,300 years lies between two rivers on a loess plateau atop a cliff of over 30m. It is one of the best preserved ruins of its ancient era in China, it was include in the World Heritage List on June 22, 2014.

Today we are going to visit the Sugong Minaret, the largest Islamic minaret in China built in 1778. Karez Well, which is a special irrigation system in desert areas.

After that, drive to Urumqi and pay a visit to the Xinjiang Regional Museum to see archaeological treasures from the Silk Road and Xinjiang's minority cultures.

Morning you will enjoy the tour of the picturesque Heavenly Lake, 2000m up in the Tianshan mountain range. which is surrounded by the snow mountains, blooming wildflowers, evergreen pine trees. 40-minute sceniic shuttle bus ride that twists though the dramatic mountains. Then you can either walk to the lakeside in 10mins or take the electronic cart. There are 3 options suggested. Boating cruise to take the incredible view of Tianshan Mountain. Trekking along the lake in the fresh air. or you can explore further uo to the Maya Mountain by the cable car to enjoy the magnificent view of the Mountains. The lunch in the local Kazakh's yurt is highly recommended. 

Then drive back to Urumqi and visit the Xinjiang International Bazaar, the largest bazaar in Urumqi. You'll find a bustling market filled with fruit, clothing, crafts, knives, carpets and almost anything that you can imagine.

Breakfast at the hotel, we will arrange the driver transfer you to the airport, catch the flight back to your sweet home.