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8-day Xinjiang Silk Road Highlights
Overview: This 8 days Xinjiang Dunhuang, Turpan, Urumqi, Kashgar Silk Road highlights tour bring you to visit natural wonders, Buddhism temples and beautiful Chinese classical architectures and historical ruins as well as the weekly Great Sunday Bazaar, where kaleidoscope of scenes from the pages of A Thousand and One Nights.
Day 1 Shanghai or Beijing/Dunhuang
Meals: None
Places to visit: Shazhou Night Market
You are met by our tour guide at the airport and will be escorted to the Hotel. Then start an evening visit to Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market.
Shazhou Night Market: It is a night market held on the main thoroughfare, Dong Dajie, in the city centre of Dunhuang, popular with tourists during the summer months. Many souvenir items are sold, including such typical items as jade, jewelry, scrolls, hangings, small sculptures, leather shows puppets, coins, Tibetan horns and Buddha statues. A sizable number of members of China's ethnic minorities engage in business at these markets. A Central Asian dessert or sweet is also sold, consisting of a large, sweet confection made with nuts and dried fruit, sliced into the portion desired by the customer.
Day 2
Dunhuang/Turpan (Train Overnight)
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Mogao Caves, Echoing-Sand Mountain and the Crescent Lake, Camel Riding
Mogao Grottoes, housing the ancient thousand buddhas and mural paintings from the 4th to the 14th centuries, are the famous Dunhuang highligh of buddhist art treasures shrine on the north-west Silk Road China.Cameras are not permitted.
Echoing-Sand Mountain, Crescent Moon Lake is quite literally an oasis surrounded by sand dues. It is a good place to ride a camel or climb stunning the dunes for spectacular view, 5 kilometers (about three miles) away from the city of Dunhuang.
Train information (overnight soft sleeper with good aircondition, 4 berths in one compartment)
Day 3 Turpan
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Bezklik Grottoes, Astana Tombs
Meet guide at train station and drive 40 minutes to the hotel in Turpan. And then visit Astana Tombs, the Flaming Mountain, Bezklik Grottoes and Local Uyger family in the Vineyard.
The Astana Cemetery or Astana Graves is a large site 37 km southeast of present-day Turpan, 6 km from the ancient city of Gaochang. It served mainly as the cemetery for the descendents of Chinese settlers in Gaochang from the 4th century to the first half of the 8th century. The complex covers 10 square kilometres and contains over 1,000 tombs. Due to the arid environment many important artifacts have been well preserved at the tombs, including natural mummies.
The Bezeklik/Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves: Bezeklik means a place with beautiful decoration. It is famous for ancient murals with exsiting 60 caves, and over 40 caves have ancient murals of 1200 square meters.
Day 4 Turpan/Urumqi (190kms 2.5 hrs drive/ 1 hrs bullet train )
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system, Sugong Minaret
Pay a morning visit to Jiaohe Ruined city, Karez Irrigation system, Sugong Minaret; Back to Urumqi after lunch in Turpan, then visit Erdaoqiao & International Bazaar.
Jiaohe Ruins, is an archaeological site with the largest, oldest, and best preserved city gates, streets and lanes, government office, temples, domestic houses, cave houses, wells, and an underground temple, showing it as an important stop on the Ancient Silk Road.
Karez Irrigation System, made up of vertical wells, underground channels, ground canals and small reservois, is one of China's three greatest feats of ancient engineering of underground irrigation channel, along with the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.
The Sugong Pagoda, or Emin Minaret is a local Islamic building. At the time of some traditional festivals, Muslem people push their way to the Sugong Pagoda to pray for blessing just like a pilgrimage.
Day 5 Urumqi/Kashgar by Air
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake
Visit Xinjiang Museum, Heavenly Lake with a boat cruise. Then you will take the afternoon flight around 17:00 to Kashgar and will be picked up to check in the hotel upon your arrival.
Xinjiang Museum is the main institution to collect and investigate the unearthed cultural relics and specimens in Xinjiang. There are more than 50 thousand pieces of various kinds of cultural relics stored in the museum, among them, the ancient mummies represented by ‘the Loulan Beauty', manuscripts in Chinese, Kharosthi, Qiuci, Yanji, Tibetan, Uigurian and other characters prevailed in ancient Westen Regions, the silk ,wool, cotton and hemp fabrics and folk rainment, etc., are unusual tidbits in the world.
Heavenly Lake, covering an area of about 5.9 square kilometers, has 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".
Day 6 Kashgar
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Karakul Lake (200kms 3 hrs drive)
After breakfast take the drive to visit the Karakul Lake and enjoy the Pamir landscape.
The Karakul Lake is a paradise of bonfire night parties for boy and girl khalkhas with tourists. The party is full of ethnic songs and dances, as well as good smell of roast lamb skewers.
Day 7 Kashgar
Meals: B, L
Places to visit: Sunday Bazaar, Id Kah Mosque, Old Town, Apak Hoja Tomb, Handicraft Street
In the city east, Kashgar Grand Bazaar, Sunday Bazaar, Mal Bazaar or the livestock market on Sundays, daily Yengi Bazaar etc. show the glory of the largest international trade market or fair on ancient China Silk Road. Before 1992, Kashgar grand bazaar was only held on Sunday. So that foreiners called it Sunday Bazaar on travel guidebooks. In fact, the market is open everyday for people,but the highest busy tide still comes on Sunday.
The Id Kah Mosque is located on the central square in Kashgar City, Xinjiang Uigur Autonomous Region. As the biggest mosque in China, it is a group of old Islamic constructions with strong ethnic style and religious features.
Kashgar Old Town is the best place to see how the local Uyghur ethnic group has lived for centuries. The old town district has a history of over 2,000 years.
Day 8 Kashgar Departure
Meals: B
After breakfast you will be escorted to the airport for your next destination by air.
Service ends
Price Includes:
Transportation & Private Transfers:Transportation cost covers all the domestic airfare of economy class with airport tax, train tickets between the cities as the itinerary specified.
Transfer between airports, railway station, hotels and scenic spots for sightseeing around the cities that are specified by the itinerary with private air conditioned vehicle with driver and English-speaking guide. Separate arrivals and departures will incur extra charges.
Entrance Fees:
All entrance fees to the scenic spots listed in the itinerary. The final arrangement will be determined by private tour guides depends on the real-time local circumstances wheather are beyond the control of Access China Travel. We will adhere to the original itinerary as accurately as possible.
Normal Meals:
All normal meals as the itinerary specified: B = breakfast, L = Lunch, D = dinner in local restaurant. Breakfasts are served in hotel, breakfasts have Chinese or Western style for your option; Lunches are served in carefully selected quality local Chinese restaurants with best service, your lunches will be ordered by your guide catering to your preferences within normal standard. Dinners as the itinerary specified will be also served in local Chinese restaurants. The meal quotation is normalized. If you have any special request about meals, like vegetarian, famous rare dishes, Indian food or more, please inform us in advance. For the unspecified dinners, you will have dinner on your own. Feel free to ask your local guide for suggestions or recommendation.
Private Sightseeing Escort:
Normal sightseeing activities as the itinerary listed will be escorted with English-speaking guide. The English-speaking guide and driver in each city are with you throughout the entire itinerary around that city. They do not fly with you from one city to another.
Hotel Accommodation:
Hotel service criterion: two adults share on one standard twin/double-bed room; solo traveler who want to occupy one twin/double-bed room assigned is required for extra single supplement rate. A single room is available on prior request at an additional cost; if a recommended hotel unavailable, it will be replaced by one of the same class. All hotels as the itinerary listed serve daily western or Chinese breakfast. All rooms are air-conditioned with private facilities unless specified.
Tour Arrangements:
The tour cost includes the planning, handling, booking, operation and communication charges.
Price Excludes:
International airfare or train tickets for entry or exit China, unless that is noted or required otherwise.Visa Fees, passport application or renewal fee.
Excess Baggage Charges.
Personal Expenses:
Expenses of a purely personal nature such as excess luggage fees, laundry, drinks, fax, telephone call, optional activities (shows) and meals, beverages...
Meals:
Any meal are not specified in the itinerary with "B", "L" or "D".
Any extra cost caused by the changes of natural disasters, fires, weather, government and local authority orders, politics, strikes, war, riots, quarantine, custom regulations; as well as tourist law violation, accident damages or injury incurred out of Access China Travel control.
Gratuities:
Tips to guides, escort, drivers bellman, etc.
