13 Days Nothwest Xinjiang and Ili Grassland Photography Tour in Summer
Tour Overview
Xinjiang boasts one of the most diverse landscapes in China. Apart from the vast desert landscape, there are several beautiful prairies in Ili. This Xinjiang Photography Tour is a...
Code of Tour: CDT0000000778
Length of Travel: 13 Day
Destinations of Tour: Urumqi—Sayrm Lake-Zhaosu—Shate Valley-Diagram City-Kalajun Prairie-Tangbula Prairie-Narat Prairie-Bayinbuluk Grasslands and Swan Nature Reserve-Urumqi
Departure City: Urumqi
Price of Tour: Request
Type of Tour: Private
Features of Tour: Photo Nature Landscape
Xinjiang boasts one of the most diverse landscapes in China. Apart from the vast desert landscape, there are several beautiful prairie in Ili. This Xinjiang Photography Tour is a feast for your eyes and as well as your cameras.
Highlights:
- Enjoy and shoot the beautiful Prairies along the way.
- Visit the scenic spots in Nothwest Xinjiang.
Brief Itinerary
- Day 1: Urumqi Arrival
- Day 2: Urumqi – Sayrm Lake
- Day 3: Sarym – Zhaosu
- Day 4: Zhaosu – Shate Valley
- Day 5: Shate Valley
- Day 6: Shate Valley – Teks
- Day 7: Kalajun Prairie
- Day 8: Kalajun Prairie
- Day 9: Kalajun Prairie – Tangbula Prairie – Qiaoerma
- Day 10: Qiaoerma – Naraty Grassland
- Day 11: Naraty Grassland – Bayinbluk
- Day 12: Bayinbluk – No.1 Glacier – Urumqi
- Day 13: Urumqi Departure
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1 Urumqi Arrival
Sightseeing and Activities: Xinjiang Museum, Grand Bazaar, Uyger Show
Accommodation: Urumqi
Meals:
Take a morning flight to Urumqi. After airport-hotel pickup, start today’s tour with Xinjiang Museum. A visit to Xinjiang’s capital of Urumqi would be incomplete without a visit to the Xinjiang Museum. It is a comprehensive historical museum in China built in 1953, and famous for holding artifacts and mummies of Caucasians who lived in the region 1500 and 4000 years ago.
Continue our tour to Grand Bazaar, one of the most famous landmarks in Urumqi city, which is the largest bazaar in the world by scale, combining Islamic culture, architecture, ethnic commerce, tourism and entertainment.
Then enjoy the local Uyger Show.
Day 2 Urumqi – Sayrm Lake
Sightseeing and Activities: Sayrm Lake
Accommodation: Sayrm Lake
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
After breakfast, drive a long way(about 480km) to Sayrm Lake. Also known as Santai Haizi, the lake is the largest and the highest alpine lake in Xinjiang. It is like a brilliant emerald inlaid in the basin surrounded by Mt. Tianshan. Enjoy the stunning scenery here and take your favorite photos.
Day 3 Sayrm Lake – Zhaosu
Sightseeing and Activities: the Fruit Gully
Accommodation: Zhaosu
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Enjoy the morning of Sayrm Lake. Then drive about 350km to Zhaosu. On the way, stop to visit the Fruit Gully. Known as the “1st scene of Ili”, the Valley is a natural storehouse of plant species with a wide range of fruits and herbs growing wild.
Then drive across Tianshan Daban and arrive in Zhaosu.
Day 4 Zhaosu – Shate Valley
Sightseeing and Activities: Shate Valley
Accommodation: Yurt
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning after breakfast, drive to Shate Valley.
Day 5 Shate Valley
Sightseeing and Activities: Shate Valley
Accommodation: Yurt
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Enjoy the natural scenery here and shoot your photos. Experience a hot spring bath here.
Day 6 Shate Valley – Teks
Sightseeing and Activities: The Eight-Diagram City
Accommodation: The Eight-Diagram City
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning drive to The Eight-Diagram City in Tekes. The city was designed in an octagonal Eight-Diagram pattern, which also presents rich folk customs, profound historical cultures, and charming natural landscapes. It is the largest and most typical Eight Diagrams city in the world.
Day 7 Teks – Kalajun Prairie
Sightseeing and Activities: Kalajun Prairie
Accommodation: Yurt
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning after breakfast, head to Kalajun Prairie. It is a typical alpine meadow and praised by the UN food and agriculture organization officials as “a rare high mountain natural grassland of high quality in the world”. The rest of the day is for your shooting.
Day 8 Kalajun Prairie
Sightseeing and Activities: Kalajun Prairie
Accommodation: Yurt
Meals: Breakfast
The whole day is for your shooting, as well as enjoying the charming landscape.
Day 9 Kalajun Prairie – Tangbula Prairie – Qiaoerma
Sightseeing and Activities: Tangbula Prairie, Lavender
Accommodation: Qiaoerma
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning after breakfast, drive to Tangbula Prairie, and then continue driving to Qiaoerma. On the way, stop to enjoy Lavender. With dense forest and lush green pasture, Tangbula Prairie has extremely beautiful scenery.
Day 10 Qiaoerma – Naraty Grassland
Sightseeing and Activities: Naraty Grassland
Accommodation: Naraty Grassland
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning after breakfast, drive about 3 hours to Naraty Grassland, one of the top ten scenic spots in xinjiang. The grassland is one of the four grassland in the world, the subalpine meadow, which has been a famous pasture since ancient times.
Day 11 Naraty Grassland – Bayinbluk
Sightseeing and Activities: Bayinbluk Grassland, Bayinbuluk Swan Lake Natural Reserve
Accommodation: Bayinbluk
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Morning drive to visit Bayinbluk Grassland and Bayinbuluk Swan Lake Natural Reserve in the grassland. It is the second largest grassland in China, located in the Bayanbulak Basin of the Tian Shan mountains in northwest China, which is an important breeding and staging ground for birds and waterfowl, and is the highest-altitude breeding ground for swans in the world.
Day 12 Bayinbluk – No.1 Glacier
Sightseeing and Activities: Tianshan No.1 Glacier
Accommodation: Urumqi
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Enjoy the morning of Bayinbluk Grassland. Then drive across the Mishen Daban and arrive in the No.1 Glacier of Tianshan. Located in the Eastern Tianshan Mountains of central Asia and surrounded by desert, it is the most famous glaciers to glaciologists in the world.
After the visit, continue driving to Urumqi for overnight.
Day 13 Urumqi Departure
Sightseeing and Activities:
Accommodation:
Meals: Breakfast
Transferred to the airport or train stataion for your next destination. Service ends.
Service Included:
- Admission fees for all of the sightseeing spots listed in the itinerary;
- Meals as listed in the itinerary;
- Hotels as listed in the itinerary;
- Private English-speaking tour guide;
- Private vehicle for transfers & sightseeing with skilled driver;
- Service charge & government taxes;
- Luggage transfers between airports and hotels;
- Domestic train tickets of soft sleeper.
Service Excluded:
- Any arrival and departure international airfares or train tickets;
- Chinese visa fees;
- Excess baggage charged by Airlines;
- Single room supplement;
- Tips to guides and drivers;
- Personal expenses and gratuities to service staff;
- Personal travel accident insurance;
- All optional programs.
