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16 Days Marco Polo Silk Road Tour from Urumqi to Xian

16 Days Marco Polo Silk Road Tour from Urumqi to Xian

Besides visiting the most popular cities in China(Beijing, Xian, Shanghai), this 16 days MarMarco Polo Silk Road Tour will take you open the way to Urumqi, Kashgar, Turpan, Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, and Xian.

Highlights:

Follow the footsprint of Marco Polo to explore the silk road.
Visit the highlights of Beijing, Xian and Shanghai cities.

Brief Itinerary

Day 1: Beijing Arrival
Day 2: Beijing
Day 3: Beijing – Urumqi
Day 4: Urumqi – Kashgar
Day 5: Kashgar
Day 6: Kashgar – Urumqi
Day 7: Urumqi – Turpan
Day 8: Turpan – Dunhuang
Day 9: Dunhuang
Day 10: Dunhuang
Day 11: Dunhuang – Jiayuguan
Day 12: Jiayuguan – Xian
Day 13: Xian
Day 14: Xian – Shanghai
Day 15: Shanghai
Day 16: Shanghai Departure

Detailed Itinerary

Day 1 Beijing Arrival

Sightseeing and Activities:
Accommodation: Beijing
Meals:

Upon your arrival, tour guide will pick you up from airport or train station and then transfer to your hotel in Beijing city.

Day 2 Beijing

Sightseeing and Activities: Mutianyu Great Wall, Summer Palace
Accommodation: Beijing
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Get up early to visit Mutianyu Great Wall. Great Wall is one of the greatest architecture projects in human history. Then drive to visit Summer Palace, which used to be the summer resort for royal families and emperors.

Day 3 Beijing – Urumqi

Sightseeing and Activities: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven
Accommodation: Urumqi
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast at hotel, start today’s tour with Tiananmen Square. Go north through the square and you will reach the Forbidden City. As the largest and best-preserved ancient wooden structure in the world, it has more than 8,000 pavilions and thousands of historic treasures. Then enjoy the lunch.

In the afternoon, head to visit the royal altar of the Ming and Qing dynasties – the Temple of Heaven. After the tour, take a night flight to Urumqi.

Day 4 Urumqi – Kashgar

Sightseeing and Activities: Heavenly Lake
Accommodation: Kashgar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

After the breakfast, head to Heavenly Lake, 98km northeast of Urumqi downtown. It is a crescent alpine lake in the north of Bogda Peak, which enjoys crystal water due to melted snow as its source.

Then transferred back to Urumqi airport to take a flight to Kashgar.

Day 5 Kashgar

Sightseeing and Activities: Id Kah Mosque, handcraft street, Abakh Hoja Tomb, Sunday Bazaar
Accommodation: Kashgar
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today start the tour with Id Kah Mosque, one of the biggest mosque in China, which was built by Saqsiz Mirza in 1442. Then head to handcraft street, which is full of unique and exotic goods. It is one of the most featured street in various local handicrafts in and around Kashgar Xinjiang China.

After that, visit the Abakh Hoja Tomb, the largest Islamic mausoleum of Xinjiang. It is most known as the Tomb of Xiang Fei, who is one of theimperial concubines of Emperor Qianlong. Continue the tour to Sunday Bazaar, the busiest part of the city, which covers a total area of 0.17 square kilometers with more than 5,000 stable stalls.

Day 6 Kashgar – Urumqi

Sightseeing and Activities: Karakul Lake
Accommodation: Urumqi
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

After breakfast at hotel, drive on Karakorum high way to view the fantastic scenery of Karakul Lake. On the road, enjoy the scenery of the Mt. Muztag. Karakul Lake is the highest lake of the Pamir Plateau. Enjoy the crystal water, the peaks and blue sky, and also the creatures here.

After the tour, take a flight to Urumqi.

Day 7 Urumqi – Turpan

Sightseeing and Activities: Jiaohe Ruins, Karez Well System, Sugong Minaret
Accommodation: Turpan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning drive to Turpan for visiting. Upon arrival, head to visit Jiaohe Ruins. It is a natural fortress located atop a steep cliff on a leaf-shaped plateau between two deep river valleys. Then move on to Karez Well System. Located in the Turpan Depression, it is a vertical tunnel system adapted by the Turpan people.

After that, continue the tour to Sugong Minaret. At 44 meters high, it is the tallest minaret in China.

Day 8 Turpan – Dunhuang

Sightseeing and Activities:
Accommodation: Dunhuang
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning, escorted to Turpan Train Station to catch 4-hour high speed train to Liuyuan. A local tour guide will pick you up at the train station and transfer to your hotel in Dunhuang.

Day 9 Dunhuang

Sightseeing and Activities: Yadan National Gepark, Yumenguan Pass
Accommodation: Dunhuang
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

We will head to Yadan National Gepark and Yumenguan Pass. Situated 180 kilometers in the northwest away from Dunhuang City, Yadan National Gepark features the unique and wonderful scenes and landscapes of gobi desert.

On the way to the Yadan Gepark, we will stop at the Yumen Pass for a brief visit. Enjoy changing scenery along the way from bustling city to desolate Gobi. Yumen Pass was a significant military pass and a vital pass on the route of Silk Road.

Day 10 Dunhuang

Sightseeing and Activities: Mogao Grottoes, Crescent Moon Spring, Minsha Mountain
Accommodation: Dunhuang
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, our local guide will pick you up from your hotel. Then we will head to visit Mogao Grottoes that is known as “The Thousand Buddha Cave”, and noted as one of the most important cultural and historical sites in China.

In the afternoon, drive to Crescent Moon Spring, which is an oasis in the Gobi Desert. Enjoy the rare view where an oasis meets the desert and have some fun sand adventure. After that, ride camels across the sand dunes to Minsha Mountain which can make sounds when the wind passes.

After the visit, enjoy the view of sunset and drive back to hotel.

Day 11 Dunhuang – Jiayuguan

Sightseeing and Activities: Jiayuguan Pass, Great Wall Mesum
Accommodation: Jiayuguan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning after breakfast, drive about 5 hours to Jiayuguan. After arrival, we will head to Jiayuguan Pass. Jiayuguan is a well restored fort marking the edge of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty time, in an important place in the Hexi Corridor. Frist we will stop at the Great Wall Mesum for a brief visit. Afte that, explore the grandoise fortress.

Day 12 Jiayuguan – Xian

Sightseeing and Activities: Weijin Tomb Mural
Accommodation: Xian
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning head to visit Weijin Tomb Mural, a big tomb group with more than 1,000 tombs. Due to its mural bricks, it is renowned as the largest “Subterranean Art Gallery” in the world.

After the tour, transferred to Jiayuguan airport for your nest destination of Xian.

Day 13 Xian

Sightseeing and Activities: Terracotta Warriors, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, City Wall, Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show
Accommodation: Xian
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today visit the world famous Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. After that, visit the the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist pagoda built in 652 during the Tang dynasty and City Wall. At night, enjoy the Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show(optional).

Day 14 Xian – Shanghai

Sightseeing and Activities: Shaanxi History Museum
Accommodation: Shanghai
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today after breakfast, head to visit Shaanxi Provincial History Museum, one of the first huge state museums with modern facilities in China and one of the largest with the large storage of cultural relics from the Shang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.

After that, drive to airport to board the flight to Shanghai. A local tour guide will pick you up at airport and transfer to your hotel.

Day 15 Shanghai

Sightseeing and Activities: Nanjing Road, the Bund, Yuyuan Garden, Jade Buddha Temple, Oriental Pearl Tower, Nanjing Road, the Bund
Accommodation: Shanghai
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today we will wander the exquisite pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters of the classic Yuyuan Garden, a beautiful garden in the south of the Yangtze River. Then head to the Jade Buddha Temple, which is a venerable and famous Buddhist temple built in 1928.

Afterwards continue our trip to the Oriental Pearl Tower. The ultra-modern Oriental Pearl TV Tower combines ancient concepts with 21st Century technology, where you can get a bird-eye-view of whole Shanghai city.

At last walk along the famous Nanjing Road and the Bund. Nanjing Road is China’s premier shopping street with the length of 5.5km. The bund is a famous waterfront and regarded as the symbol of Shanghai.