19 Days China Silk Road Panorama Tour

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Starting from the capital Beijing, this 19 days China tour will take you to experience the mysterious and fascinating Silk Road, where you will visit many historical and cultural wonders such as Buddhist temples, ancient ruins, the local bazaars, etc. What’s more, you can also learn more about the history and modern culture of China through visiting the cities of Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.

Highlights:

  • Experience the mysterious and fascinating Silk Road.
  • Learn more about the history and modern culture of China through visiting Beijing, Xian and Shanghai.
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Brief Itinerary

  • Day 1: Beijing Arrival
  • Day 2: Beijing
  • Day 3: Beijing
  • Day 4: Beijing – Xian
  • Day 5: Xian
  • Day 6: Xian – Xiahe
  • Day 7: Xiahe – Lanzhou
  • Day 8: Lanzhou – Wuwei
  • Day 9: Wuwei – Zhangye
  • Day 10: Zhangye – Jiayuguan
  • Day 11: Jiayuguan – Dunhuang
  • Day 12: Dunhuang
  • Day 13: Dunhuang – Turpan
  • Day 14: Turpan – Urumqi
  • Day 15: Urumqi – Kashgar
  • Day 16: Kashgar
  • Day 17: Kashgar – Urumqi
  • Day 18: Urumqi – Shanghai
  • Day 19: 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: Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, Kung Fu Show
Accommodation: Beijing
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Tiananmen Square in Beijing

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. Then have a fantastic Chinese Kung Fu Show at the Red Theatre in the evening.

Day 3 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 4 Beijing – Xian

Sightseeing and Activities: Beijing hutong alleys
Accommodation: Xian
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

In the morning, take a rickshaw to visit Beijing hutong alleys, narrow but original. Then fly to city of Xian. A local tour guide will pick you up at airport and transfer to your hotel.

Day 5 Xian

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

Terracotta Army, Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Xian

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 6 Xian – Xiahe

Sightseeing and Activities: Sangke Grassland
Accommodation: Xiahe
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today take a morning flight to Xiahe. Then head to visit Sangke Grassland, which is famous for its excellent pasture and frequent magnificent Buddhist ceremonies.

Stay overnight near Labrang Monastery.

Day 7 Xiahe – Lanzhou

Sightseeing and Activities: Labrang Lamasery
Accommodation: Lanzhou
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Today we will visit Labrang Monastery. It is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, which has become known to visitors as the film’s shooting place of “World Without Thieves”.

After the visit, transferred to Lanzhou and check in the hotel for rest.

Day 8 Lanzhou – Wuwei

Sightseeing and Activities: White Pagoda Hill Park, Gansu Provincial Museum
Accommodation: Wuwei
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning after breakfast, head to visit White Pagoda Hill Park which is built in honor of a famous Tibetan Lama, who died of illness on his way to meet Genghis Khan. Then visit Gansu Provincial Museum. It has collections of over 350,000 artefacts and has held almost 300 exhibitions, and items from its collections have been exhibited worldwide.

After the tour, drive to Wuwei for overnight.

Day 9 Wuwei – Zhangye

Sightseeing and Activities: Leitai Tomb, Wuwei Wen Miao, Tiantishan Caves
Accommodation: Zhangye
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

We will visit Haizang Temple first. It is a well-known ancient temple built in more than 170 years ago in Jin Dynasty, covering an area of 11,600 square meters, which was a key temple on the way of the Silk Road.

Then move to visit the Leitai Tomb of Han Dynasty, which is the largest group of East Han mausoleum unearthed in the Hexi area.

The last stop is Tiantishan Caves. It is a series of rock cut Buddhist cave temples excavated from the eastern cliffs of the Huangyang River in the Qilian Mountains.

After the tour, drive to Zhangye for overnight.

Day 10 Zhangye – Jiayuguan

Sightseeing and Activities: the Giant Buddha Temple, Mati Temple, Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park
Accommodation: Jiayuguan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning, head to visit the Giant Buddha Temple first, which is the largest architectural relic in Gansu Province of the Western Xia period.

Then continue to visit the Mati Temple, an ancient Tibetan temple carved out of the side of a cliff in Sunan Yugu Tibetan region.

After that, head to Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park, which is known for their otherworldly colors that mimic a rainbow painted over the tops of rolling mountains. Many artists admire this masterpiece which is like a perfect painting on canvas.

Day 11 Jiayuguan – Dunhuang

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

In the morning, drive to visit the 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. Then continue to visit Overhanging Great Wall, the northern extending part of Jiayuguan Pass.

Day 12 Dunhuang

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

Morning after breakfast, drive to visit Yumen Pass. Yumen Pass was a significant military pass and a vital pass on the route of Silk Road. Then head to visit Yadan National Gepark. Situated 180 kilometers in the northwest away from Dunhuang City, Yadan National Gepark features the unique and wonderful scenes and landscapes of gobi desert.

Day 13 Dunhuang – Turpan

Sightseeing and Activities: Mogao Grottoes
Accommodation: Turpan
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Morning after breakfast, 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.

Then transferred to Liuyuan Train Station to take a 4-hour bullet train to Turpan.

Day 14 Turpan – Urumqi

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

Check out the hotel after breakfast and then head to visit Sugong Minaret. At 44 meters high, it is the tallest minaret in China.

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 Jiaohe Ruins. It is a natural fortress located atop a steep cliff on a leaf-shaped plateau between two deep river valleys.

Drive to Urumqi for overnight.

Day 15 Urumqi – Kashgar

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

Breakfast at hotel and then 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 16 Kashgar

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

Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar

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 17 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 18 Urumqi – Shanghai

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

Explore this city at leisure until being transferred to the airport for your nest destination of Shanghai. Then airport pickup and transferred to check in hotel.

Day 19 Shanghai Departure

Sightseeing and Activities:
Accommodation:
Meals: Breakfast

Explore this city at leisure until be 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.
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