15 Days China Silkroad Tour

Detailed Itinerary

• Day 1. Arrival at Beijing.  
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  Reach Beijing airport or railway station. Your private guide will wait at the exit and escort you to hotel for check in.
  Free for the remainder of the day.
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• Day 2. Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven.  
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  English speaking guide and private vehicle will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Take a stroll on the largest downtown square in the world, Tiananmen Square. The square has witnessed the founding of the new China.
  Then visit Forbidden City. This world's largest palace complex was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties(1368-1911).
• Proceed to Summer Palace after lunch. Combining lakes, gardens and ancient structures, Summer Palace is the best-preserved and largest royal garden existing in China.
  Continue to Temple of Heaven, the largest sacrificial building complex in the world. The temple was the place where emperors came to perform worship to the God of Heaven and pray for good harvests. Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 3. Beijing: Ming Tombs, Badaling Great Wall.  
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  English speaking guide and private vehicle will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Visit Ming Tombs in the morning. With a history of over 600 years, Ming Tombs is the final resting place of 13 emperors of Ming Dynasty(1368-1644).
  Discover the largest and the first built tomb, Changling. It is the tomb of the third Ming Emperor Zhu Di and his wife.
• Head to the famous Badaling Great Wall in the afternoon. Badaling is the best preserved and most popular section of the Great Wall of China. It is close Beijing city and featured with magnificent architectures and breathtaking nature scenery.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 4. Beijing Hutong, flight to Xian.  Arrive in Xian, Shaanxi History Museum.  
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  English speaking guide and private vehicle will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Visit Beijing Hutongs by rickshaws. Beijing Hutongs are narrow lanes surrounded by traditional courtyard residences. They have a history of over 700 years and represent the traditional culture and way of life of old Beijingers.
  Then drive you to airport to take flight for Xian.
  
  
• Local guide will pick you up from Xian airport and escort you to visit Shaanxi History Museum. Over 1,700,000 cultural relics are displayed in this comprehensive museum to show the history and culture of Shaanxi province and ancient China.
  Transfer you to check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, , , ,
• Day 5. Xian: Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Ancient City Wall, Drum Tower, Tang Dynasty Show.  
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  English speaking guide and private vehicle will pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive about 1 hour to visit Terracotta Warriors and Horses. Be honored as the Eighth Wonder in the World, Terracotta Warriors and Horses is a part of the Mausoleum of the Emperor Qin Shihuang(259-210BC). Over 8,000 life-size warriors, horses and chariots are arranged in battle formations.
• After lunch, proceed to Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Originally built in 652 of Tang Dynasty, the pagoda is functioned to collect Buddhist materials that were taken from India by the hierarch Xuanzang.
  Move on to Ancient City Wall, one of the most important landmarks of Xian. It was built over 600 years ago as an important military defensive system to fortify the city.
  Continue to Drum Tower, the biggest drum in China at present. There is a drum museum with a variety of ancient drums on the tower.
• Enjoy Tang Dynasty Show after dinner. Tang Dynasty Show presents the essence of music and dance art of the Tang Dynasty over a thousand years ago.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the show.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
• Day 6. Take flight to Lanzhou.  Arrive in Lanzhou, Binglingsi Grottoes.  
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  Pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport. Take flight to Lanzhou.
  
  Local guide will meet you at Lanzhou airport.
  Procced to Binglingsi Grottoes, one of the six famous Buddhist Caves in China. The grottoes were first built in 420 during the Western Qin Dynasty. 183 caves and niches with 694 stone statues, 82 earth statues and 900 square meters murals are distributed on the cliff. We need to take speedboat from Liujiaxia Dam to visit Binglingsi Grottoes. Then drive to Lanzhou city and check in hotel.
•   Breakfast, , Lunch, ,
• Day 7. Lanzhou - Wuwei, Eastern Han Tomb of Leitai Temple, Confucian Temple.     
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am and drive to Wuwei.
  Visit Han Tomb of Leitai Temple. 231 gold, silver, bronze, iron, jade, bone, pottery articles, 99 bronze warriors and horses were excavated here.
• Move on to Confucian Temple, the largest and best-preserved temple dedicated to Confucius in Gansu Province.
  Overnight in Wuwei.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, , ,
• Day 8. Wuwei - Zhangye Giant Buddha Temple - Jiuquan Park - Jianyuguan.        
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am and drive to Zhangye.
  Visit Giant Buddha Temple. The Buddha Statues in the temple is the China's largest reclining Buddha.
• Then drive to Jiuquan and visit Jiuquan Park. The park is a traditional garden with a history of over 2,000 years.
  Arrive in Jiayuguan and stay overnight.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, , , , , , ,
• Day 9. Jiayuguan Pass - Dunhuang.    
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Go to visit Jiayuguan Pass. Jiayuguan Pass is the first pass at the west end of the Ming Great Wall. It is the most magnificent and the best preserved ancient military fortresses among the passes of the Great Wall of China.
• Arrive in Dunhuang and check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, , ,
• Day 10.Dunhang: Mogao Grottoes, Echoing-Sand Dune and the Crescent Moon Lake.  
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Start your trip with the famous Mogao Grottoes. First constructed in 366AD, Mogao Grottoes is a large cave temple combining art of architecture, murals and painting sculptures. It is also known as "the Cave of Thousand Buddhas".
• Go on to Echoing-Sand Dune and the Crescent Moon Lake. Echoing-Sand Mountain is a sand mountain range surrounded by rolling ridges and precipitous cliffs. It is made up of tinny sands of five colors, red, yellow, blue, white and black.
  Crescent Moon Lake is a natural wonder encircled by the Echoing-Sand Mountain. Existing for hundreds of years, the lake is still crystal clear and never has been buried by the sand.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 11. Yumenguan Pass, take train to Turpan.  Arrive in Turpan and hotel check-in.  
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Proceed to Yumenguan Pass. Built in Western Han Dynasty (206BC -24AD) as the crucial gateway from central China to the western regions, Yumenguan Pass was an inevitable pass of the Silk Road.
• Then transfer you to train station. Take bullet train to Turpan.
  
  Local guide will meet you at Turpan train station and escort you to check in the hotel.
•   Breakfast, Lunch, , ,
• Day 12. Turpan: Gaochang Ancient City, Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Ancient Karez system, Flaming Mountain, Grape Valley.  
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive to visit Gaochang Ancient City. The city used to be a garrison town and later became a key point along the ancient Silk Road. You can see some well preserved structures in the ruins.
  Then go to Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves. The caves are well hidden and rest on a long ridge overlooking a valley. There are 67 caves dating from the Northern and Southern dynasties (317 - 589) to the Yuan dynasty (1279 - 1368).
• Proceed to Ancient Karez system. It is an irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels and is considered as one of the three great ancient projects in China.
  Move on to Flaming Mountain, the lowest and hottest place in China. The rocks have a distinctive red color because of geographical conditions here.
  Visit Grape Valley, one of valleys of Flaming Mountain. About 100 different varieties of grapes are planted in the valley.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 13. Turpan-Urumqi, Heavenly Lake.  
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am and drive to Urumqi.
  Visit Heavenly Lake. It is a relic of the Quaternary Period Glacier. With melted snow as its source, this crescent-shaped lake is guarded by the stately peaks and offers a spectacular sight.
• Transfer you to check in the hotel in Urumqi.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 14. Urumqi: Southern Pasture, Erdaoqiao Bazaar.  
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  Pick you up from hotel at 08:30am.
  Drive to Southern Pasture. Located at the foot of the Tianshan Mountain range, Southern Pasture is a famous summer resort with forest of emerald green spruce, flowers, flocks and herds. West White Poplar Gully is the most typical sights in the pasture.
• Then visit the largest Uigur bazaar in Urumqi, Erdaoqiao Bazaar.
  Transfer you back to the hotel after the tour.
•   Breakfast, Lunch,
• Day 15. Departure.  
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  Pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport for departure.
•   Breakfast, ,