17 Days Xian Silk Road Tour

This 17 Days Xian Silk Road Tour will lead you to experience the major highlights of China and attractive sightseeing along the ancient Silk Road. This tour will start from the ancient city of Xian and finally end at the modern metropolis of Shanghai.

Tour Code : WMZJ078
Price From : $0  
Tour Type : Small group private tour
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Day 1 Arrive Xian (/)
Upon your arrival at Xian airport, you will be greeted by our local guide and then transferred to your hotel. The rest of the day is on your own to take a rest or explore the city.
Day 2 Xian Tour (B, L)
Pick up from your hotel at then visit Terracotta Warriors, the Eighth Wonder of the World. The sumptuous large scale military line-up of real size soldiers figures re-creates the powerful Qin army which swept the other six countries away 2000 years ago.
After lunch, visit the Forest of Stone Steles Museum, a classical courtyard styled structure with the oldest and richest collection of steles in China, display the great works of calligraphy, painting and historical Steles which records the Chinese culture achievements.
Then we move on to visit the City Wall-the best preserved, oldest and largest ancient city defense system in China. The wall has a history of over 600 years. After that, transfer you back to your hotel.
Day 3 Xian Tour, fly to Lanzhou (B, L)
Pick you up from your hotel. Firstly visit the Provincial Museum-a magnificent modern national museum, which built in the dignified and elegant Tang-dynasty style. The superb craftsmanship of 370,000 relics including murals, paintings, pottery, coins, as well as bronze, gold, and silver objects shows the splendor of Chinese civilization.
Then we will visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda It is one of the city's most distinctive and outstanding landmarks, possibly the most beautiful building left in Xian as well. At last we transfer to airport and leave for Lanzhou.
Day 4 Lanzhou Tour (B, L)
This morning, you will have the chance to see Liujia Xia Dam, which is is one of five planned with the help of Soviet advisors in the 1950s. It is one of the biggest hydroelectric power stations in China and was completed in 1974. You can take speed boat in Liujia Xia Dam as optional program.
Then you will have a visit to Bingling Temple. It is a famous stone cave temple in China of high artistic value. Lying in a canyon along the Yellow River, the temple features more than 100 big and small grottoes filled with Buddhist statues carved into natural caves. Therefore the temple was named "Bingling", which means "thousand Buddhas" in the Tibetan language. Being one of the very noted four caves in China, it is the second to Mogao Caves in respect of artistic value.
Day 5 Lanzhou Tour (B, L)
This morning you will have a city tour to the White Pagoda Park this afternoon, It got its name due to the amazing White Pagoda inside the park. With images of Buddha on its eight sides, the seven-story pagoda with a height of 17 meters, is a pure white building except for the green top that enhanced the look of the whole building.
Afterwards, you will proceed to Gansu Provincial Museum. It is the largest comprehensive museum in Gansu Province which holds about 350,000 pieces of ancient cultural relics, including contemporary and modern cultural relics, ethnic cultural relics and fossil specimens.
Day 6 Lanzhou-Xiahe (B, L)
After breakfast, you will be transferred to Xiahe. After arrive, you will visit the Sangke Grassland, famous for its excellent pasture and frequent magnificent Buddhist ceremonies. It is coverd by lush green grass and colorful flowers. Groups of sheep and yaks plus white tents form a beautiful picture.
Day 7 Xiahe-Lanzhou (B, L)
This morning you will visit the Labrang Monastery which famous for thousands of statues of Buddha made of gold, silver, copper, and aluminum. As one of the six great monasteries of the Gelukpa (Yellow Hat) Sect, Labrang Monastery is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside Tibet itself.
After lunch, drive back to Lanzhou and take overnight train to Jiayuguan.
Day 8 Jiayuguan Tour (B, L)
Arrive in Jiayuguan in the morning. Then you will head to Jiayuguan Pass. It is the main part of the western end of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty. It has been the first pass of Hexi region since ancient times.
Then you will visit Wei-jin Mural Tombs. It is a big tomb group with over 1,400 tombs built between the 3rd Century and 5th Century during the Wei and Jin dynasties and is well known as the largest subterranean art gallery in the world.
last you will go to see the Suspension Great Wall. It was built during the Ming Dynasty. The Overhanging Wall gets its name because there is a 231 meter long section, with an obliquity of 45 degrees, built onto a 150m high ridge. From a distance, it is said to resemble a dragon about to extend its body towards the ground.
Day 9 Jiayuguan-Dunhuang (B)
This morning you will be transferred to the 2,000 years old oasis town - Dunhuang. After arrival, you will be met and transferred to your hotel by our tour guide. Free at leisure the rest of the day.
Day 10 Dunhuang Tour (B, L)
Today's highlight is to tour the Mogao Caves, popularly known as the "Thousand Buddha Caves". The caves hold the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures. Mixing India and Chinese styles, they are a remarkable record of Silk Road civilization.
After lunch, you will visit Singing Sand Dunes and Crescent Spring. Singing Sand Dunes offers the best picture-book desert scenery that travelers are likely to see along the entire length of the Silk Road. These mountains are pale golden in color; their height is about a dozen meters and stretches across an area of more or less 40 kilometers. Crescent Spring is surrounded by the Singing Sand Dunes in the southern suburbs of Dunhuang City. It is shaped like a crescent moon, and can be called a natural wonder in the Gobi Desert.
Day 11 Dunhuang Tour (B, L)
After breakfast we will drive across the Gobi desert to visit the important relics on the silk road - Yumen Pass as well as the best preserved Han great wall.In ancient times, Yumen Pass was a pass through which the Silk Road passed, and was the one road connecting Central Asia and China. Great Wall of Han Dynasty is the best preserved great well built in Han Dynasty and also the longest one in China.
After the tours, you will be transferred to train station to take overnight train to Turpan.
Day 12 Turpan Tour (B, L)
This morning, you will drive to Turpan to visit the Ancient City of Jiaohe, which is one of the most important towns along the ancient Silk Road. It is probably the same size as Gaochang but better preserved. It is also the largest, oldest and best-preserved earth construction in the world. It is a life-sized model of a Tang Dynasty city.
Then you will will have an exploration of the famous Ancient Karez system. It is complete with a museum of displays and pictures. It is a good way to get an understanding of how the tunnels were dug. The last stop of today will be Grape Valley. Situated in the base of the western end of Flaming Mountains, Grape Valley is a unique world of vineyards and fruit trees. This green paradise of 400 hektares is covered with layer upon layer of grapes.
Day 13 Turpan-Urumqi (B, L)
Today we are going to visit the Astana Tomb, which is situated in the Gobi Desert. The tombs were the burial sites by the inhabitants of the ancient city of Gaochang. It covers an area of 10 square kilometers. Then passing by Flaming Mountain to Visit the Bezkelik Thousand Buddha Caves. They are a group of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to the 9th centuries. There are 77 rock-cut caves at the site.
After the tour, you will be transferred to airport and take flight to Urumqi. Our guide will be waiting for you outside the Arrival Hall of the airport and escort you to the hotel.
Day 14 Urumqi (B, L)
This mrning you will go to visit the Heavenly Mountain (Tianchi). Covering 4.9 square kilometers, this crescent-shaped water area deserves its name. With melted snow as its source, Heavenly Lake enjoys crystal water.Here you can boating on the Tianchi Lake.and escape into a peaceful, dream-like world. In the afternoon you will go to visit Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar in the dawntown.
Day 15 Urumqi-Shanghai (B, L)
After breakfast, you will be picked up from your hotel and go to visit the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Museum. It is is a provincial level comprehensive historical museum in China. The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region Museum has also become famous for its rich collections of silk artifacts from many periods of history.
After that, you will take an afternoon flight to Shanghai. Upon arrival, our local guide will meet you and escort you to your hotel in Shanghai.
Day 16 Shanghai city tour (B, L)
After breakfast at your hotel, you will visit the famous Jade Buddha Temple with a 2 meter high sitting white Jade Buddha and the 400-year old Yu Yuan Garden. Yu Yuan Garden has quite a few scenic courtyards dotted with baroque rockery, pools and flora, all connected by corridors and passageways and cultural relics. Then proceed to visit the Bund, where the great foreign commercial houses and banks built their imposing office buildings before 1930s. You also have a chance to visit the Shanghai Museum and the famous Nanjing Road among crowds.
Day 17 Departure (B)
Free at leisure until to be transferred to the airport for your flight back to Urumqi and then flight back to your home.

1. The main entrance tickets for the sights mentioned
2. Meals listed in the Tour Itinerary. B--Breakfast, L--Lunch, D--Dinner.
3. Include 16 nights hotel accommodations. Superior Class -- 5 Star hotel, Deluxe Class -- 4 star hotel, Tourist Class -- 3 star hotel.
4. Transfer service described in the itinerary
5. English-speaking guide service