8 Days Silk Road Trip for Authentic Cultural Experience

D1 Arrive Xining

Arrive Xining. We recommend you to take a morning flight for Xining. As we will start our program before noon time. Upon your arrival, we will meet you in the airport and take you to visit the Ta'er monastery (Kumbum Monastery), the most populous monks outside of Tibet. You will stay at Thangka Sunning Terrace that is one of a good place to view the monastery and surrounding scenery. Inside the monastery, apart from magnificent Buddha stupas and wall paintings, prayer wheels are also the must-see spot. The whole monastery is surrounded by wheels, walk along the corridor, rotate the wheels and pray for chasing away the troubles.

Day 2 Xining – Chaka Sat lake

After a nice breakfast at the hotel. We will begin our wonderful day by driving toward Chaka Salt lake, on the way we shall see the the magnificent scenery of Qinghai Lake, which is the largest inland salt water lake in China. We will stop at  Yueque Pasture land to view Qinghai lake, here you can walk into the lakeshore of Qinghaile lake, we will visit local Tibetan Family -Nomads famil, where they will provide their traditional Tibetan food of Tsangpa and Tibetan Wine. You can also dress into Tibetan Uniform to take picture with traditional Tibetan Costume on.  It is no exaggeration to say that Qinghai Lake is a miracle that is endowed by a deity. Outside, He encircled the lake with four continuous mountains and extends broad grassland at the foot of them.  Our main place today would be  Chaka salt lake.

Qinghai lakeQinghai lake

Day 3 Chaka Sat lake - Zhangye

 Chaka Salt Lake is the largest saline in Qinghai Province, Chaka Salt Lake means "the sea of salt"  in Mongolian. It lies in the centre of Qaidam Basin, which was nominated by the national tourist geography magazine as one of the 55 places to go. The sunlight can reflect all images above the lake into the lake just like huge mirror, so you can not really tell where you are placed in .  After a great at Chaka Salt lake and we will drive back to Xining to catch the train to Zhangye.  We will spend our night in Zhangye

Day 4 Zhangye Sightseeing of Rain bow mountain and Mati Temple

We will take early bullet train from Lanzhou to Zhangye, ( recommend train schedule D2741 7:04- 10:22). Upon arrival, we will transfer you to Zhangye Rainbow Mountain, sightseeing there around 2- 3hrs, After Zhangye visit and Lunch break , we will visit ,Mati temple.

The rainbow mountain located in Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park, the most typical arid area of northern China. Ribbons of reds, oranges and yellows slice through the rock, to create a rainbow vista contained only by the contours of the jagged mountain peaks. Many people also call it "Rainbow Mountain".

Mati Temple is located at the foot of Linsong Mountain, which is about 80 km away from the South Yugur Minority Autonomous County of Gansu Province. The temple was built in the Jin Dynasty. 

Mati Temple has gathered the culture, the landscape, and the religious together. A series of horse shoe prints are visible there. It is said that several horses left their footprints there when drinking water. As a result, the temple was named for the horseshoe prints, which are the treasure of the temple. 

Day 5 Zhangye -Jiayuguan (230km, 2.5hrs driving)

After breakfast, we will visit Pingshan Canyon, it’s a another nature wonder of Danxia Landforms, created by thousands of year transformations of the geographic changes.  It located about 60km away from Zhangye, also you need to take the shuttle bus to sightseeing the whole Canyon.  It reputed for unique forms of Danxia landforms and main color  would be red.

After Pingshan Canyon, we will visit the Largest Horse Racing in Northwest China:  Shandan Military Horse Breeding Centre,  it is also the biggest Breeding Horse centre in China.  Our Preisdeng Xi Jing Ping also visited this place. You can take stroll at this place as well

After this great day, we will drive to Jiayuguan. Tonight we will overnight at Jiayuguan

Day 6 Jiayuguan sightseeing  and drive to Dunhuang

Today, we shall visit the Jiayuguan Pass and ancient city wall. This Ming Dynasty fort guards the strategic Jiayuguan pass, at the western end of the Great Wall – this was the last section built by the Ming Dynasty. You will explore the Great Wall Museum, which was opened to the public in October 1989 and it is the first one to exhibit the Great Wall culture in a comprehensive and systematic way.  Afterwards, we will drive all the way to the next stop Dunhuang.

Day 7  Dunhuang sightseeing(BD)

After breakfast, we will visit Mogao grottes, one of world great heritage. This UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the great artistic and religious wonders of the world and it is famous for its exquisite murals and various sculptures inside the caves, which was built in different dynasties, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art. In the afternoon, we will visit the echoing sand & Crescent lake , we will provide fun games for you at the desert including : Sand sliding, Motorcycling  and  Bone fire with barbecue at the night （if you are not interested in barbed , we can also choose lamb hotpot）

PS: it’s possible to camp at the Echoing Sand mountain campsite, however the accommodation condition is quite poor, if you do not mind poor accommodation condition, you can try this option. But if you want to sleep well and nice, then camping at the dersert might not be a good option for you.

Overnight in Dunhuang

Mogao GrottesMogao Grottes

Day 8  Dunhuang Depature (B)

Today, we will see you off in the airport or train station and wish you happy safe journey back home. Welcome to trave with us again for your next adventure