8-Day Private Gansu Hexi Corridor Tour from Lanzhou to Dunhuang includes Linxia, Zhangye and Jiayuguan

Attractions: No
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Xiahe County

Welcome to Lanzhou – a city of Yellow River. Your tour guide will pick you up at the airport/train station in Lanzhou, and then drive about 3.5 hours to Xiahe in southwest of Lanzhou, a small pastoral county featuring in Tibetan culture and history and amazing grassland and plateau scenery.Stay overnight in Xiahe County.

Attractions: Labrang Monastery, Sangke Grassland
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Linxia

This morning you will go to visit Labrang Monastery, the most influential monastery outside the Tibet Autonomous Region and also one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also famous for having the most complete Tibetan Buddhism teaching system in China. In the southwest corner of Labrang Monastery, there is an ancient wooden bridge. Walking crosses the bridge and walking up to the hill, you can enjoy a panoramic view of Labrang Monastery and surrounding.

In the afternoon, you will take an excursion to Sangke Grassland which is a natural pasture of Tibetan nomads. The grass is lush like a blanket in summer and the cattle and sheep are herding in groups under the blue sky and white clouds. What a pastoral scenery. Every year on July 13th of the lunar calendar, the seven tribes of Sangke region will gather at Sangke Grassland and hold a horse racing festival here.

After Sangke Grassland visit, drive about 2.5 hours to Linxia, the capital of the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture. Check in to your hotel. The rest time is your free time to explore this beautiful city full of Muslim culture.

Attractions: Bingling Temple, Liujiaxia Dam
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Linxia

Today you will Bingling Temple, a Buddhist cave with a long history of over 1,600 years. First, you will drive about 1.5 hours to Liujiaxia Dam, a big national hydroelectric reservoir on the upper Yellow River. From the dock, you need to take a speed boat to get to Bingling Temple. During the 40-50 minutes’ boat ride, you can see a different section of Yellow River, very limpid and clear unlike the muddy sights seen in Lanzhou, and layered, red-colored huge Danxia landforms along the riverside, without coverage of any plantations. After getting off from the boat, walk several minutes to the entrance of Bingling Temple. The temple is actually a site of Buddhist grottoes filled with ancient Buddhist frescoes and sculptures caved into the rocks, along a long narrow valley of Yellow River. Dating back to West Qin Kingdom, the cave preserves about 183 caves, 694 stone statues, 82 clay sculptures and more than 900 square meters murals.

Stay overnight near Liujiaxia Dam

Attractions: Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

Leave early from Linxia to Zhangye to visit famous Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park.

Thousands of mountains and stiffs stretch like the colorful sunset glow. The barren mountains are covered by a red grit rock stratum. At the same time, some surfaces of mountains appear other colors, such as white, yellow, etc, and form many irregular lines and blocks looking like some abstract oil paintings. There are five viewing decks for you to watch and shoot. You will visit one by one, and will be transferred by park buses from one deck to another.You won’t miss the precious opportunity to enjoy the amazing sunset. Viewing Deck No. 4 is the best location to take sunset of the Danxia Landform. It’s better to get there earlier to occupy a good location.

After sunset, drive back to Zhangye downtown for accommodation.

Attractions: Giant Buddha Temple, Jiayuguan Pass, Xuanbi Great Wall
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Jiayuguan

After breakfast, you will go to visit the Giant Buddha Temple, which is famous for having the largest indoor sleeping Buddha in Asia. This temple is a large complex with regal arrangements built in the Xixia Dynasty(1098), and keeps many precious Buddhist scriptures and wall paintings. Its famous treasure is the Sleeping Buddha, which is centrally seated with symmetric buildings situated along both sides. The Buddha statue was carved by wood with a length of 34.5 meters, telling the story of Buddha’s Nirvana. His ears are as big as the space in which 4 adults can sit side by side.

After visiting the Buddha Temple, drive about 220 km (2.5hrs) to Jiayuguan City and check into your hotel. Then you will go to visit “the First and Greatest Pass under Heaven”, also the westernmost starting point of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty – Jiayuguan Pass. Start your exploration with an educational visit to the Great Wall Museum to learn some interesting facts about both the Jiayuguan Fort and Great Wall, including history, old photos, relics, etc. Then enter the gate to explore the grandiose Jiayuguan Fort. Walkways lead to the top of the wall, allowing horses to climb up the wall. If time allows, and you are interested, you can take an optional visit to the Xuanbi Great Wall (Overhanging Wall) which is about 18km away from the Fort. The walls were built on lofty cliffs with incredibly large gradients looking like an overhanging cantilever. Climbing up to higher gives you excellent views of the surrounding land and mountains.

Attractions: Echoing Sand Mountains
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Today you will travel to Dunhuang from Jiayuguan in the early morning. Arrive in Dunhuang, we will go to Mingshashan, the Echoing Sand Mountains. It is said, in the sunny days, the sand mountains echo like Orchestra music even if there is no wind. If you slide from the sand mountains, you can hear the echoing sound clearly. Your last thing to do for today is the Crescent Lake. Surrounded by the Echoing Sand Mountains, Crescent Lake is a beautiful oasis with some well decorated traditional Chinese architecture, some trees and flowers and a lake that has never dried up and shapes like a crescent moon.

Attractions: Mogao Caves, Yardang National Geologic Park, Yumen Pass, Great Wall of Han Dynasty
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

After breakfast you’ll drive to visit the amazing Mogao Caves. Carved into the cliffs above the Dachuan River, the Mogao Caves south-east of the Dunhuang oasis, comprise the largest, most richly endowed, and longest used treasure house of Buddhist art in the world. 

Then drive to Yumen Pass (Jade Gate Pass) which used to be a military defensive pass as well as an important border for international trading along the ancient Silk Road. It is said that the jade wares from West were imported to China through this gate, which is how the name Yumen was given. About 5 km from Yumen Pass is the Ruin of Great Wall of Han Dynasty which was built to fight against Xiongnu in the ancient time.

Keep driving more 80 km, you will get to Yardang National Geologic Park. It is also called Devil City in that you will hear the sound just like the devil screaming when the strong wind goes through the desert. Make full use of your imagination, you may find some rocks with some miniatures similar to famed architectures, like the Potala Palace in Tibet, Heaven Temple in Beijing or something else.

Attractions: No
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Not Included

Today is free for you until your tour guide and driver escort you to the airport in time for the scheduled flight/railway station to other destination. Tour ends.