8-Day Private Silk Road Tour from Dunhuang to Zhangye via Jiayuguan and Guazhou

Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Welcome to Dunhuang, the brightest star in the Gobi desert. Your tour guide will welcome you in the airport/train station, and then escort you to your hotel. The rest of today is for you to explore this exotic city by yourself. Free time idea: Shazhou Night Market is the most bustling place in the city where you can stroll leisurely to experience local living, hunt for delicious food, relax in a drinking bar, or buy some interesting handcrafts, etc.

Attractions: Mogao Grottoes, White Horse Pagoda
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

After breakfast, drive to Mogao Grottoes. Mogao Grottoes is famed as the “Louvre of the East”, which is outstanding for its exquisite mural paintings and statues. There are now 492 grottoes in which about 45000 square meters mural paintings and 2100 colorfully painted statues from which you can trace the development of Chinese art over 1600 years from one dynasty to the next because each dynasty built own caves to record its own features. There are about 40 common caves opened to the public.

After lunch, visit the White Horse Pagoda .The White Horse Pagoda was built by an eminent monk to commemorate a white horse in 386 AD. It is an important part of the Silk Road. People repaired the structure in every dynasty, therefore the White Horse Pagoda keeps its original beauty and always take the lead among the tourist attractions in Dunhuang as is regarded as “scenery within the scenery”.

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

After breakfast, you will be taken to explore the remote wild Gobi Desert landscape as well as several legendary historical sites. Drive westwards about 100 km, you will firstly arrive at 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. The park is featured Yardang landforms in distinct shapes like Mongolian Yurt, Stone Bird, Peacock and others. 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.

Leave Yardang National Geologic Park, and drive along the coming way back to Dunhuang. The following attraction is the Echoing Sand Mountains (Mingshashan). 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: Yulin Grotto, Suoyangcheng Ruins
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Guzhou

After breakfast, you will be transferred the Yulin Grottoes, during the 2.5 hours trip, you will see the vast Gobi and desert, village, grassland and snow mountain on the way. The grottoes were opened on the cliff of a valley, the cave 25 is the most complete preservation. Murals in these grottoes which consist of huge scripture drawings, portraits of Buddha etc. reveal the highly developed art of painting in the Tang Dynasty more than 1300 years ago. Scripture drawings on the southern and northern walls of cave 25 are big ones. These colorful, especially line drawings are rare. 

The Suoyangcheng Ruins used to be a very important stop on the famous Silk Road, it was established in 3rd century AD. it has listed in the UNESCO in 2014. It consist of the ancient city, the ancient river way, the old temple, the old graves and the farming area.The ancient city consist of inner city and out city, now days, the city wall is still 10 meters high, we still can see the old construction site in the Suoyangcheng city. At the end, you will be transferred to Guazhou

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

After breakfast, drive 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. It is a complex of towers, city walls and other military buildings covering more than 25,000 square meters. The city wall is nearly 11 meters high, and comprises an outer and inner wall. There are two large gates standing at the east and the west of the inner wall. Walkways lead to the top of the wall, allowing horses to climb up the wall.

Continue to visit 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: Danxia Geopark, Binggou Danxia Landform
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

In the morning, drive to Zhangye to explore the famous Danxia Geopark(Danxia Landform). Danxia landform is a spectacular petrographic geomorphology landscape which is formed from red-coloured sandstones and conglomerates. The one in Zhangye was formed in the pre-Jurassic Age. 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.

Continue to visit the Binggou Danxia Landform. Even though just being visited by fewer travelers, Binggou Danxia Landform Scenery Area has its own featured charms. If the Linze Danxia Scenery is a visual feast of colors, then the Binggou Danxia is a great joy to find how the Mother Nature became a sculptor who sculptured the mountains to amazing different shapes, like grand palaces, long corridors, giant pillars, etc.

Overnight in Zhangye.

Attractions: Giant Buddha Temple, Matisi Temple
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

After breakfast, you will go to visit the famous 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 Xixia Dynasty(1098), and keeps many precious Buddhist scriptures and wall paintings. Its famous treasure is the Sleeping Buddha which is the centrally seated, symmetric buildings situate along the sides. The Buddha statue was carved by woods 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 the Giant Buddha Temple visit, drive about 65 km to visit the Matisi Temple (Matisi Grottoes). The facades of several temples jut out on the surface of the cliff, making them look like they are hanging in the air. There are somewhere you need to climb up steep stairs to get up to the top storeys of the temple. The view outside the grotto is very beautiful with rolling hills covered with trees. In the distance is the Qilian Mountain which is usually snow covered (November to June).

Attractions: Pingshanhu Grand Canyon
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Not Included

Visit Pingshanhu Grand Canyon in the morning. The Pingshan Lake Grand Canyon Scenic Area is 56 kilometers away from the urban area of Zhangye. The gorge is deep and the peaks are strange. The nature uses the creativity of the ghosts to engrave the colorful mountains into an unparalleled and breathtaking landscape painting.

After the tour, transfer to the Zhangye Airport/Railway Station for your flight/train to next destination.