10-Day China Private Tour of Shanghai, Xi’an, Zhangye, Jiayuguan and Dunhuang

Attractions: Not Included

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Shanghai

Welcome to Shanghai! After retrieving your luggage, you will find your local guide waiting for you in the Arrival Hall of the airport, holding a welcome sign with your name on it. After a warm greeting, you will be taken to the hotel in a comfortable and air-conditioned vehicle and your guide will help you with the check-in. 

Attractions:Shanghai Museum, Yu Garden, Shanghai World Financial Center, Nanjing Road, the Bund

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Shanghai

After breakfast, we will pick you up at your hotel lobby at the specified time. Today, the first stop is to visit Shanghai Museum. The exhibition area is 12000 square meters, the first floor is the ancient Chinese bronze Hall, the ancient Chinese sculpture hall and the exhibition hall; The second floor is the ancient Chinese ceramics Hall, the temporary ceramic hall and the exhibition hall; The third floor is the Chinese calligraphy Museum, the Chinese Painting Museum and the Seal Museum of the Chinese dynasties; The fourth floor is a comprehensive museum with the jade Museum of ancient China, the Coin Museum of ancient China, the Furniture museum of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Arts and Crafts Museum of Chinese minorities and the exhibition hall.

Afterwards, we will take you to Yu Garden, which was built in the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 400 years as of 2015. Yu Garden's green layout is reasonable, plants are properly configured, and the level is clear. It is characterized by many ancient trees and famous trees, large bonjing, and flowers. There are also more than 40 ancient buildings in the garden, such as ear Hall, iron Lion, fast building, moon building, jade Linglong, jade water gallery, listening to Tao Pavilion, Hanbi building, inner garden Jingguan Hall, ancient opera stage, pavilions and pavilions as well as rockery and pond.

Afterwards, we will drive to the Lujiazui area of Pudong New Area to visit the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC), a skyscraper in the Lujiazui Financial Center of Shanghai, China, which is part of the core district of Shanghai's Financial City. It is the fourth tallest building in China and is shaped like a bottle opener. Climb to the 100th floor sightseeing hall, you can see the Oriental Pearl spire.

Afterwards, we will take you to another famous landmark in Shanghai - Nanjing Road, a very busy commercial district and a great place to experience the modern atmosphere of the area. For the last tour, we will stop at The Bund. The Bund is located on the banks of the Huangpu River in Huangpu District of Shanghai, that is, the Outer Huangpu Beach, which is a Chinese historical and cultural district. The Bund stands 52 classical revival buildings with different styles, known as the Bund International Architecture Exhibition group, is an important historical site and representative architecture in modern China, and one of the landmarks of Shanghai.

Attractions: Jade Buddha Temple, Tianzifang

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Xi’an

First, you’ll pay a wonderful visit to Jade Buddha Temple, also known as Jade Buddha Zen Temple, located in Putuo District Anyuan Road, although the temple history is not long, but it is one of the most famous ancient temples in Shanghai, one of the four Buddhist temples in Shanghai. The Ruyi Wheel Guanyin statue of Jade Buddha Temple is located in the Hall of Great Compassion in the temple.

Next, you’ll be transferred to Tianzifang, located in Shanghai, is a national AAA tourist attraction. Before 1998, it was still a road market, and the name was the elegant name given by painter Huang Yongyu. 

Attractions:Terracotta Warriors, Ancient City Wall, Muslim Quarter, Great Mosque of Xi’an

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Xi’an

Drive to discover one of the greatest man-made wonders in the world - the Terracotta Warriors, all of the terracotta warriors have the unique majesty and calmness of the Qin people in their faces, with distinctive personalities and strong characteristics of the times. The terracotta sculptures are painted and sculpted in a combination of ways, although the age is far away, but in the freshly excavated can still be vaguely seen on the face of the characters and clothes painted in the colours.

Take a wonderful stroll on the Ancient City Wall, the largest and best-preserved ancient city wall in China, is one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units and a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction.

This visit is followed by a relaxing wander around bustling and lively Muslim Quarter. Don't miss the Great Mosque of Xi’an which is a fusion of Chinese culture and Islamic culture, a sacred religious site with huge ancient architectural complex, also a surprisingly quiet land away from the hustiling and bustling Muslim streets. 

Attractions: Da Cien Temple, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

Head to Da Cien Temple, located in Jinchangfang, Chang'an City, Tang Dynasty (present-day Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, south of the city), is one of the "Eight Sects of Buddhism" in China, with a history of more than 1,350 years.

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is the earliest and largest surviving four-sided pavilion-style brick pagoda of the Tang Dynasty. It is typical evidence of Indian Buddhist temple buildings such as pagoda blend into Central Plains and Huaxia culture. It is the integration of the ancient Chinese working people's wisdom of the crystallisation of the landmark building.

Next is an educational visit to the Shaanxi History Museum. The appearance of the building of the Shaanxi History Museum deliberately highlights the elegance of the Tang Dynasty. Chang'an has been the capital of emperors and kings since ancient times, and has been the capital of thirteen feudal dynasties such as the Zhou, the Qin, the Han, the Sui, and the Tang Dynasties, etc, which has a wealth of cultural relics above and below the ground, forming a unique historical and cultural landscape in Shaanxi.

Attractions: Binggou Danxia Landform, Zhangye Danxia Landform Geographical Park

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

You will go to visit Binggou Danxia Landform first,with sandstone landform relic landscape as the main body, is the geological landform relic with the best development and largest scale of window root palace in China. It is the geological naming place of "window root palace Danxia" and has been rated as "the first window root palace Danxia landform in China". Binggou Danxia is famous for its "majestic and miraculous" and is known as "the first wonder under heaven". It has been named as one of the "7 most beautiful Danxia landforms in China" and one of the "10 amazing geographical wonders in the world" by Chinese Geographic Magazine and National Geographic Magazine of the United States.

You will hike leisurely about 2 hours to look the spectacular landform closely. In the afternoon, drive to visit the Zhangye Danxia Landform Geographical Park which was formed in the pre-Jurassic Age.

Attractions: Giant Buddha Temple, Jiayuguan Pass, Great Wall Museum, Jiayuguan Fort

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Jiayuguan

You will go to visit the Giant Buddha Temple, formerly known as Kasye Tathagai Temple, because the temple has China's largest indoor Nirvana reclining Buddha statue named, it is also known as "Reclining Buddha Temple", for the temple built by the royal family, is a national 4A level tourist attraction. It is located in Dafosi Lane, Minzhu West Street, Ganzhou District, Zhangye City, Gansu Province, with a total area of more than 30,000 square meters.

Then you will go to visit "the First and Greatest Pass under Heaven", also the westernmost starting point of Great Wall of Ming Dynasty - Jiayuguan Pass. Jiayuguan Fort is the traffic artery of the ancient "Silk Road" and the western starting point of the Great Wall of Qin Dynasty. Here, the "Ancient Silk Road" opened up more than 2,000 years ago for economic and cultural exchanges between China and the West and the "ancient battlefield" beacon beacon of military battles of all generations can be seen. Here is the intersection of China's Silk Road culture and the Great Wall culture, known as "Hexi city", border key ".

Start your exploration with an education visit to the Great Wall Museum to learn some interesting facts. Then enter the gate to explore the grandiose Jiayuguan Fort.

Attractions: Yulin Grottoes, Shazhou Night Market

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Visit the Yulin Grottoes, also known as Wanfo Gorge, is one of the important grottoes of Chinese Buddhist grottoes art, located in Guazhou County 76 kilometers south of the Yulin River on both sides of the gravel cliff. Yulin Grottoes was built in the Northern Wei Dynasty. The grottoes' shape, mural content, artistic style and the title of the donors all show the close connection with the art of the Mogao Grottoes. As an integral part of Dunhuang art, Yulin Grottoes has high historical and artistic value.In the evening, you can go out to go for a walk in the Shazhou Night Market.

Attractions: Yumen Pass, Ruin of Great Wall of Han Dynasty, Yadan National Geologic Park, Echoing Sand Mountains, Crescent Lake

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

You will firstly arrive at Yumen Pass (Jade Gate Pass), also known as the Small Fangpan City, prospered with the prosperity of the Silk Road, and was once a place through which merchants from the Western regions and people from the Central Plains came and went. 

Because Hetian jade was imported from here to the Central Plains since ancient times, it is called the Jade Gate Pass.

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, you will get to Yadan 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 following attraction is the Echoing Sand Mountains (Mingshashan).The sand mountain is a desert formed under the action of wind. The long yellow sand gathers here to form the sand mountain. The sand mountain will ring under the wind, so it gets its name. In the arms of the sand mountain, there is a crescent shaped lake, the lake grows beside the sand willow, populus euphrysalis, forming an oasis, here called "Crescent Lake".

Attractions: Mogao Grottoes

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Not Included

You will visit Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, are located on the cliff at the eastern foot of the Mingsha Mountain, 25 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang City, facing the eastern side of the Tongquan River. The distribution of the caves is staggered, the scale of the subzone ratio, and there are up to five layers up and down. It is famous for its exquisite murals and statues.Your Dunhuang Silk Road tour ends!