7-Day Private Silk Road Tour of Zhangye, Jiayuguan and Dunhuang

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

Welcome to Zhangye! 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.

Attractions: Danxia Geopark, Binggou Danxia Landform

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

In the morning, drive to explore the famous Danxia Geopark(Danxia Landform). There are strange shape, colorful, magnificent Danxia landform. Danxia refers to the isolated peaks and steep strange rocks formed by long-term weathering and erosion of red sand conglomerate. The Danxia landform here developed from the Pre-Jurassic to the Tertiary period about 200 million years ago.

Continue to visit the Binggou Danxia Landform. 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.

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, 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.

After the Giant Buddha Temple visit, drive about 65 km to visit the Matisi Temple (Matisi Grottoes). Located in Mahoe Tibetan Township, Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province, 65 kilometers north of Zhangye City. It is a tourist area integrating grottoes art, Qilian Mountain scenery and Tibetan customs.

The grottoes are composed of seven places: Shengguo Temple, Puguang Temple, Thousand Buddha Cave, Jinta Temple, upper, middle and lower Guanyin Cave, with a total of more than 70 cave niches, built in Beiliang. Horseshoe Temple gets its name from the horseshoe prints of the legendary Tianma drinking water here. The legendary horseshoe imprinting exists in the horseshoe temple of Puguang Temple and has become the treasure of the town temple.

Then drive to Jiayuguan City, overnight in Jiayuguan.

Attractions: Jiayuguan Fortress, Overhanging Great Wall

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Guazhou

Full day sightseeing in Jiayuguan, we will climb the Jiayuguan pass in the morning. 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 ".

Visit the The Great Wall Museum, which was opened to visitor in October 1989 and it is the first one to exhibit the Great Wall culture in a comprehensive and systematic way.

We will pay a visit to the Overhanging Great Wall. It is called "Cantilever Great Wall" because it is built on a ridge of about 45 degrees and looks like hanging upside down.

We will go to Jiayuguan Railway station at around 5pm, then catch an express train to Dunhuang, a famous frontier town and a well-known art center along the Silk Road. Your local guide and driver will wait you at the train staion and assit you with hotel check in.

Attractions: Mogao Grottoes, Echoing Sand Mountain & Crescent Lake, Shazhou Night Market

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.

Continue the tour to Echoing Sand Mountain & Crescent Lake. When there is wild wind, the sands will be blown up and make a loud sound, while the sound sounds like being produced by some ancient musical instrument when blown by the breeze. There is also a Crescent Lake that has been in existence for hundreds of years without ever being buried by the sand. Riding the camel (approximately 40mins) as the Silk Road Caravan in the vast desert is highly recommended. Experience the feeling of the camel team marching in the desert. The sound of camel bells is a must-play item for every tourist.

In the evening, strolling this interesting Shazhou Night Market with different types of things to see and food to eat, it's easy to lose our sense of time wonder the market while enjoying your leisure time and taste some local cuisine.

Attractions: Yangguan Pass, Yardang National Geologic Park

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

After breakfast, you will be taken to visit Yangguan Pass(Yangguan Historic Sites). Here you can appreciate the beauty of vicissitudes of the Great Wall, enjoy the natural view combined by oasis, desert and snow peaks, and taste the juicy fruits.

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.

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.