9-Day Private Silk Road Tour to West China Qinghai and Gansu

Attractions: Ta'er monastery (Kumbum Monastery)

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Xining

 Today your flight will touch down in Xining, We will meet you at the airport exit with a welcome board. Then take you to visit the Ta'er monastery (Kumbum Monastery). Ta’er Monastery is the centre of Tibetan Buddhism activities in Northwest China and is renowned in China and Southeast Asia. The ruins of Tal Temple have survived the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties, Western Xia Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty, and have experienced several periods of prosperity and decline. Ghee flowers, murals and embroidery are known as the "Tal Temple art three". In addition to that, the temple also treasures a lot of Buddhist books and history, literature, philosophy, medicine, legislation and other aspects of academic monographs. It is worth seeing.

Attractions: Qinghai Lake

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Chaka

Enjoy the magnificent scenery of Qinghai Lake.Qinghai Lake is a famous tourist attraction in Qinghai Province. The lake is surrounded by mountains and grasslands with magnificent views. The scenery of this lake changes with the seasons. In July and August every year, many rape flowers bloom around the lake. The yellow colour of the rapeseed fields contrasts with the blue colour of the lake. In winter, the lake is covered by a huge layer of ice, creating a superb view. To the west is Bird Island, where hundreds of thousands of birds can be viewed and photographed from April to June each year; the eastern part of the lake is dominated by beach scenery and recreation; and to the north are attractions such as Gold and Silver Beaches and Atomic City.

Then drive to Chaka for an overnight stay.

Attractions: Chaka Salt Lake

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

Enjoy a delighting breakfast at the hotel and set off by the private vehicle to enjoy the most charming landscape of Chaka Salt Lake. Chaka Salt Lake was named one of the "55 Places to Visit in your Lifetime" by National Travel Geographic magazine. The lake here has a strong reflective ability, like a mirror for the sky grooming and grooming. This natural landscape is extremely rare in China, known as China's sky mirror.​ There are many salt sculptures to see in the scenic area. You can also take a small train to visit the depths of the salt lake.

We will back to Xining in the afternoon and then catch an express train to our next stop Zhangye.

Attractions: Giant Buddha Temple, Mati Temple

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Zhangye

After breakfast at the hotel, we will take you 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 proceed the tour to Mati Temple. 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.

Attractions: Binggou Danxia, Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Jiayuguan

Today we will proceed to visit the Binggou Danxia, 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.

After that, continue the tour to Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park. 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.

Afternoon, drive you to Jiayuguan. Met and be transferred the hotel for rest.

Attractions: Jiayuguan pass, Xuanbi Great Wall

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

In the morning, we will meet you at the hotel lobby and take you to visit the 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 ".

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.

ext, we will pay a visit to the Great Wall on the Cliff(Xuanbi Great Wall). The Xuanbi Great Wall is about 11 kilometers away from Jiayuguan city and about 7 kilometers away from Jiayuguan City. It is called "Xuanbi Great Wall" because it is built on a ridge of about 45 degrees and looks like hanging upside down.

After the visiting, transfer to Dunhuang for an overnight stay.

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

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

This morning, we 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. It was built in the sixteen States before the Qin period, after the sixteen States, the Northern Dynasty, Sui, Tang, five dynasties, Western Xia, Yuan and other dynasties of construction. With 735 caves, 45,000 square meters of murals and 2,415 clay colored sculptures, it is the largest and richest Buddhist art site in the world.

Following a lunch in local restaurant, we will head up to Echoing Sand Mountain&Crescent Lake. 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".

Crescent Lake is a small lake, the water is quite clear and blue. In full sunlight, the water glows with the pleasant colors of the garden. When winter comes, the lake of Crescent Spring freezes into a thick white ice, becoming a small ice rink, so that visitors can not only enjoy the beauty of the lake, but also experience the pleasure of the ice.

In the evening, you will enjoy the walking tour to the Shazhou Night Market, the most bustling place of Dunhuang at night. It's easy to lose our sense of time wonder the market while enjoy your leisure time and taste some local cuisine.

Attractions: Gade Gate Pass & Great Wall of Han Dynasty, Yardang National Geological Park, The Western Thousand-Buddha Cave

Accommodation: Overnight in Dunhuang

Visit the Gade Gate Pass & Great Wall of Han Dynasty, The Great Wall of Han Dynasty is also known as the Outer Great Wall, and its ancillary facilities are the outer Leh City. The Great Wall was built in the early years of Emperor Wudi of Han Dynasty. After several years of investigation by archeologists, it was found that the Han Dynasty had built a "Outer Great Wall" of more than 10,000 kilometers from Dunhuang in Gansu Province to Pyongyang in North Korea in the east. It was the "Outer Great Wall" built by the Han Dynasty and longer than the Ming Wall.

Then visit to Yardang National Geological Park, commonly known as Dunhuang Yadan Devil City. It is an important part of Dunhuang Global Geopark in China. At the same time, it is also one of the three most beautiful Yadan landforms in China. Dunhuang Yadan landforms are the largest, most mature and most ornamental communities of Yadan landforms found in the world so far. In December 2001, the Ministry of Land and Resources approved the establishment of the "Gansu Dunhuang Yadan National Geopark". In August 2003, the park was officially opened and opened to visitors. In November 2006, it was assessed by the National Tourism Administration as an AAAA level tourist attraction, and has been approved as a land and resources science popularization base, Gansu Provincial science popularization Education base, and Gansu Provincial Geological Heritage Nature Reserve.

Continue to visit The Western Thousand-Buddha Cave, which is situated to the west of Mogao Caves, is set into a cliff on the bank of the Dang River, 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) from Dunhuang City. Because the frescos in this cave are similar in structure and artistic style to those found in Mogao Caves, the Western Thousand-Buddha Cave is considered Duahuang Buddhist art.

Attractions: No

Meal: Not Included

Hotel: Not Included

Free to explore Dunhuang City. Transfer to airport to catch the flight. Tour ends.