6-Day Xinjiang Silk Road Highlights

Route: Kashgar – Urumqi – Turpan

Activities: 6 days tour for Xinjiang is fairly short because the travelling distance between the cities are bit long in Xinjiang. This tour includes the must see cities in Xinjiang for first time visitors. It is recommended to those who can only spare 6 days to visit Xinjiang.

Day 01

Place & Transport: Flight from Shanghai or Beijing to Kashgar

Day’s Activities: Airport to Hotel Transfer (Urumqi)

Place to stay: Kashgar

Day 02

Place & Transport: Kashgar to Karakul Lake to Kashgar (400Km round trip)

Day’s Activities: Opal Village, Oytagh red mountain, Corner Lake, Karakul Lake, Muztagh ata,Konger mountain, Karakurum Highway

Place to stay:Kashgar

Today we take a drive on Karakoram highway, renowned as the highest paved border crossing in the World and regarded as one of the World’s most beautiful highways). We will see the following on our drive: Opal village is a 1 hour drive from Kashgar. It is a good location to take photos of village life and traditional activities like bread making and Uyghur food stalls. Half an hour drive from the village we will arrive in Oytagh Red Mountain. The mountain valley is surrounded by a beautiful backdrop of multi-coloured mountains topped by snowcapped peaks. Corner Lake (Bulung Kul) is a tranquil shallow lake where you can take very nice photographs of the lake with stunning reflections of the sand mountains. Karakul Lake is 3600 meters above sea level. It is located between Mt. Muztagata  (7546 meters) and Mt. Gonger (7719 meters), which are said to be 2 of the 6 most beautiful mountains in the World .

We will visit the local Kyrgyz Yurts and listen to their stories about traditional ways of nomadic mountain life.

Picnic lunch: We will then enjoy our picnic lunch of fruits and fresh bread that we purchased in Opal village in a beautiful picnic spot overlooking the Karakul Lake. We will return to Kashgar in time for dinner

Day 03

Place & Transport: Kashgar City tour, evening flight to Urumqi

Day’s Activities: Apak Hoja tomb, Sunday market, Old Town, Id Kah Mosque, Handicraft Street

Place to stay:Urumqi

We will begin our tour of Kashgar City by visiting the Apak Hoja tombalso called fragrant concubine tomb (Xingfei in Chinese). This is a very tranquil place and a beautiful example of Uyghur Islamic architecture.

Next we will head to the Infamous lively Sunday market renowned as the biggest market in Central Asia. It is said you can buy anything you want from the Sunday market except chicken milk and Cow eggs.

We will then enjoy lunch in a typical Uyghur restaurant.

After lunch we will wander through the narrow winding streets of the historic Old town brushing shoulders with the friendly Uyghur residents. Located at the spiritual heart of old town is Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China. We will go inside and have the chance to understand a bit more about the Islamic life of the Uyghur people. We will pass down Handicraft Street where we can view pots being hammered, wood craftsmen at work and traditional musical instrument workshops.

Note: For entering the Mosque visitors should dress respectfully, no shorts or short sleeved shirts and women should cover their heads with a scarf.

Uyghur Family Visit: we will visit on of the traditional Uyghur family on this day so that you can even enjoy of the days tour.

Take the evening flight to Urumqi

Day 04

Place & Transport: Drive from Urumqi to Turpan (180KM) then Turpan tour

Day’s Activities: Kariz underground water system, Jiao he Ancient City, Emin Minaret

Place to stay: Turpan

The drive from Urumqi to Turpan is about 3 hours. On the way we can see the largest wind powered station in China (da ban cheng). After arrival and check-in, we begin our tour of Turpan. Kariz underground water system is the China’s third most important ancient engineering feat with a total length of 3100 miles and dating back more than 2000 years.

Jiaohe Ancient City is the oldest, largest, highest ancient city built of mud in the World. Many cultural relics were unearthed, such as antefix of the Tang Dynasty and Buddhist scriptures at the Ancient City of Jiao he

Emin Minaret was built in 1777,it is the largest extant old tower in Xinjiang and it is the only Islamic tower among the hundred famous towers in China).

Day 05

Place & Transport: Turpan tour then drive from Turpan to Urumqi (180Km)

Day’s Activities: Gaochang Ancient City,Astana Ancient Tombs, Tuyuk Valley

Place to stay: Urumqi

After breakfast we drive to Gaochang Ancient City, 47 km east of Turpan. The city was built in the first century B.C; it was a key point on the ancient Silk Road. Then we head to Astana Ancient tombs, the capital tombs and underground museum of Xinjiang where many important writings, paintings and mummies have been discovered. Next we will have a traditional Uygher lunch in Tuyuk Valley.We will visit the Tuyuk Village where we can see traditional Uyghur life. Villagers live in traditional homes made of mud.

After lunch we head

In the late afternoon drive back to Urumqi.

Day 06

Place & Transport: Urumqi tour the transfer to Urumqi airport

Day’s Activities: Xinjiang Museum

After breakfast we will visit the extensive Xinjiang Museum. It is a large integrated museum, holding all key artifacts and cultural relics central to Xinjiang region and the Silk Road. The museum is famous for its rich collections of silk artifacts dating from many periods throughout history. The museum also contains several mummies some of them dating back 4000 years, which can easily rival those found in Egypt. After lunch we will take you to the airport for your respective onward journeys.

After lunch we will take you to the airport and help you check in your flight towards home.