China's Silk Road: Xi'an to Dunhuang through Gansu

1. Day 1: Arrive in Xi'an

   Xi'an Xianyang International Airport to your hotel in Xi'an, then the Muslim Quarter

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Dinner
   • Stay in Xi'an
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY), about 40 km northwest of the city, where a driver is proposed to meet you in arrivals for the drive to a central hotel, where we would stay two nights. Plan to land by about 4 pm. Xi'an was Chang'an, capital of the Han and Tang dynasties and the eastern end of the caravan routes this trip follows west to Dunhuang. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide would meet the group for a short briefing on the week: the train legs, how luggage moves between stations, the desert heat and how the Mogao tickets work. Then we walk into the Muslim Quarter, the lanes north of the Drum Tower where the Hui community has lived for centuries. The welcome dinner is planned as a food walk through its stalls, roujiamo flatbread with braised meat, cold liangpi noodles and persimmon cakes from the griddle, finished with yangrou paomo, mutton soup with torn bread, at a sit-down table.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome food walk and dinner in the Muslim Quarter

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Land by about 4 pm to make the briefing; later arrivals are met and join the group at dinner.

   

2. Day 2: The Terracotta Warriors and the wall by bike

   Xi'an to the Terracotta Warriors at Lintong and back, then the city wall

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Xi'an
   Day 2 details

   We would leave at about 8 am for the drive of about an hour east to the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unify China, to reach Pit 1 soon after opening, ahead of most tour coaches; opening hours are confirmed at quoting. Farmers digging a well found the first fragments here in 1974. A licensed site guide joins your own guide where the site requires one, through Pits 1, 2 and 3 and the bronze chariots in the museum: rank on rank of life-size infantry, archers and cavalry, every face modelled differently. Lunch is a sit-down bowl of hand-pulled noodles near the site, and we are back in Xi'an by early afternoon to rest through the heat. Around 5 pm we climb onto the city wall at the South Gate, begun in the Ming dynasty on the line of the Tang city, and cycle its whole loop, about 13.7 km on a flat brick top, past gate towers and corner bastions as the light turns warm, subject to the wall's bike hire being open that day. The evening is free.

   Included

   • The Terracotta Warriors with a licensed site guide where required: Pits 1, 2 and 3 and the bronze chariots
   • Noodle lunch near the site
   • The Xi'an City Wall by bike, about 13.7 km

   Easier option: Walk a section of the wall instead of cycling, or ride the electric cart around it.

   Free time: Afternoon rest and the evening free

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot at the Terracotta Warriors, then a flat 13.7 km ride on the wall.

   

3. Day 3: High-speed train to Lanzhou and the Yellow River

   Xi'an North to Lanzhou West by high-speed train, then the Gansu Provincial Museum and the Yellow River

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Lanzhou
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast we would take a high-speed train from Xi'an North to Lanzhou West, about two and a half to four hours depending on the train, west through the loess hills of Shaanxi and eastern Gansu. Your guide handles the tickets, the passport checks at the gates and the luggage, and a vehicle meets us at Lanzhou West. Lunch is the city's own dish, Lanzhou beef noodles, pulled to order and served in a clear broth with sliced beef, radish, chilli oil and coriander. In the afternoon we plan to visit the Gansu Provincial Museum, whose Silk Road galleries hold the bronze Galloping Horse of Gansu, the Flying Horse, found in a Han dynasty tomb at Wuwei, if it is on display that day. Entry is reported to be free but by timed, real-name reservation with a passport, and the museum is reported closed on Mondays, so the visit depends on a slot. Late in the day we walk across the Zhongshan Bridge, an iron truss bridge opened in 1909 as the first permanent bridge over the Yellow River, and climb the hillside above the river for the view over the brown river and the city. Dinner is on your own; your guide points out the night market.

   Included

   • Seats on the high-speed train from Xi'an North to Lanzhou West
   • Lanzhou beef noodle lunch
   • The Gansu Provincial Museum, subject to a reservation slot
   • The Zhongshan Bridge and the hillside above the Yellow River

   Easier option: Stay by the river at the foot of the hill while the group climbs.

   Free time: Evening free in Lanzhou

   Activity: The hillside above the river is a climb of a few hundred steps on a paved path.

   

4. Day 4: Bingling Si by boat, then the train to Zhangye

   Lanzhou to Liujiaxia and Bingling Si by boat, then the train to Zhangye

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Zhangye
   Day 4 details

   This is the heaviest travel day of the trip, because it links the Yellow River to the Hexi Corridor. We would leave at about 7 am for the drive of roughly two hours to the Liujiaxia reservoir, where a speedboat runs about an hour up the flooded gorge to Bingling Si. In a side canyon of sandstone pinnacles, Buddhist sculptors cut caves and niches from about the year 420 onward; a seated Maitreya more than 27 m tall fills the cliff above the water. The site is part of the Silk Roads World Heritage listing. After about an hour and a half on its walkways we take the boat back and sit down to lunch at Liujiaxia. Boats are reported to run in summer and autumn and only when the water allows; when they cannot, we spend the morning by the river in Lanzhou instead and take an earlier train. After the roughly two-hour drive back to Lanzhou West we would take an afternoon high-speed train to Zhangye West, about three hours, so we arrive in the evening for a late dinner together. There is little slack in this day, which is why the easy option exists.

   Included

   • Speedboat from Liujiaxia to Bingling Si and back, where the water allows
   • Bingling Si caves and the great seated Maitreya with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch at Liujiaxia
   • Seats on the high-speed train from Lanzhou West to Zhangye West
   • Dinner in Zhangye

   Easier option: Skip Bingling Si: a slow morning in Lanzhou, lunch with your guide's suggestions and an earlier train to Zhangye, for a relaxed evening before the Danxia on day 5.

   Activity: A very long day: about 4.5 hours in the vehicle, 2 hours on the boat and 2 to 3 hours on the train. The easy option removes most of it.

5. Day 5: The Zhangye Danxia, the Great Buddha Temple and Jiayuguan Pass

   Zhangye Danxia Geopark and the Great Buddha Temple, then the train to Jiayuguan and Jiayuguan Pass

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Jiayuguan
   Day 5 details

   An early start for the Zhangye Danxia, about 40 km and 50 minutes from Zhangye West station. The park publishes early opening hours in the warm months, so we plan to be inside for the soft light of the morning, when the red, orange and cream stripes of the hills stand out, using the park shuttle between viewpoints; hours, last entry and bus times are as published and confirmed at quoting. Back in town we visit the Great Buddha Temple, founded in 1098 under the Western Xia, whose wooden hall shelters a painted clay reclining Buddha reported to be about 35 m long. After lunch a high-speed train takes about an hour and a quarter west along the Hexi Corridor to Jiayuguan South, with the Qilian Mountains to the south and the Gobi to the north. In the late afternoon we go to Jiayuguan Pass, the fortress begun around 1372 in the Ming dynasty at the narrowest point of the corridor, where travellers heading west left the empire; walk the inner and outer walls and the gate towers before closing time. The Great Wall Museum next door is visited if it is open. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Zhangye Danxia Geopark in the morning, with the park shuttle
   • The Great Buddha Temple in Zhangye
   • Lunch in Zhangye
   • Seats on the high-speed train from Zhangye West to Jiayuguan South
   • Jiayuguan Pass

   Easier option: Skip the longer viewpoint walks at the Danxia; take the shuttle between the main platforms only.

   More active option: A longer Danxia viewpoint walk, if the park allows one.

   Free time: Evening free in Jiayuguan

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, with boardwalk steps at the Danxia viewpoints. Park hours vary by month and are confirmed at quoting; the morning visit is the plan.

   

6. Day 6: The Overhanging Great Wall and the train to Dunhuang

   Jiayuguan: the Overhanging Great Wall and the First Beacon Tower, then the train to Dunhuang

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dunhuang
   Day 6 details

   A slower morning. We drive a few kilometres north of Jiayuguan to the Overhanging Great Wall, a restored stretch that climbs a steep ridge, and finish at the First Beacon Tower on the cliff above the Taolai River gorge; both sit within the Jiayuguan scenic area; opening hours are confirmed at quoting. After a sit-down lunch in Jiayuguan we take the train west to Dunhuang. Published listings show two direct high-speed trains a day from Jiayuguan South, leaving in the late afternoon or early evening and taking about two and a half to three hours, so the plan is built around one of them, arriving in the evening; the timetable is confirmed at quoting. Watch for the oasis towns of Yumen and Guazhou, where lines of poplars and green fields follow the irrigation channels through an otherwise stony plain. A vehicle meets the train and takes us to the hotel in Dunhuang, where we stay three nights. If the timetable does not suit on your date, we would drive instead, a road transfer of roughly four to five hours, to be confirmed at quoting. Dinner is on your own; the Shazhou night market is a short walk from the centre.

   Included

   • The Overhanging Great Wall
   • The First Beacon Tower above the Taolai River gorge
   • Lunch in Jiayuguan
   • Seats on the train from Jiayuguan to Dunhuang

   Easier option: Stay at the foot of the Overhanging Great Wall while the group climbs.

   More active option: Climb the Overhanging Great Wall to its top watchtower for the view over the Gobi.

   Free time: Evening free in Dunhuang

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot, with steep, uneven steps on the Overhanging Great Wall. The train leg is proposed as an afternoon departure because of the published timetable; road fallback about 4 to 5 hours.

   

7. Day 7: The Mogao Caves and the singing sands

   Dunhuang to the Mogao Caves, then Mingsha Shan and the Crescent Spring

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Dunhuang
   Day 7 details

   Mogao tickets are timed and capped each day, so the plan is an early slot booked in each guest's name once dates are confirmed, through the Dunhuang Academy's own booking channel, with passports checked at entry. As published, the regular ticket covers digital films at the Digital Exhibition Centre and eight caves in the peak season (April to November), the Academy states a daily limit of 6,000 regular tickets, and a shorter four-cave visit may be sold when regular tickets run out; all of this is confirmed at quoting. A shuttle runs to the cliff, where a Mogao guide leads small groups through caves chosen on the day from more than 700 cut into the cliff between the 4th and 14th centuries; photography is not allowed inside. Your own guide fills in the story of the Library Cave, sealed in the early 11th century and opened in 1900, which held tens of thousands of manuscripts, among them a printed Diamond Sutra dated 868. After lunch we visit Dunhuang Museum through the hottest hours, which is reported to be free with a passport and closed on Mondays. About two hours before sunset we go to Mingsha Shan, the Echoing Sand Mountains, to ride camels in a line across the dunes, subject to the operator's calendar, and walk to Yueyaquan, the Crescent Spring, a small lake held in a curve of sand.

   Included

   • The Mogao Caves on an early timed ticket, with the Digital Exhibition Centre films and a Mogao cave guide
   • Lunch in Dunhuang
   • Dunhuang Museum with your guide
   • Mingsha Shan and the Crescent Spring, with a camel ride across the dunes at sunset

   Optional experiences

   • Sand sledding or a microlight flight over the dunes at Mingsha Shan, if offered and paid locally

   Easier option: Skip the camel and the dune climb: walk the boardwalk to the Crescent Spring and watch the light change from the pavilion.

   More active option: Climb the highest dune ridge above the spring on foot, with ladders laid on the steepest part.

   Free time: Dunhuang Museum through the hottest hours

   Activity: Climbing a dune is hard work in soft sand. Sunset here comes after 9 pm in midsummer, because all of China keeps Beijing time.

8. Day 8: Yumen Pass, the Han Great Wall and the Yadan Geopark

   Dunhuang to Yumen Pass, the Han Great Wall and the Yadan National Geopark, and back

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Dunhuang
   Day 8 details

   Today is the longest drive of the trip, a round trip of roughly 340 to 380 km, and, like day 4, runs past our usual four hours on the road, because there is nowhere to stay in this part of the Gobi. We would break it with a stop every hour or so and a sit-down lunch. We leave at about 8 am and drive about 90 km northwest to Yumen Pass, the Jade Gate of Han dynasty poems, where a square rammed-earth fort, Xiaofangpan, stands alone on the gravel plain. Nearby a section of the Han Great Wall, built about 2,000 years ago, still runs across the desert, reached by the scenic area's shuttle. The Yumen Pass sites are reported to be part of the Silk Roads World Heritage listing. Then about 70 to 80 km further west to the Yadan National Geopark, where wind has carved an old lake bed into long clay ridges and towers; park shuttle buses stop at viewpoints along a set route, with a short stop at each. We are back in Dunhuang by late afternoon, and the farewell dinner is tonight.

   Included

   • Yumen Pass and the Xiaofangpan fort
   • The Han dynasty Great Wall ruins
   • The Yadan National Geopark with the park shuttle
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Farewell dinner in Dunhuang

   Easier option: Stay in Dunhuang for a free day, with the farewell dinner in the evening.

   Activity: About 5 hours in the vehicle in all, broken by stops; short walks on gravel and boardwalks at each site. Bring a hat and water: there is little shade. Shuttle and entry rules are as published and confirmed at quoting.

9. Day 9: A free morning and depart from Dunhuang

   Dunhuang to Dunhuang Airport (DNH)

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   Day 9 details

   The last morning is yours, so the trip ends without an early alarm unless you want one. Early risers can go back to Mingsha Shan for sunrise, when the dunes are usually cooler and quieter; your guide would arrange the ride out, and any entry fee for a second visit is confirmed in advance. Others sleep in, walk the riverside park along the Dang River, or browse the market for apricots, dried fruit and painted copies of the cave murals. Check-out is at the usual hotel time, and a driver takes you the short drive to Dunhuang airport (DNH), with your guide there to see you off. Flight connections from Dunhuang depend on the timetable for your month, so we check them when we quote and suggest a flight leaving after about 12 pm so the morning is not rushed. If you want to stay on, we can quote extra nights in Dunhuang or help with your onward connection.

   Included

   • Drop-off at Dunhuang airport (DNH)

   Optional experiences

   • Sunrise on the Mingsha Shan dunes

   Free time: Morning free

   Activity: Book a flight out of Dunhuang leaving after about 12 pm.

Wildlife and weather: May, June, September and early October are usually the most comfortable months. July and August days in Dunhuang can be very hot, so the plan puts walking early and the dunes in the evening. The Dunhuang Academy's visitor page says the Mogao caves close in heavy rain or strong sandstorms. Bingling Si is reached by boat in summer and autumn, depending on the reservoir.

• Xi'an2 nights
• Lanzhou1 night
• Zhangye1 night
• Jiayuguan1 night
• Dunhuang3 nights