Kashgar Tours Silk Road Tours Turpan Tours Urumqi Tours Xinjiang Tours 9 Days Xinjiang Silk Road Tour

Early in the morning, we drive to Heavenly lake, which is about 110 km away from Urumqi, located on the top of Tianshan mountain. The surface of the lake is 1910 meters above sea level, just one kilometer higher than Urumqi. It takes about 2-3 hours drive to reach to the lake since we have to take the shuttle bus for the last 30 km of the trip. You can have a hiking around the lake for hours, blue sky, natural forests and grassland view will relax your mind. After that, we drive back to Urumqi, and visit Grand Bazaar, there you can find everything except chicken milk. Grand Bazaar is located at the south part of the city, a market for both locals and tourists. You can find all the local special products, handcrafts and musical instruments there.

After breakfast, we visit Xinjiang regional museum, it is a best place to understand Xinjiang’s basic history, culture and people, it is a wonderful idea to visit it before you see Xinjiang. Then we drive to Turpan, it is 200 km away from Urumqi, it takes about 3 hours, including two toilet stops and cross a mountain. The drive is all the way down since Turpan is the lowest basin in China. After lunch, we will visit Emin minaret. It is an mosque and tower, which was originally built by the king of Turpan at 1776 AD. After the minaret, we will visit the Kariz. It is the name of ancient underground irrigation system, which was invented about 2000 years ago. Through visiting the site, we will get to know the geographical features and water supply system of Turpan. At last we will visit the Jiaohe Ruins, which is a UNESCO site left from the 14^th century. Jiaohe ancient city is located at the edge of Oasis, best preserved soil structured ancient city. The sunset view of the abundant city is best with the light and mountains in distance.

In the morning, we will drive further to the westward to visit the famous Flaming mountain. Both of Bezeklik Buddha caves and Tuyuk old village is in the valleys of this mountain.  First we will visit the Bezeklik Buddha caves, which is the highlight of Uighur Buddhism 9-12 centuries. Buddhism was the main religion in western region, widely practiced and flourished in Turpan area.  Tuyuk old village is in another valley of Flaming mountain, where you can see the traditional Uighur architecture and traditional lifestyle of local people. We will have a lunch at a local house, get to know the the food and fruits of Uighurs. After visiting the Tuyuk old village, we will drive back to Urumqi to fly Kashgar.

After breakfast, we will visit the Id Kah mosque, biggest one in Xinjiang. There is a handcraft street around the mosque to visit. Then visit Appak Hoja Tomb, a very special royal family Tomb which was built 17^th century, a unique combination of Uighur traditional architecture. After lunch, we will visit the old town of Kashgar. The old town might be high light of your tour. It is not only about construction, but also the people living in the town, their daily life fascinates you.

In the morning, we visit Kashgar livestock market, it is a very local, trading market for live animals, View of hundreds of sheep, cattle, horse and camels and people at the market reminds you the layout markets of mid centuries. In the afternoon,we will drive to the Shipton’s Arch, a mountain site about 70 km away from Kashgar, maybe the highest natural arch in the world. On the way, you we will pass through very dry landscape and some oasis, main feature of southern Xinjiang.

It is about 7 hours drive to Tashkorgan through famous Karakorum high way. On the way, we can stop at the local Villages, mountain valley, white sand mountain, and visit Karakul Lake, it is an alpine lake surrounded by high mountain peaks, including the famous Muztag-Ata (father of ice mountain).

In the morning, we visit Golden grassland, it is the largest and very beautiful grassland around Kashgar, located between two mountains, local Tajik nomads keep their animals and Yurts on the grassland during the summer. After spending a few hours on the grassland, we will visit the ruins of Stone Castle, which was a military stronghold built about 2000 years ago, then drive back to Kashgar.

After breakfast, our guide will take you to Kashgar airport.