14 Days China Classic Silk Road Tour

Day 1Arrive in Beijing

Welcome to Beijing! Our private English-speaking tour guide & driver will pick you up in time at Beijing airport and transfer you to your hotel in downtown Beijing. A paper board with the sign of YangtzeTour.com and your name will be held high by the guide at exit of the airport. The rest of day is free at your own leisure.

Day 2Beijing ( B, L )

After breakfast, our tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and drive to visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City in the morning. Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world and of great historical significance, where you could see the symbol of China – the ancient majestic Tiananmen Tower. Nearby the Square is the Forbidden City, which is the largest and best-preserved ancient imperial palaces group with 500 years history in the world.

After lunch at a Chinese-style restaurant, you will be transferred to visit Temple of Heaven, which is the largest ancient imperial worship architecture group in the world where the ancient Emperors held the grand sacrificial and prayed for peace and harvest. After today’s sightseeing, transferred back to your hotel.

After dinner, you are arranged to see the Kung Fu Show at Red Theatre or Liyuan Theatre. The show is great and breathtaking.

Day 3Beijing ( B, L, D )

After breakfast at your hotel, our tour guide will pick you up at your hotel and drive to visit Ming Tombs and its Sacred Way. Ming Tomes is the imperial mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, where 13 emperors and their wives were buried. As the major road to the Ming Tomb, the Sacred Way was believed to be the route leading to heaven in ancient times.

After a Chinese lunch, head to Mutianyu Great Wall; less crowed with the most spectacular views. The wall is the most beautiful section of the all five sections of the Great Wall in Beijing. The day’s sightseeing will come to an end after taking pictures at the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.

In the evening, you are arranged to have a Peking Roast Duck dinner in a Beijing featured Restaurant. Then transferred back to your hotel.

Day 4Beijing – Urumqi ( B )

After breakfast, you will be transferred to visit Summer Palace, which is the largest and most beautiful Chinese imperial garden. It is regarded as a museum of gardens in China. In the Summer Palace, there are many pavilions, vividly painted corridors, temples, among lakes and surrounded by hills.

In the afternoon, our tour guide will escort you to the airport and take flight to Urumqi. In Urumqi airport, our English-speaking tour guide & driver will meat you and transfer to the hotel in downtown Urumqi.

Day 5Urumqi – Kashgar ( B, L )

After breakfast, our local tour guide will pick you up and escorted to take a flight to Kashgar, which is honored as the pearl on the ancient Silk Road described as “fruitful soil, cotton aplenty, and inhabitants who live by trade” by Marco Polo. In Kashgar airport, our local tour guide & driver will pick you up and transfer to your hotel in Kashgar. After a short rest, you will visit Sunday Market, namely Sunday Bazaar, which is a famous local market which is considered the largest international trade market in northwest China. Afterwards, transferred back to your hotel and you have a good rest.

Day 6Kashgar – Urumqi – Turpan ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will be transferred to visit the Id Kah Mosque, which is a 500-year-old important mosque for the locals and where you will see the typical Islamic architecture like domes, minarets and arches, as well as pious prayers. Then you will stroll around the Old Street of Kashgar, where there are a number of narrow alleys and traditional houses built with earth or bricks. Afterwards, you will head to the Abash Khoja Tomb, which is an ancient Islamic building complex and a cemetery where five generations of a famous Islamic master were buried. Then you will be transferred to the airport and take a flight to Urumqi. In the Urumqi airport, our tour guide will meet you and transfer to Turpan by car. After checking in at the hotel in downtown Turpan, you will have a good rest.

Day 7Turpan ( B, L )

After breakfast, our local tour guide will pick you up and transfer to visit Jiaohe Ruins, which is one of the most important towns along the ancient Silk Road. It is also the largest, oldest and best-preserved earth construction in the world. Then you head to visit Karez Well, which is the the gigantic underground irrigation system created by ancient Xinjiang people.

Afterwards, you will visit Sugong Pagoda, which is the existing largest ancient pagoda in Xinjiang. The Pagoda is a 44-meter-high (144 feet) Islamic Pagoda, which has a history of over 200 years. Then transferred back to your hotel.

Day 8Turpan – Dunhuang ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will visit Gaochang Ruins, which used to be the capital of ancient Gaochang Kingdom. From the outline of the ruins, you can still find the trace of many former buildings, like temples, markets and palace. Then you will head to visit Bizaklik Thoudand Buddha Cave, which is a cluster of caves with thousands of Buddhism murals. Afterwards, you will visit the Flaming Hill, which resembles a red fire dragon flying upward.

Then you will take a overnight train to Dunhuang.

Day 9Dunhuang ( L )

At Dunhuang railway station, our tour guide will meet you and transfer to the hotel in downtown Dunhuang. After a short rest, you will visit Mogao Grottoes, which is one of the four most famous caves in China. Known as the “Oriental Louvre”, the Mogao Caves not only boasts a large number of vivid Buddhism murals, statues and architecture, but also is renowned as the treasure house of Buddhism culture.  Then you will head to Dunhuang Museum, where you will get a better understanding of the Silk Road from the exhibited historical relics.

Day 10Dunhuang – Xian ( B, L )

After breakfast, you will visit the Echoing-Sand Mountain, which is one of the most famous attractions along the Silk Road. It is so named because when you slide down the slope, you can hear the roaring echo of sands. You will experience a short camel ride along the mountain to reach the Crescent Lake. It is really a natural wonder that the crescent-shaped spring surrounded by the endless Gobi desert has not dried up over the past one thousand years and still gushes with fresh current.
Then our tour guide will escort you to the airport and take flight to Xian. In Xian airport, our English-speaking tour guide & driver will meat you and transfer to the hotel in downtown Xian.

Day 11Xian ( B, L, D )

After breakfast at your hotel, our guide will pick you up and drive to the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, which is your lifetime viewing of extraordinary 2200-year-old history. These 6000 life-size painted Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses individually sculpted from real life models and arranged in battle formation and they have been protecting the mausoleum of the first emperor in Chinese history – emperor Qinshihuang.

After lunch at a local restaurant, you will be transferred to visit Xian Ancient City Wall, which is a symbol of great significance of the famous historic cultural city of Xian. Then head to visit Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is a symbol of the old Xian and a well-preserved ancient building and a holy place for Buddhists. Tonight, you will feast your eye on the famous Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show after you enjoy the local Dumpling Dinner.

Day 12Xian – Shanghai ( B )

After breakfast at the hotel, you will be transferred to visit the Great Mosque, which is the biggest and most preserved complete Chinese existent mosque. It is a good place to get a glimpse of Muslim’s life.

In the afternoon, our tour guide will escort you to take a flight to Shanghai. In Shanghai airport, our English-speaking tour guide & driver will pick you up and transfer to your hotel in downtown Shanghai.

Day 13Shanghai ( B, L )

After breakfast, our tour guide will pick you up and drive to visit Yuyuan Garden. Yuyuan is the famous classical garden in Shanghai, built in 1577. The pavilions, halls, rockeries, ponds and cloisters all have unique characteristics. 

After lunch at a nice local restaurant with the authentic Chinese food, you will take one hour cruising on Huangpu River. Then you visit the west side of the river that has many skyscrapers and the Bund that has many outstanding foreign buildings of the early 20th century. Then back to your hotel.

Day 14Depart from Shanghai ( B )

After breakfast at your hotel, you will drive to Pudong New District – Lujiazui, where there the futuristic, avant-garde building: Oriental Pearl Tower, Jinmao Building, Bank of China Tower, etc. You will have time to take the 88-storey Observation Deck of Jinmao Tower where you will have a spectacular view of the whole city.

In the afternoon, your private guide and driver will escort you to the airport in Shanghai for departure on your own. Your pleasant China trip ends.