Along The Hexi Corridor To Xinjiang – 13 Days

Drive east to the Terracotta Army, part of the burial complex of Qin Shi Huang, the ruler who unified China in 221 BC. Discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well and listed by UNESCO in 1987, the pits hold thousands of life-size warriors and horses, each face modelled individually. Your guide explains how they were made and what they reveal about the first empire.

Back in the city, walk along the Ancient City Wall, built in the Ming dynasty and one of the best preserved in China, with gate towers and wide views over the rooftops.

Step into the Muslim Quarter, home to Xi’an’s Hui community for centuries. Visit the Great Mosque, a peaceful complex of courtyards and pavilions built in traditional Chinese style rather than with domes and minarets, then wander the food lanes, alive with the smell of cumin and grilling lamb.

Visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built in the Tang dynasty to house Buddhist scriptures brought back from India by the monk Xuanzang. Its stepped brick tower rises above a temple garden and is part of the UNESCO-listed Silk Roads network.

Continue to the Hanyang Tomb, the mausoleum of Emperor Jing of the Western Han dynasty. Thousands of small clay figures of officials, servants and animals lie in the pits, and an underground museum lets you walk on glass above the excavations.

Your driver takes you to the airport for the flight to Jiayuguan, about two and a half hours. Your guide meets you and takes you to your hotel in Jiayuguan, a small city on the Hexi Corridor, the narrow route the Silk Road followed between the Qilian Mountains and the Gobi.

Visit Jiayuguan Pass, the great fortress that marked the western end of the Ming dynasty Great Wall. Walk through its gates and courtyards and up onto the walls, with the snow-capped Qilian Mountains on one side and the desert on the other. In the Great Wall Museum nearby, models and displays tell the story of the wall across the centuries.

Drive to the First Pier of the Great Wall, where the wall ends at the edge of a cliff above the Taolai River gorge, a dramatic spot to stand and look down. Then continue to the Overhanging Great Wall, a section that climbs steeply up a rocky ridge. Climb part way up for a wide view over the Gobi and the fortress in the distance.

Visit the Wei Jin tombs, a cemetery of brick tombs from around the 3rd and 4th centuries. Their walls are decorated with small painted bricks showing scenes of daily life: farmers ploughing, people cooking, hunting and feasting. Only a small part of the site is open, which makes the visit feel personal and unhurried.

Set off by private car for Dunhuang, a drive of about five hours across the open desert of the Hexi Corridor, with stops along the way to stretch your legs.

Arrive at your hotel in Dunhuang, the oasis that was the last major stop inside China for caravans heading into the Taklamakan Desert.

Visit the Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of cave temples cut into a cliff between the 4th and 14th centuries. Their murals and painted statues show Buddhas, heavenly musicians and scenes of Silk Road life. A specialist guide opens a selection of caves for you.

Visit a local farming family, who welcome you into their home and show you how to make noodles by hand. You sit down together to eat what you have made.

Head to the Singing Sand Dunes, named for the hum the sand makes as it shifts. Climb a ridge for wide views, then walk down to Crescent Moon Spring, a small curved pool that has survived among the dunes for centuries. If you wish, you can try sand sliding or a camel ride on the dunes.

Drive out to the Yulin Caves, a smaller cave complex cut into the walls of a river gorge. Far fewer visitors make it here than to Mogao, and the murals from the Western Xia period are among the finest in the region.

Continue to Liuyuan railway station and take the high-speed train to Turpan, about three and a half hours, crossing stony desert with the Tianshan Mountains on the horizon.

Your Turpan guide meets you and takes you to your hotel in Turpan, a vineyard oasis in one of the lowest depressions on earth.

Explore the Gaochang City Ruins, the remains of a kingdom’s capital and an important Silk Road stop, where the monk Xuanzang is said to have preached on his way to India. Walk among the eroded earthen walls and the outline of a great monastery.

Drive beneath the Flaming Mountains, red sandstone ridges that shimmer in the heat and appear in the classic novel Journey to the West. Nearby, visit the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Buddhist cave temples set into a cliff above a gorge.

Finish in the Tuyoq Valley, where an old Uyghur village of mud-brick houses and grape trellises sits beneath bare hills. Walk through its lanes slowly and watch daily life unfold.

Visit the Emin Minaret, also called the Sugong Tower, a tapering tower of patterned sun-dried brick built in the 18th century. Then see the Karez well system, hand-dug underground channels that carry snowmelt from the mountains to the oasis.

Walk through the Jiaohe Ruins, an ancient city on a narrow plateau between two riverbeds, carved largely into the earth and part of the UNESCO-listed Silk Roads network.

Drive to Urumqi airport, about two and a half hours, and fly to Kashgar. Your guide meets you and takes you to your hotel in Kashgar.

Visit the Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, its yellow gatehouse facing the busy main square. Then drive to the Abakh Khoja Tomb, a 17th-century family mausoleum faced with green and blue glazed tiles, linked in legend to Iparhan, the Fragrant Concubine.

Spend the afternoon at the Sunday Bazaar, where traders sell carpets, spices, dried fruit, knives, hats and musical instruments. Your guide helps you find your way, haggle with a smile and try a hot naan straight from the clay oven.

Your guide takes you to the airport for the flight to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.

Visit the Xinjiang Regional Museum, whose galleries cover the region’s many peoples and its long history on the Silk Road. Its best-known exhibits are the ancient mummies found in the Tarim Basin, preserved by the desert’s dry climate.

Explore the Erdaoqiao Bazaar, a busy market district selling carpets, knives, dried fruit, spices and musical instruments, before your guide takes you to your hotel in Urumqi.

Drive about two hours east of Urumqi into the Tianshan Mountains to Heavenly Lake, a clear alpine lake surrounded by spruce forest and overlooked by the snowy summit of Bogda Peak. The area is part of the Xinjiang Tianshan UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Take a boat cruise on the lake, shared with other visitors, to see the shoreline from the water, then walk the lakeside paths for different views of the peaks.

Return to Urumqi and enjoy your final evening at leisure.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast at your hotel.

At the agreed time, your driver takes you to the airport for your return flight.