4 Days Dunhuang Leisure Tour
Tour Overview
What are the best tours in Dunhuang? This 4-day tripĀ is a great choice to visit the main highlights of Dunhuang in a leisurely way. You will not only visit the most important sites with a local tour guide, but also have free time to walk around and feel the charm ofĀ the old Silk RoadĀ city on your own. Just imagine the awesome Mogao GrottoesĀ with ancient murals, the elegant Crescent Spring, the golden Echo Sand Mountain. You will also be guided to the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty as well as the strangeĀ but amazing Ghost City. It definitely will be a memorable experience.
Travel destination: Dunhuang
Suitable for: History Lovers, Senior Travelers
Tour type: Private
Highlights of this tour:
- Explore over 1,000 years of Buddhist art in a UNESCO World Heritage site – Mogao Caves. Discover breathtaking murals and sculptures of cultural exchange along the Silk Road.
- Enjoy camel rides, sand-surfing, and contemplate the springs of the crescent moon-shaped oasis, with pyramids of sand dunes exploding with colors all around it.
- Taste the flavors of Dunhuang‘s donkey meat noodles and sweet barley drinks while browses through beautiful silk carpets and wood-cut paintings, under the gazes of lantern-lit angels.
- Walk through the western threshold of the Han Dynasty, Yumen Pass, where the yellow clay walls of the Han Dynasty remain standing as the silent watchers of the ancient Silk Road routes for traders through the mountains.
- Explore the fantastical desert sculptures carved by the wind in Yardang Geo-park, including formations likened to owls, fleets, and shells, in the largest Yardang landscape on Earth.
Day-by-day Itinerary
- Day 1: Dunhuang Arrival
Welcome to this 4-day Dunhuang tour. Upon your arrival at Dunhuang airport / train station, the local driver will pick you up from the exit gate and send you to the hotel you booked for check-in. For rest of the day, you are free to explore this Silk Road town.
Meal: N/A
Accommodation: Booked by Yourself
- Day 2: Highlights in DunhuangāExplore Silk Road Buddhist Art, Experience Fun Sing Dunes
Today, the tour guide will take you to visit some of the most popular attractions in Dunhuang. The first stop is Mogao Grottoes, one of the four major grottoes in China and also a world cultural heritage site. The construction of Mogao Grottoes lasted for about 1000 years, from the Sixteen Kingdoms period to the Yuan Dynasty, which is unparalleled among Chinese grottoes. It is one of the most important attractions on the ancient Silk Road, witnessing the dialogue between different civilizations. Led by your guide, you will discover a wealth of Buddhist art here, including murals and painted sculptures.
Murals in Mogao Grottoes After lunch, we head to Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring. As the name suggests, you can see two attractions here. Mingsha Mountain is undulating and stretches about 40 kilometers from east to west, with its main peak reaching an elevation of 1715 meters. Looking up from the foot, the mountain resembles ancient Egyptian pyramids, towering and magnificent. Crescent Spring is surrounded by Mingsha Mountain and shaped like a crescent moon, hence its name. You can experience various interesting desert activities here, such as sand sliding, camel riding, and desert motorcycles. In the summer, at night (around 9:00-9:30), the scenic area has a lively starry sky concert.
After the desert activity, go to the Shazhou Night Market to hunt for some delicious food. This is a must visit destination for Dunhuang nightlife. You can taste many specialty snacks here, such as donkey meat yellow noodles, sweet fermented barley drink, and also purchase intangible cultural heritage handicrafts such as woodcut board paintings and silk carpets. After the tour, we will take you back to the hotel to rest.
Meal: Lunch
Accommodation: Booked by Yourself
Camel ride at Echoing Sand Mountain - Day 3: Deep Exploration of DunhuangāHan Dynasty Walls, Desert Gates, and Yardang Landform
Today, you will further explore the ruins near Dunhuang. The Jade Gate Pass is located at the westernmost end of the Hexi Corridor and served as a gateway to various parts of the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. The main landscapes here are Gobi and desert. The existing city walls of Yumen Pass are intact, overall square in shape, 24 meters long from east to west, 26.4 meters wide from north to south, and the remaining walls are 9.7 meters high, all built of yellow clay. There is a lane at the foot of the north slope of the pass, which is the historical route for communication and postal services between the Central Plains and Western Regions.
Yumen Pass Afterward, continue on to the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty, which was built over two thousand years ago, from Dunhuang, China to Pingrang, North Korea. In history, it made outstanding contributions in resisting the Xiongnu and unifying the Western Regions. The part we are going to visit is the best preserved one.
The last stop today is the Yardang National Geopark. This is the largest and most geologically developed Yardang landform in the world, with the most ornamental value. The geological relics in this park are rich and diverse, with over 5000 Yardang bodies that vary greatly in length, height, and appearance. Some of them are like owls, grottoes, fleets, peacocks, shells...
After the visit, we will drive back to your hotel.
Meal: Lunch
Accommodation: Booked by Yourself
Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark - Day 4: Dunhuang Departure
You are free to spend your time as you like until it's time to leave. Our driver will pick you up in the hotel lobby and send you to Dunhuang airport or train station for your departure. Your 4-day Dunhuang tour ends here.
Meal: N/A
Accommodation: N/A
Tour Price Per Person
The priceĀ varies depending on the activity, number of people, travel date, and selected hotel. Please contact us for a specific price.
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