6 Days Xinjiang Culture-tracing Tour of Urumqi-Kashgar-Tashkurgan

Day-by-day Itinerary

1. Day 1: Urumqi Arrival (No meal)

   Upon your arrival at Urumqi airport / train station, the local driver will pick you up from the exit gate by holding a welcome board with your name and transfer to local hotel for check-in. Free and easy on your own for rest of the day.

   Accommodation: Overnight in Urumqi

2. Day 2: Urumqi Classic Tour (B, L)
   Heavenly Lake, Xinjiang Regional Museum, Xinjiang International Bazaar

   After hotel breakfast, meet your guide at hotel lobby and your exploration begins! The first site will be Heavenly Lake of Tianshan Mountain. Heavenly Lake, read Tianchi Lake in Chinese, is an alpine lake nestled against the slope of the snow-covered Bodga Mountain. Heat, the special feature coming with summer is seldom there due to its geographical conditions. Looking out over the scenic area, the white snowy mountains mirroring in the green lake and colorful flowers spotted on the green grassland along the lake, plus the tour guide’s commentary to the tale of Queen Mother of the West bringing it some color of mystery, both your eyes and souls will be fully pleased by the pure beauty here.

   

   Afterwards, move on to Xinjiang Regional Museum.As the only autonomous region class museum in Xinjiang, Xinjiang Regional Museum houses over 40,000 collections including all kinds of relics and specimens, exhibited in five separate halls. You can find many treasures ever glittering on the famous Silk Road. The No.1 star exhibition in the museum is the unprecedented ancient corpse with even tiny fingernails well preserved.

   Then, come to Xinjiang International Bazaar for further sightseeing. It’s one of the bazaars with largest scale in the world with strong Islam flavor in its buildings. You should not miss this site during your tour to Urumqi, even if you are not going for shopping, you would favor the experience for the strong ethnic flavor here. Eyes are dazzled by an overwhelming of goods in the stalls while ears are excited by the hawking, bewildering you if you are travel through space and time to the ancient silk road to glimpse the prosperous trades between different nations.

   Accommodation: Overnight in Urumqi

   

    

3. Day 3: Urumqi-Kashgar Tour by Flight (B, L)
   Kashgar Old Town, Id Kah Mosque, Local Handicrafts Market

   Taking morning flight to Kashgar. Upon arrival, the local English speaking tour guide and driver will be waiting for you at the exit gate by holding a welcome board with your name. Your exploration begins with Kashgar Old Town. Kashgar’s spirit is in the old town with curved lanes distributed in the maze-like Islam blocks, which is the thing that bewilders you to be here. Eyes on face and camera in hands should be busiest during visit, elegant folk dwellings, neat streets, cozy tea houses gathering leisure old people, naughty kids playing in front of doors and bursting into laughter when you walking closely… soul warmth rising from bottom of hearts along your slowly wander.

   

   Next, come to the largest Islam Mosque in Xinjiang- Id Kah Mosque, whose birth could be traced back to 1442, in Ming Dynasty. It’s an ancient architectural complex sitting in the city center with strong ethnic and religious color, composed by four parts: the pagoda, garden, scripture hall and praying hall. Not only functioned as center for religious activities, is the Mosque also the place for local people to celebrate festivals. If you are lucky to visit it on a praying day and or festival day, you will meet an extreme busy scene that thousands of Islam followers gather on the Square.

   Afterwards, continue your step to the Local Handicrafts Market. Spending some time in the handicrafts market is also a top things-to-do in Kashgar. Follow the local crowd to walk leisurely and stop at a stall interesting you or talking with those hawkers with ethnic faces. Do not forget to bargain when you are picking some as souvenirs.

   Accommodation: Overnight in Kashgar

   

4. Day 4: Kashgar-Karakuri Lake-Tashkurgan (B, L)
   Karakuri Lake

   Today you will head to the amazing Karakuri Lake. The driving lasts around 4 hours from Kashgar city to the lake, which would be a good chance to enjoy the mountain-and-lake view on the way.

   Karakuri Lake also named Karakul is a high mountain moraine lake. It locates at the foot of the Father on Iceberg, 191km far from Kashgar and crossed by the Sino-Pakistan Highway.

   Karakuri means “Dark Ocean”, which is corresponded to its appearance: the water is deep and unfathomable, the grass growing well on the banks where Kirgiz shepherds usually stay for grazing. The Lake embraces the inverted images of the snowy pinnacles, green grass and leisure flocks and herds when sunny days while it turns to be dark and bleak in the rainy days.

   Finishing the relaxing sightseeing, transfer to Tashkurgan for overnight.

   Accommodation: Overnight in Tashkurgan

   

5. Day 5: Tashkurgan-Kashgar (B, L)
   Tashkurgan Stone City

   After breakfast, come to enjoy the unique scenery in Tashkurgan Stone City which is a famous relic along ancient Silk Route, occupying a vital position in sense of ancient military. It was the Capital of Puli Kingdom of Han Dynasty and a stronghold set by Tang Dynasty to governing the surrounding areas. The significant value in trade and politic brought it prosperous time in old time and left many treasures you can see today including pottery shard, gold, silver and jewelry, scriptures, silk…

   In the afternoon, drive around 5.5 hours back to Kashgar.

   Accommodation: Overnight in Kashgar

   

6. Day 6: Kashgar Departure (B)

   Your 6 days Xinjiang cultural tour ends today. Free and easy on your own until the pickup time for departure. Our driver will meet you at the hotel lobby and transfer to Urumqi airport / train station to see you off.

   Accommodation: N/A