7 Days Xinjiang (Urumqi,Kashgar,Turpan) Discovery Tour

Summary

Itinerary Highlight
Day 1 Arrive in Urumqi
Day 2 Urumqi-Kashgar: Urumqi to Kashgar by flight, Livestock Market, Sunnday Market, Grand Id Kah mosque, Old Town walking tours, Local Uighur family Dinner
Day 3 Kashgar: Karakul lake and local Kyrgyz family visit
Day 4 Kashgar-Urumqi: Kashgar fly to Urumqi, Heavenly Lake
Day 5 Urumqi-Trupan: Urmqi to Turpan by private vehicle, Karez Well, Emin Minaret
Day 6 Turpan-Urumqi: Turpan to Urumqi by private vehicle, Tuyugou Valley, Gaochang Ancient City, Bezeklik Caves, Flaming Mountains
Day 7 Urumqi Departure

?Day 1 Arrive in Urumqi

Upon on your arrival, our local guide will meet you at the exit of airport with a welocme sign "China Private Tour". Transfer to your hotel in Urumqi for check in. The rest day is free on your own to explore the city or have rest in the hotel to recover the jetlag.

Day 2 Urumqi-Kashgar

Pick up from your hotel in the morning, drive to Urumiqi airport for your flight to Kashgar. Upon arrival, our guide will take you to explore some famous sites in Kashgar. The first stop for the tour is Kashgar Animal Market. It is one of the essential livestock markets and one of oldest can be traced back to 2000 years ago. Sheep, goats, cows, horses, donkeys, and even camels, are present in large number on that day. At the Kashgar Sunday market, you can watch the interaction between sellers and buyers, bargaining like their ancestors did thousands of years ago in the ancient Kashgar livestock market.

Next, you will visit the famous Sunday market or Kashgar Bazaar. At the Kashgar Sunday market, you can watch the interaction between sellers and buyers, bargaining like their ancestors did thousands of years ago in the ancient Kashgar livestock market.Kashgar bazaar carries on an ancestral tradition, where goods have been bought and sold since the time of the caravans along the Kashgar Silk Road. The perfect shopping opportunity, from spices to meat, clothes to shoes, fruits to kitchen pots,and more.

In the afternoon, you have a chance to visit the Khoja Abakh Tomb.The tomb features super ceramic tiles dating back to the 17th century. Located at about 5 km from Kashgar, the religious monument is one of the most sacred ones for the Muslims of Xinjiang. Khoja Abakh was a former king who controlled several different cities in the region and is considered to be a saint by many Uighurs in China.

The last stop for today is Kashgar Old City. It had been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually. Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

After dinner, you will be taken back to your hotel in Kashgar.

Day 3 Kashgar

Pick up from your hotel in Kashgar, drive you to visit Karakul Lake. It takes around 4 hours from Kashgar to the lake, as you drive by stunning mountains and fantastic landscape. Here and there stand Tajik and Kirgiz villages separated from the road by barbed wire fences miles after miles.

Karakul Lake is located within a circular depression recently known as a meteor impact crater, with a rim diameter of 52 kilometers. The meteor impact is said to have occurred an estimated 25 million years ago. Scientists have just recently discovered this fact through studies of imagery that were taken from space.

The lake boasts two basins separated by a peninsula on the south and an 8 kilometers long island from the north. The eastern basin’s maximum depth is 22.5 meters, whilst the Western b basin’s is 236 meters. The permanent ice fields of the Pamir Altay Range and the Pik Lenin peak (7134 meters) serve as the lake’s background. The latter is the second highest peak in the country. Although part of a national park, the lake’s immediate surroundings are used as pasture. Karakul Lake lays in the Markansu Valley, known as the “valley of sandstorms”, “Dead Water” and even “Death Valley”. The area was probably named so because it was first seen by trawlers coming from the flourishing and fertile Alai Valley, in contrast with Markansu, which is dry and even seems lifeless.

Once arrive, our guide will show the beautiful spot for you to shoot some pictures and know the facts, history and legend of the lake from our guide. Free on your own for a while and drive back to Kashgar at suitable time.

After dinner, you will be taken back to your hotel.

Day 4 Kashgar-Urumqi

Pick up from your hotel in the morning, drive to Kashgar airport for your flight back to Urumiqi. Upon arrival,our guide will meet you at airport. Drive you to explore the Heavenly Lake Scenic Area in Tianshan Mountain, Urumiqi. It takes around 2 hours from the airport.

With an altitude of 1,928 meters, Heavenly Lake is located at the base of Bogda Peak, the highest peak of the east side of Tianshan Mountain, 110 km east of Urumqi. Covering a total area of 380.69 square kilometers, the scenic spot includes the lake and surrounding mountains.

In the shape of crescent, the lake is 3,400 meters long, 1,500 meters wide at its widest point, and 105 meters deep at its deepest point, covering an area of 4.9 square kilometers. The water, sourced from mountain snow, is crystal clear. It has been given a beautiful name: "Pearl of Tianshan Mountain." In 1990, the Heavenly Lake Scenic Spot was included in the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Reserve program.

In summer, Heavenly Lake is an ideal place to escape the heat; in the winter, the frozen lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains becomes a ski resort.
Heavenly lake offers some great hiking routes through the valleys on wooden pathways or up to the mountains as you like.

Enjoy a leisure time here, this is one of the ideal plcae for taking photos in Urumiqi. There are some activities inside the scenic area, such as boating around the lake, a Kazak family visit, a easy hiking around...

After dinner, you will be taken back to your hotel in Urumiqi.

Day 5 Urumqi-Turpan

Pick up from your hotel, drive to Turpan City. Upon arrival, our guide will take you to vist the Karez Well. Karez well system is the underground transmission and water harvesting system in the Turpan Depression of Xinjiang, China. For over 2000 years, Karez well system has provided the water supplies to the communities of Xinjiang Uygur region. Most of these well systems in the region were made during Qing Dynasty before 1949. Summer in Xinjiang region goes up to 39-degree Celsius due to which this location is also called “Fiery basin.” Xinjiang area has the largest number of karez wells is in its Turpan Depression. And it known as the “Underground Great Wall.

After lunch, our guide will take you to visit the Emin Minaret stands by the Uyghur mosque located in Turpan, Xinjiang. At 44 meters it is the tallest and biggest pagoda, and it is a Islamic site in Turpan. The Emin Minaret is a distinctive building, its design unique to Islamic-Chinese architecture. The minaret was built in 1777, after the Qing Dynasty conquered the largely Muslim region. The tower's circular, tapered design is simple, but its geometric decorations are very striking.

After dinner, you will be taken back to your hotel in Turpan.

Day 6 Turpan-Urumqi

Pick up from your hotel, drive you to visit the Tuyugou. The little Tuyugou Valley is relatively unknown and is less visited by regular tourists. In Uighur language, it is called Tuyoq or “not passable”. It is close to Turpan and is only about 70 kilometres away by road. It is 15 kilometres directly east of Gaochang. Few tour groups go there though some of the sights, the history, and the people are interesting. However, it is a Muslim religious pilgrimage site. It is a more primitive Uighur agricultural valley, with vineyards and fields in the northern and southern valleys and a narrow ravine that connects them.

Next, you will visit Gaochang Ancient City. The ruins of the ancient city of Gaochang lies in the boundless desolate Gobi desert, shining like a resplendent precious stone inlaid in the barren desert and shining on the Silk Road. Withstanding the test of time and weather, the ancient city of Gaochang is one of the best-preserved ruins of the ancient cities in China

After lunch, drive you back to Urumiqi. You can enjoy the view of Flaming Mountains along the way, it is the cradle of the Turpan ancient civilization and oasis agriculture. Eighty percent of the total natural landscapes and human landscapes in Turpan are located here. In there, it is bare, red rock, and incredibly hot, high and dry. Great to look at from a distance, but going into the mountains is not for the faint-hearted, and only in the coolest part of the day. They provide a spectacular backdrop to the oasis and scenery of the Turpan area, and have given rise to many legends and stories, such as the classic "Journey into the West".

After dinner, you will be taken back to your hotel in Urumiqi.

Day 7 Urumqi Departure

Our driver will pick you up from your hotel, transfer to Urumqi airport or train station for your next destination. Your 7 Days Xinjiang Discovery Tour comes to end. Have a pleasent trip!

Price Per Person in US Dollars