Tour Features: This is an excellent tour covering the most famous attractions in Gansu, which known as one of the cradles of Chinese culture. On this 8-day tour, you will visit four cities-Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Zhangye and Xi'ning. With their own features, those four cities will provide you a fantastic and memorable trip.
Day by Day Itinerary:
Day 1:Arrive in Lanzhou, White Pagoda Hill Park, Yellow River Mother (-, L, -)
Upon arrival in Lanzhou, your tour guide will meet you at Lanzhou Airport and transfer you to your hotel by private car.
Then you will visit White Pagoda Hill Park, one of the landmarks of Lanzhou. This pleasant park is on the northern bank of Yellow River with a white pagoda on the top of the hill, hence the name. The seven-level octagonal pagoda is 17 m tall, and built as part of a temple on the top of the hill. Below the pagoda there are bronze bell and elephant skin drum. It is possible to catch the chairlifts to the top from inside the park to get a marvelous view of Lanzhou City.
Then, visit a large granite sculpture-the Yellow River Mother, completed in 1986, which is the best of its kind in China. The whole sculpture contains a mother and a baby connotes that the Yellow River has nourished generations of Chinese. It has become a city image and a mental symbol of the Chinese people's affection for the river.
After this, you will be transferred to the train station to Dunhuang by train in the afternoon. Stay at Dunhuang overnight.
Day 2: Mogao Caves, Echoing-Sand Mountain (Mingsha Shan), Crescent Moon Lake (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will visit Mogao Caves, 25 km (15 miles) southeast of Dunhuang, which is acclaimed as “a glittering pearl that adorns the Silk Road,” is the most famous grottoes in China and known as the world’s greatest treasure house of Buddhist art extant today. The 492 cells and sanctuaries in Mogao are famous for their statues and wall paintings, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art.
A camel ride cross the Echoing-Sand Mountain (Mingsha Shan), which tower several hundred feet high, look like a golden dragon winding its way over the horizon, and it was named after the sound made as the grains of sand are crunched under foot.
Then, you will go to Crescent Moon Lake (Crescent Spring), a crescent-shaped freshwater lake in the oasis that has been a vital source of water for thousands of years. It is praised as the first spring in the desert.
In the evening, you can stroll along the Shazhou Night Market, the largest outdoor market in Dunhuang, a good place to try authentic Dunhuang specialties. Stay at Dunhuang overnight.
Day 3: Yumenguan Pass, Yadan National Geological Park, the Great Wall of Han Dynasty, Yang Guan (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will go to Yumenguan Pass, 102 km from Dunhuang, which was a pass through which the Silk Road passed, served as a bridge between Asia and Europe, provided an opportunity to the economic and cultural exchanges between the east and west.
Afterwards, you will proceed to Yadan National Geological Park, 180 km on the northwest of Dunhuang, which is the largest kind of Yadan Landform found so far, and features the unique and wonderful scenes and landscapes of Gobi desert.
Then visit the Great Wall of Han Dynasty, constructed in 127 BC, which looks like a dragon winding its way comfortably in the far-flung desert. This is the only part of the Great Wall that was made of earth with reed.
Then you will move to Hecang Fortress, which was once a vital supply depot for the Chinese military.
Finally you will proceed to South Pass (Yang Guan), one of the two important western passes (the other one is Yumenguan Pass) in Western Han Dynasty (206BC -24AD). It was used as an outpost and westernmost administrative center in ancient China and was established as a frontier defense post.
After this, you will be driven back to Dunhuang. Stay at Dunhuang overnight.
Day 4:Jiayuguan (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will have an excursion to Jiayuguan, 765 km (475 miles) northwest of Lanzhou, which was traditionally regarded as China's final outpost, the last point of civilization before the desert. Jiayuguan Pass, known as "Impregnable Defile Under Heaven", located 4 km west of Jiayuguan City, which is the western terminus of the Great Wall, as well as the most magnificent and best-preserved pass along the Ming Great Wall. Stay at Jiayuguan overnight.
Day 5: Overhanging Great Wall, Wei-Jin Mural Brick Tomb (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will visit the Overhanging Great Wall which is an extended part of the Jiayuguan Pass, and was once an important component in the medieval military defense system. The wall was built by using local gravel and yellow earth and appears very like a dragon overhanging the slope.
Finally you will move to Wei-Jin Mural Brick Tomb, which is a big tomb group with over 1,400 tombs built from the Wei and Jin eras (220-420 AD). It is renowned as the largest subterranean art gallery in the world, whose bricks are painted with celebratory scenes.
After this, you will be driven to Zhangye, about 210 km from Jiayuguan. Stay at Zhangye overnight.
Day 6: Giant Buddha Temple, Danxia Landform (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will visit Giant Buddha Temple, which is well-known for housing the largest reclining Buddha in China in its hall built in 1098.
Then, visit the amazing Danxia Landform, one of top seven most beautiful Danxia Landform in China. Because this area is dry and desolate, and without any vegetation, the geologists call this "window lattice and palace-shaped topography".
Then you will be transferred to Xi'ning, about 260 km from Zhangye. Stay at Xining overnight.
Day 7: Qinghai Hu, Ta'er Temple(B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will go to Qinghai Hu, 150 km (93 miles) west of Xi'ning, which is the largest saline lake in China. In summer, numerous yak herds can be spotted grazing and it is the home to large quantities of fish, which feed a thriving bird population.
Then you will move to Ta'er Temple, one of the six temples of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. It was built in honor of Tsongkhapa, founder of th Gelug sect, in 1560. There are three famous arts or three uniques in the Ta'er Temple, namely butter sculptures, frescos and barbolas.
Then you will be driven back to Xi'ning. Stay at Xi'ning overnight.
Day 8: Leave Xi'ning (-, -, -)
Your tour guide escorts you to Lanzhou Airport, about 232 km (144 miles) from Xi'ning, to your next destination.
Itinerary: B: Breakfast AB: American Breakfast L: Lunch D: Dinner SD: Special Dinner
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