Tour Features: The key words of this tour are "lake", "grassland", "cave" and "Ancient City". Not only can you enjoy the beautiful landscape of Xinjiang, but also experience a wonderful cultural journey. What's more, you can visit the brick buildings for drying grapes and get the idea of how raisins come from. You will also know, in this dry land, how the smart Xinjiang people get the water from the snow- capped mountains through an irrigation system called karez.
Day by Day Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrival in Ürümqi (-, -, -)
Upon arrival in Ürümqi, your tour guide will be meet you at Ürümqi Airport and transport you to your hotel by privite car. The rest of the day is yours to relax, or step out into this amazing city for an adventure on your own.
Day 2: The Heavenly Lake (B, -, -)
After breakfast, you will have an excursion to visit the Heavenly Lake, a crescent-shaped lake surrounded by lush meadows and dense pine forests. It stands at an elevation of 1,980 m (6,500 ft), about 110 km away from the east of Ürümqi. Enclosed by snow-capped peaks, including the majestic Bogda Peak, this mountain lake is named "the Pearl of Heavenly Mountain" (Tianshan Mountain). Walking around the deep-blue lake is the best way to enjoy the beautiful scenery. In the afternoon, your guide will take you to the Ürümqi airport to fly to Yili. Upon arrival in Yili, your Yili tour guide will meet you at the airport and transport you to your hotel by private car. The rest of the day is yours to relax, or step out into this amazing city for an adventure on your own.
Day 3: Nalati Grassland (B, L, D)
Your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel after breakfast, and then visit the Nalati Grassland which is one of the four major river valley grasslands in the mountain around the world, as well as the most beautiful and charming grassland in Xinjiang. From June to September, the golden season for the grassland, all kinds of colorful wild flowers are in full blooms which make here a sea of flowers. It is also a very important summer pasture and becoming a popular place for tourists.
Day 4: Bayanbulak Grassland (B, L, D)
Your tour guide will pick you up from your hotel after breakfast, and then visit the Bayanbulak Grassland. Covering an area of 23,000 sq km, Bayanbulak Grassland is the second largest grassland in China. Bayanbulak means the “the rich springs” and ''the source of fertility’’ in Mongolian language. The grassland stretches vastly and smoothly, and is populated by 9 ethnic minorities such as Mongolian, Han, Tibetan, Ha etc, developing diversified ethnic flavors. The abundant rainfall, crisscrossed streams, dotted lakes make it one of the most productive place in Xinjiang. The grassland also called “the hometown of swans” because the swans here account for 3/5 of the whole world. If you are lucky enough, you can see flocks of white-sails-like swan wandering on the lakes, carefree and contenting themselves.
Day 5: Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will be driven to Kuqa, a small oasis town and once was an ancient Buddhist kingdom in what was known as the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty(206 BC-AD 220), located on the branch of the ancient Silk Road. The Kizil Thousand Buddha Caves is the oldest of its kind in China and the largest ruins of Buddhist culture in Xinjiang. There are now 236 numbered grottoes in this cave, which houses nearly 10 sq km of mural paintings, which showcase a splendid culture that once prospered in Kuqa.
Day 6: Grand Kuqa Mosque, Kizilgaha Beacon Tower, Subashi Ruins (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will be picked up by your tour guide to visit the Grand Kuqa Mosque, the second largest mosque in Xinjiang after Id Kah Mosque. It can accommodate 3,000 worshipers at the same time. Grand Kuqa Mosque is the only mosque in China to have preserved the Shariya (Islamic Court) system.
Next, visit the Kizilgaha Beacon Tower, about 13 km from Kuqa, built around 60 BC in the West Han Ddynasty. It is the best-preserved beacon tower on the Silk Road.
At last, you will go to the Subashi Ruins, a lost city located in the Takla Makan Desert near Kuqa. The Subashi Ruins occupy a relatively large area and are divided into eastern and western areas by Kuqa River. The street plan can still be seen amongst the ruins and some of the 6-meter-high (20 ft) city walls are still standing there.
Day 7: Iron Gate Pass (B, L, D)
After breakfast, you will be driven to Korla to visit the Iron Gate Pass, which was originally erected in the Jin Dynasty (265-420). The pass is one of the strategic passes on the Ancient Silk Road, which one needed to travel to reach Tarim Basin.
Day 8: Bosten Lake (B, L, D)
After breakfast, you will go to Turpan by car. On the way, you will visit the Bosten Lake, the largest lake in Xinjiang and the biggest inland freshwater lake in China. This lake was once named “'Fish Sea” in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It is made up of a big and a small lake district, and rich in aquatic life with beautiful scenery, being famous as “a bright pearl of the Oasis”.
Day 9: Turpan Grape Valley, Karez Water System, Ancient City of Gaochang, Bezaklik Thousand Buddha Caves, Astana Ancient Tombs, Emin Minaret (B, L, -)
After breakfast, you will visit the Turpan Grape Valley, an attractive desert oasis with vines and trellises bulging with grapes. Every year, over 300 tons of raisins are made in here. Then, you will take a look at the Karez Water System which is the life source of Turpan dating back to 103 BC. This special irrigation system includes vertical wells, underground channels, ground channels and small reservoirs.
Then you will go to the Ancient City of Gaochang. The present remains of Gaochang City was built in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and then rebuilt and enlarged in the Huihu period. It is surrounded by 10 meter-high walls and most of the city wall was made of compacted earth.
Then you will proceed to the Bezaklik Thousand Buddha Caves. Dating from the 6th to the 14th centuries, the caves originally stored a collection of Buddhist murals in the Indo-Iranian style, which showed unusually marked western influences.
Afterwards, you will move to Astana Ancient Tombs, which are a series of underground tombs and served as the public cemetery of the ancient Gaochang residents, both aristocrats and commoners from 273 in the Western Jin Dynasty to 778 in the Tang Dynasty. The complex covers 10 sq km and contains over 1,000 tombs.
Finally you will visit the Emin Minaret, which is the largest extant old tower in Xinjiang and it is the only Islamic tower among the hundreds of famous towers in China. After the tour, you will be driven to Ürümqi.
Day 10: Leave Ürümqi (-, -, -)
Then your personal guide will take you to Ürümqi Airport for the flight to the next destination.
Itinerary: B: Breakfast AB: American Breakfast L: Lunch D: Dinner SD: Special Dinner
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