19 Days Xinjiang China and Uzbekistan Tour

Welcome to Kashgar, the ancient city with special local cultural and ethnic characteristics along the Silk Road. Be transferred to the hotel. Relax and prepare for your Natural Wonder and Culture Adventure.

Today you will enjoy a full day excursion of Kashgar. Pay a visit to Id Kah Mosque, the largest Mosque in China and the most sacred mosque for the locals to practise their Islamic activities at 09:00. Continue the visiting to Old Town at 10:30 with the open ceremony of Maxilap show. Come and Join the exciting movement in this well-preserved Uighur residential area.Our speciality: Relaxing in the Hundred-years Tea house,taste the local rose tea and nang-bread!

After Lunch in the local Restaurant. Continue to visit the Handicraft street, it gathered hundreds of handicraft workshops, which has become a boutique exhibition for handicraft in Kashgar and Central Asia.

Then drive to Sunday Bazaar that is combined two section. The covered bazaar sells the clothing, nuts, household goods and many things out of your imagination. It is quite interesting to witness their typical methods of bargin.  Return to hotel for the night and have a good rest!

In the morning, enjoy your nice buffet breakfast. At 09:00 your guide and driver will meet you at hotel lobby to start the adventure. Driving on the China and Pakistan highway about 4hrs to enjoy the landscape of Pamirs Plateau.40mins driving. we stop in the Opal village to visit the traditional bustling bazaar. 

On the way, you can experience beautiful Karakul Lake where the herds of livestock around the lakeside are reflected in lake Kirghiz herdsmen usually settle down and graze their herds before shuttling you onward to Taxkorgan.

Stay one night and explore its peculiar folk customs of Tajik nationality. Taste snack and milk tea provided by local herdsman and spend your rest of day at leisure.

Driving back to Kashgar. On the way, you will visit the Stone Fortress. The city is oval in shape and the city walls were built with sun-dried bricks on stone foundation. It is 1285 meters in circumference outside. Walking around the pastureland to see Local Tajiks customs. 

Afternoon back to Kashgar and transfer to the train station to take the overnight train to Kuqa.

Our first stop is  Kizil Grottoes, located on the northern bank of the Muzat River 65 kilometers west of Kuqa and the earliest major Buddhist cave complex in China. Walk through the caves and enjoy Buddhist cultural feast across centuries. Pay avisit to the Tianshan Great Canyon, which is the excellent geological park all over the world. It recorded the whole process of crustal movement in Xinjiang during the past 400 million years.

Today there is an option to visit  Kizilgaha Beacon Tower. Locating 10 km outside Kuqa, the Kizilgaha Beacon Tower provide security for traveling caravans on the Silk Road and prevent enemy invasions. Round earth tower built with a wooden roof, it rises to the sky in the middle of the desert landscape as typical scenery of the region. 

Then continue your trip to Subash Ruins to experience an exotic sight more than one thousand years ago. Return to downtown and stroll around the Kuqa Old City to explore the local lifestyle.

Be transferred to the train station and take the overnight train to Urumqi.

Morning arrive in Urumqi. We will drive 1.5 hours to entrance of the Heavenly Lake about 08:30, following is the 40-minutes shuttle bus twisting through the picturesque Tianshan mountains to the edge of the Lake. Either Trek around the lake, enjoy the boating cruise, or even take the cable car to the explore the Maya Mountain for the incredible view of Bogoda Peak.

Lunch will be arranged in the Yurt of the local Kazakhs. Back to Urumqi and head to Xinjiang Regional Museum, where are many archaeological treasures of the Silk Road and Xinjiang's minority cultures. You will learn about the history of Xinjiang and its peculiar ethnic customs. If time allowed, you will visit Grand International Bazaar and have dinner there.

After breakfast, the good day begins. First we drive to Tuyoq Village which is an ancient oasis-village in the Taklamakan desert, 70 km east of Turpan in a lush valley cutting into the Flaming Mountains and famous for its seedless grapes and a number of ancient Buddhist meditation caves nearby containing frescos. Then we make our way to Bezekilik Thousand Buddha Caves which are a complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of Turpan and Shanshan (Loulan) at the northeast of the Taklamakan Desert near the ancient ruins of Gaochang in the Mutou Valley. Finally our scenic bus will take you to Astana  Tombs, a complex of an ancient tomb where you can see many well- preserved aretifacts including mummies. 

Today you will have a full day to explore this fertile oasis. We will take you to visit Turpan Museum, to explore the local culture and history. Pay a visit to Karez Well irrigation system that produce the best melons and grapes in China. Following is the visiting to Sugong Minaret, a conduit for cultural exchange between different ethnic and religious groups.

Afterwards explore Jiaohe Ruins, resembles Pompeii, but 300 years older, where you can experience the way of life of the Uighur ancestors.

Say goodbye to Turpan and then 4 hours train ride to Liuyuan Station, Dunhuang. Drive another 2hours to the Echoing Sand Mountain, where you can ride the camels for 40mins to experience the beautiful dessert scenery. 

After an extraordinary day, freshen up and enjoy a good dinner, we continue to appreciate the bustling Shazhou Night Markets dotted with special commodities and souvenirs.

we will be visiting the Yumenguan Pass, it got the name because the famous Khotan jade entered the Dunhuang from here. Yumenguan pass and Yangguan pass were the two critical defensive passes protecting Dunhuang from invasion from the West about thousands of year ago. From here you can not only learn more history and culture about the ancient Silk Road, but also learn many famous poems of Tang Dynasty. 

Thereafter, we will travel to the amazing Yardan National Geological Park, also called "Yadan Ghost City", which is the largest one of Yadan Landform found so far. The park stretches twenty-five kilometers from north to south and about two kilometers from east to west. It features the unique and wonderful scenes and landscapes of Gobi desert.

Continue our silk road travel, today our professional tour guide will bring you to travel to Dunhuang, it is the best place where you can explore Chinese history and culture. Our first destination is Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, this UNESCO World Heritage site is one of the great artistic and religious wonders of the world and it is famous for its exquisite murals and various sculptures inside the caves, which was built in different dynasties, spanning 1,000 years of Buddhist art. Then we will explore the Dunhuang Museum, to explore the local culture and history.

Today say farewell to Dunhuang as we will take high-speed train to Urumqi. Upon arrival, transfer to the airport and take the flight to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan with a history of 2500 years. Tashkent is a commercial pivot in ancient Silk Road, and it is the center of economy and culture as the largest city in Central Asia. Check in the hotel and have a good rest after a long flight.

In the morning you will have a direct transfer to domestic airport for your flight to Bukhara (09.15-10:25). Upon arrival you will be transferred to the hotel to have some rest. 

In the afternoon you will meet your guide in a hotel. You will an interesting city tour in Bukhara that includes Citadel Ark (4th c. BC), Samanides Mausoleum (9-10th c.), Chashma Ayub(14th c.), Bolo-Hauz Mosque (beginning of the 20th c.), Coumpol bazaar, Medreseh Nodir-Divan-Beghi, and complex Lyabi. Night is in a hotel. 

Today you will have a trip out of the city for a visit to Bahouddin Nakshbandi mausoleum (16-19th c.), to the sepulchers of his mother and his preceptor (14th c.), for Muslims – Juma namaz praying at Bahouddin Nakshbandi Mosque. Continuation of tour will be followed by a mausoleum of Chor-Bakr (10th c.), and a visit to summer residence Sitorai-Mokhi-Hossa (19th c.). Shopping is at national bazaar in Bukhara, visiting gold market at open air. The afternoon time is free on your own to explore ancient city. We advise to taste natural green tea with national sweets at Dolon restaurant open terrace & have fashion / folklore show at Nadir Divan Begi medresse. Night is in a hotel.

In the morning we will start our drive towards Samarkand. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. In the 14th century it became the capital of the empire of Timur. In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures. On the way we will stop at Gijduvvan village and visit private pottery workshop. After it we will visit Imam Al Bukhary Memorial Complex at Chelak village. Upon arrival in Samarkand you will check in in a hotel and have free time for rest.

Samarkand is situated in the valley of the river Zerafshan. It is the second largest city of Uzbekistan and is of the same age as the city of Babylon or Rome. Today you will visit its most outstanding sights such as Registan square, Shakhi-Zindeh, Mausoleum Guri Emir and Bibi Khanum Mosque. 

Registan Square, a complex of three fascinating Madrasahs dating back to 15-17th centuries, is the main highlight of Samarkand that no person can stop admiring its beauty and majesty. Architectural complex of Shakhi-Zindeh represents a big collection of mausoleums dating back to 11th-15 centuries being a part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bibi Khanum Mosque was built in honor of favorite Tamerlane's wife, after his successful campaign in India. Overnight is at the hotel.

In the morning you can visit local bazaar for shopping. In the afternoon you will take the train to Tashkent.

Today you will visit Independence square which is the main square of the country, erected as a symbol of victory over fascism in World War II. Then visit Navoi Theater square, Barak-Khan Madrasah (16th c.), The Kaffal-Shashi mausoleum (15th c.), Kukeldash Madrasah (16th c.). The Djuma mosque (9th c.), Amir Temur square, Tashkent National Arts Centre, local "Broadway" - a walking street with artists, cheap souvenirs and eating places, city fountains and modern monuments. Transfer to Tashkent international airport.