Destination guide
Silk Road Tour Packages
The Silk Road in China runs 3,700 km from Xian to Kashgar, and the overland version is the one worth doing: four stops, a mix of high-speed rail and flights, and ten days at the minimum. It is also the most rewarding place in the country to be a traveller rather than a tourist.
The four stops, and what each is for
- Xian: the eastern terminus, the Tang capital, and the Terracotta Army. Two days, and it is where the route starts properly.
- Dunhuang: the Mogao Caves, 735 rock-cut chambers with 45,000 square metres of murals, plus the Crescent Lake dunes and the Yardang landforms an hour out of town. Two nights minimum.
- Turpan: the lowest land in China, 154 m below sea level at Ayding Lake, with the Karez irrigation tunnels, the ruined cities of Gaochang and Jiaohe, and grapes drying in every courtyard. Two nights.
- Kashgar: the western end, an oasis town with a Sunday livestock market, the 15th-century Id Kah mosque and lanes that have been trading for two thousand years. Three nights, including a day out to the Karakoram Highway.
Where to start and end
Most travellers fly into Xian and out of Kashgar, which follows the route west and avoids doubling back. The reverse works too, and puts the biggest landscapes first. What does not work is starting in Urumqi and trying to reach Xian in a week: the distances are the trip, not the gaps between the sights.
How you actually move
| Leg | Best option | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Xian to Lanzhou | High-speed rail | 3 h |
| Lanzhou to Dunhuang | Flight, or sleeper train | 1.5 h by air, 12 h by rail |
| Dunhuang to Turpan | Train via Liuyuan South, or fly | 6-8 h, or 2 h by air via Urumqi |
| Turpan to Urumqi | High-speed rail | 1 h |
| Urumqi to Kashgar | Flight | 2 h (20 h by rail) |
Dunhuang is the weak link: it has no high-speed station, and the nearest is Liuyuan South, 130 km away. Most itineraries fly in and out, which is why the route is rarely done entirely by rail.
What the desert legs feel like
Between Dunhuang and Turpan the road runs through Gobi with no village for hours, and the heat shimmer starts before nine in the morning. The train is the better choice for this leg: a sleeper berth, a dining car, and a landscape that shifts from gravel to salt flat to melon fields by morning. Carry water for the platform stops.
When to go
May to June and September to October are the windows: warm days, cold nights, clear light and no dust. July and August push Turpan past 40 degrees and fill Dunhuang with domestic holiday traffic; the caves still work, the dunes at noon do not. November to March is cold, quiet and cheap, and some desert sites shorten their hours or close.
Food along the way
Lanzhou for beef noodles pulled in front of you; Dunhuang for apricots and lamb skewers; Turpan for grapes and naan baked against the wall of a clay oven; Kashgar for pilaf, hand-pulled noodles and melon sold by the slice on the street. The food in Xinjiang is the best in China, and the portions assume you have been walking all day.
What trips people up
- Mogao Caves sell timed tickets with a daily cap. Book weeks ahead in summer, and expect a guide-led group of twenty inside each cave.
- Xinjiang keeps Beijing time but lives two hours later. A 09:00 breakfast is normal; a 09:00 meeting is not.
- Kashgar city needs only your passport. Tashkurgan and the Karakoram Highway need a border permit, arranged in Kashgar the day before.
- Station security checks are thorough and slow. Allow an hour more than the timetable suggests.
- Photography inside the caves is banned outright, and phones are checked at the entrance.
We run the Silk Road as a ten- to fourteen-day route with drivers on the desert legs and flights where the rail does not reach. Tell us your month and whether Kashgar is the end or the beginning.
Questions travellers ask
How many days do you need on the Silk Road?
Ten days for Xian, Dunhuang, Turpan and Kashgar without rushing, and fourteen to do it comfortably or to add Zhangye and Jiayuguan. The distances are the constraint, not the sights: Xian to Kashgar is 3,700 km.
Is there high-speed rail along the Silk Road?
On the main line, yes: Xian to Lanzhou in three hours, Lanzhou to Turpan in about eight, Turpan to Urumqi in one. Dunhuang is the exception, with no high-speed station; the nearest is Liuyuan South, 130 km away, so most travellers fly in.
When is the best time for a Silk Road trip?
May to June and September to October: warm days, cold nights, clear light. July and August push Turpan above 40 degrees and fill Dunhuang with domestic tourists. November to March is cold and some desert sites close or shorten their hours.
Do I need a permit for Kashgar?
Kashgar city needs nothing beyond your passport and Chinese visa. Tashkurgan and the Karakoram Highway do need a border permit, arranged locally in Kashgar with your passport, usually the day before. Allow time for it in the itinerary.