5-Day Dunhuang Scenery and Culture In-depth Tour

Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Welcome to Dunhuang, the brightest star in the Gobi desert. Your tour guide will welcome you in the airport/train station, and then escort you to your hotel. The rest of today is for you to explore this exotic city by yourself. Free time idea: Shazhou Night Market is the most bustling place in the city where you can stroll leisurely to experience local living, hunt for delicious food, relax in a drinking bar, or buy some interesting handcrafts, etc.

Attractions: Mogao Grottoes, Crescent Spring and Singing Sand Dune
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Today, enjoy a cultural tour begin with the visit to Mogao Grottoes— one of three noted grottoes in China for its fabulous frescos and statues. The site is considered the great treasure house of Buddhist arts in existence.

Then, continue your trip to Crescent Spring and Singing Sand Dune. Singing Sand Dune (Mingsha Hill)  is piled up with sand in five colors of red, yellow, green, black and white. The so-called singing sand does not sing by itself, but creates singing sound when people tread or slide on the surface of the sand, which is a kind of miracle of the nature. Crescent Spring is at the northern foot of the Mingsha Hill and is 118 meters from east to west and 25 meters from south to north. The water is fove meters deep. The crescent-like lake is surrounded by the sand but never buried by it. The water in the lake is very clear all year around.

Attractions: Yardang National Geologic Park, Yumen Pass, Great Wall of Han Dynasty
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Today, you have a chance to see the most beautiful masterpiece of nature- the Yardangs. Yardang National Geologic Park is the biggest Yardangs-landform group in the world. Yadan Landforms were superlatively marvelous with different size of areas, and varied forms of topography. You will find varied land structures here like animals, personal images, pagodas, temples, buses and boats.

Then you will visit the Yumenguan Pass and the Great Wall of Han Dynasty (about 2000 years ago). Yumenguan Pass was a strategic pass on the ancient Silk Road. Yumen in Chinese means the jade of Gate. It was so named because the jade of Hotan in what is now Xinjiang region was transported to central China through this pass.

Attractions: Yulin Grottoes, Suoyangcheng Ruins
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Overnight in Dunhuang

Today you are going to visit Yulin Caves which is about 2.5 hrs’ driving from Dunhuang city. It is a relatively long driving from Dunhuang, but you will find it worthwhile after visiting Yulin Grottoes.

The Yulin Caves is known as the “sister caves” of Mogao caves. It is a Buddhist cave temple site located about 160 km east of the oasis town of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves, and was listed as the UNESCO World Heritage sites as part of the Chinese Section of the Silk Road. There are 43 existing caves in the Yulin Caves, with a total of 5,200 square meters of murals and more than 259 colored sculptures. You can visit up to 6 caves in which you can admire magnificent mural paintings which is believed to be even more beautiful than those in Mogao Caves. There are also 3 special caves (No. 2, No. 3 and No. 25) with outstanding art value that you can visit with extra charges.

After Yulin Caves visit, drive about 30 minutes to Suoyangcheng which used to be a very important city on the Silk Road. It was first established in 111 BC, prospered during the Tang and Western Xia dynasties, and destroyed and abandoned in the 16th century. Today you can still see the remained ruins of the inner city, the outer city, several Yangmacheng (fortified animal enclosures used as fortresses in wartime), Ta’er Temple, ancient irrigation systems, caves, etc.

After sightseeing, drive back to Dunhuang city.

Attractions: No
Meal: Not Included
Hotel: Not Included

Today is free for you until you tour guide see you off at the airport/train station.