Summary:  You will take the adventure tour along the main route of ancient silk road from Lanzhou , Xiahe , Jingtai , Wuwei , Zhangye , Jiayuguan , Dunhuang , Turpan  to  Urumuqi . You may not only learning about the treasure of the silk road culture and Buddhism art but also enjoy the wonderful natural scenery in the northwest of China. You have chance to experience the camel ride in the desert like ancient caravans.

Day1  Lanzhou 

The guide and driver will meet you at Lanzhou airport upon arrival. Then transfer you to Lanzhou city for checking in.(According to your arrival time ， we would like to show you around the scenery along the bank of yellow river in Lanzhou if timing is ok.)

Lanzhou city is an important transportation hub along the silk road. Now it is capital city of Gansu province with a population of 3.3 million. Lanzhou is also the only city which the yellow river runs through. Beef noodle can be the special local flavor in Lanzhou where it was originally found in Qing dynasty.

Accommodation: In Lanzhou

After breakfast drive to visit the Binglingsi grottos in the south of Lanzhou. (After arrival at Yongjing city， you will take speed boat to reach to Binglingsi grottos). These grottos were built during the Western Qin， North Wei， Sui， Tang， and Song， Yuan， Ming， Qing dynasties (from 3 to  18 century AD)，which stretch for 200 meters long along the cliff. After this drive to Xiahe to visit the Sangke grassland ，where you will see the Tibetan nomads left on the grasslands， and graze their yak herds.

Accommodation: In Xiahe

After breakfast start to visit the Labrang  monastery ，one of the six most famous monasteriesof Tibetan Buddhism .The monastery is reputed for its rich Tibetan culture，imposing Buddhist structures，special Tibetan food and the longest corridor of prayer wheels around the monastery. It is a holy place where Buddhism followers learn the essence of Buddhism and retains the best Tibetan Buddhist teaching system in the country， which is well known as the "World Library of Tibet" in the world. In the heyday， the number of monks reachedover 4，000 people. In the afternoon  drive back to Lanzhou.

Accommodation: In Lanzhou

After breakfast we start from Lanzhou to Jingtai for visiting the yellow river stone forest national geopark . You will enjoy the masterpiece of nature. It covers an area of 50 square km， which was rated as 4A scenic area. The stone forest came into being 4 million years ago. As a result of crustal movement， weathering， rain erosion and other geological processes， a variety of shapes of stone forest landform wonders were created. You will experience to take the sheepskin raft across the yellow river， sit on the donkey carts through the grand canyon and take mini kart to the top of stone forest to watch the whole view. In the late afternoon ， drive back to Baiyin to check in.

Accommodation: In Baiyin

In the morning after breakfastin the hotel we will drive 4 hours from Baiyin to Wuwei. On the way you will see the beautiful scenery of Qilian snow mountain in the bus. Upon arrival at Wuwei city will be lunch time. In the afternoon we will show you around the Leitai tomb . The tomb was built in eatern Han dynasty(25AD-220AD)， and discovered by local in 1969. Around 231 pieces of relics were found in the tomb， which were made of gold，silver，bronze，iron， jade，bone，stone and pottery. Especially the bronze statue of a galloping horse stepping on a bird， which was national grade A relic and rated as the symbol of China’s tourism in 1983 .Now the statue was preserved in Gansu provincial museum. After the tomb we will visit the museum of Leitai tomb. In the late afternoon check in the hotel.

Accommodation : In Wuwei

After breakfast we will start from Wuwei for Zhangye. On the way you will enjoy the scenery of Qilian snow mountain，and especially you will see the great wall of Ming dynasty (1368-1644AD) very closely from bus window， which was compared as a giant dragon by local. After arriving at Zhangye city，we will show you around the Giant Buddha temple in the city， which was an important place of the ancient Silk Road. It is in the city proper of Zhangye city and it was a famous imperial temple in the history.When you get there， you will see the biggest indoor reclining Buddha sculpturein China ，which was bulit in west Xia dynasty about 11 century AD. It is 34.5meters long and 7.5 meters wide between two shoulders. Its ear is 4 meters long， and its feet are 5.2 meters long. Behind the reclining Buddha palace there are hidden Buddhism sutra pavilion and a clay pagoda. The tour today will end up to visit the famous Zhangye Danxia World Geopark . It is an amazing place for people who liketraveling and photographing， which is the most typical arid area of northwest of China. Ribbons of reds， oranges and yellows slice through the rock， to create a rainbow vista contained only by the contours of the jagged mountain peaks， so local people prefer to call it "Rainbow Mountain". It is national AAAA tourist attraction. In 2011 it was rated as one of ‘10 amazing geographical wonders of the world' by national geographical magazine of U. S. In 2015 it was selected by many well-known websites as one of 25 dreaming travel destinations all over the world.

Accommodation: In Zhangye

After breakfast we will go to visit the Pingshanhu Grand Canyon . The composition of this lanform is red bed landform， which came into being 108 million to 240 million years ago.The canyon is characterized by different gullies. The hills look low and gentle. The tonal is mainly with red white and ochre red .The color of the hills shows a bit drab. Most of them are conical or columnar in shape. It is a good place to take photo and hike at the bottom of the canyon.We have two options here which depends on your interest and body quality. The first is easy to walk along the visiting path to enjoy the whole view from top of the canyon. The second will be a little challenging， which is going down to the bottom of the valley to do 2 hours hiking to enjoy different scenery besides the first choice. After the Pingshanhu area we will drive to south of Zhangye city to visit the Mati temple . It was built in Jin Dynasty<265--420AD>，which is a nice place to enjoy the scenery of Qilian snow mountain closely， explore the culture of Han and Tibetan Buddhism both and closely feel the custom of Yugu minority which only live in Zhangye. One horse hoofprint is left in Cave 9， which is said to be left by a heavenly horse. As a result， the temple was named from the horsehoof print left by the legendary heavenly horse， which is called Mati temple by local.

Accommodation: In Zhangye

In the morning drive 3 hours to arrive at Jiayuguan city to visit the Jiayuguan fort . It is the west end of great wall in Ming dynasty<1368-1644 AD>. It will take you to enjoy the majesty of the fort and appreciate the wisdom of the ancients. Jia Yu means beautiful valley because it was built in the valley between two mountains . The Jiayuguan was pretty well preserved， so it got a nice reputation as the Heavenly Pass. The Jiayuguan fort can be the westmost customs in Ming dynasty ， where the passport should be checked and tax would be collected. In 2014 it was included into the world cultural heritage by UNESCO. After the fort visit the Overhanging Great Wall  on the Cliff. It was built in the middle of 16century and got the reputation as the western badaling great wall of China. It is in the north of the Jia Yu Guan Fort 7.5 km， which was built along the ridge of the north mountain. It is one important part of Ming great wall. Because this part of wall looks like climbing the mountain， it was named overhanging great wall. It was used to block the big gap in the mountain， which avoids the enemies smuggling. (There are many steps from one tower to the other，please consider if are able to walk and climb about 1.5hrs).

Accommodation: In Jiayuguan

After breakfast  we will drive about 4.5 hours to Dunhuang. On the way， you will see the historical and cultural site Yulin Grottoes . Yulin grottos are called sister grottos of Mogao grottos  in dunhuang. The name Yulin means elm forest in Chinese， which came from many elms growing in the valley. The Grottos are chiseled into the cliff on the both sides of the Yulin River. There are 30 grottos in the east cliff and 11 in the west ， which extend a distance of more than 100 meters between them. It used to be called Ten-Thousand Buddha Gorge. The grottos began to be chiseled and sculpted during the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534AD)， and was enlarged in the later dynasties， such as Tang(618-907AD)， Five Dynasties (907-960AD)， Song (960-1279AD)， the Western Xia(1038-1227AD)， Yuan (1271-1368AD) and so on. More than 1，000 square meters of frescos and more than 100 colourful sculptures are still existing there.

Accommodation: In Dunhuang

Today we will spend a whole day to explore the west line of Dunhuang through the Gobi desert. The first site we will visit is the Yumen Pass (Jade gate pass). Yu means Jade， Men means gate . It got the name because of the famous Khotan jade being introduced to Dunhuang through the gate. Yumen pass used to be the north customs of the silk road in Han dynasty (202 BC-220 AD). From here you can not only learn more history and culture about the ancient Silk Road， but also enjoy the special scenery in the vast Gobi desert. After the gate， take shuttle bus to visit the ruins of great wall in Han dynasty ，which had special constructure and was kept for 2000 years .Then we will keep driving 1 hour to the magnificent Yadan National Geopark . It is called "Ghost City" by locals. This area extends 25 km from east to west and about 22 km from south to north. It features the unique and wonderful scenes and landscapes in the Gobi desert， which can be the largest area of Yan Dan landform in China.
Accommodation: In Dunhuang

In the morning we will start our tour from the  Echoing Sand Dune & Crescent Lake . Throughout the ages it is famous for the wonderful scenery of “coexistence of mountain and spring and symbiosis of sand and water"，which is known as "one of the most unique scenery along the ancient silk road”. Local people would like to compare them as a deep lovely couple. When many people slide down from the sand dune，the special sound will be made just like echoing. In 2015 the Echoing sand dune and crescent lake were approved as national 5A tourism attraction. You have chance to take a camel ride (around50 minutes) by your own like ancient caravan. (Do not forget to bring your sunglasses to prevent strong sunray and mask to keep out the dust)

After lunch we will go for the  Mogao Grottos，also well known as the Thousand Buddha Grottos in local. It was listed as World Heritage site by UNESCO. It 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. You have chance to enjoy the Silk Road movies in the tourists center about 50 minutes before our exploration into the Grottos.The professional docent  from the Mogao grottos will show you around 8 grottos with their special flashlight， ensuring you have clear view of the murals and paintings. （Note: No photos and Videos in the caves and in the cinemas of tourists centre). I twill take around 3.5-4 hours to visit including movie.
In the evening enjoy the walking tour to the  Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market， the most bustling place of Dunhuang at night. It's easy to enjoy your leisure time to wonder the market and taste local flavor as well.

Accommodation: In Dunhuang

This morning we will visit  dunhuang museum . Then drive to the Liuyuannan fast train station to catch the fast train to Turpan in Xinjiang.

Accomodation: In Turpan

In the morning， your guide and driver will pick you up from the hotel， take you to visit the Jiaohe ruins  with a history of 2，300 years lies between two rivers on a loess plateau atop a cliff of over 30m， which can be the highlights of your Turpan tour. It is one of the best preserved ruins of its ancient era in China， it was included in the World Heritage List on June 22， 2014. After this we are going to the Karez well ， a special irrigation system in desert areas， which is still used today， is a unique irrigation system in Turpan. It takes advantage of the slopes， draws the underground water to flow by itself to irrigate farmland. It consists of four parts: vertical wells， underground channels，ground canals， and small reservoirs. Then continue to our next stop Emin Minaret ， the largest Islamic minaret in China built in 1778. In the afternoon， we will drive about 2.5 hrs to Urumqi which is the capital city of Xinjiang Province.
Accommodation: In Urumuqi

After Breakfast， our nice guide meet you at the hotel and then drive to Fukang city to visit the Heavenly Lake ， a picturesque Alpine lake， 2000m up inthe Tianshan mountain range. Heavenly Lake is a long and narrow gourd-shaped moraine lake， 3400 meters long， about 1500 meters wide， 105 meters at the deepest point， with an average depth of 40 meters， covering an area of about 5.9 square kilometers. There are eight beautiful scenic spots in the lake scenic area. Afternoon， back to Urumqi， you will have a chance to visit the Urumuqi International Bazaar， the largest bazaar in Urumqi. You'll find a bustling market filled with fruit， clothing， crafts， knives， carpets and almost anythingthat you can imagine.

Accommodation: In Urumuqi