Summary: You will take the adventure tour along the main route of ancient silk road from Lanzhou , Yongjing , Zhangye , Jiayuguan to Dunhuang .You may not only learn 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 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 capital city which the yellow river runs through. Beef noodles can be the special local flavor in Lanzhou where it was originally found in Qing dynasty.

Accommodation:In Yongjing

After breakfast drive to visit the Binglingsi grottos in Yongjing. (After arrival at the harbour，you will take speed boat to reach to Binglingsi grottos). These grottos were built during the Western Qin，North Wei， Sui， Tang ，Song， Yuan， Ming， Qing dynasties (from 3 to  18 century AD)，which last for 200 meters long along the cliff. After this drive back to Lanzhouxi fast train station to Zhangye by fast train.

Accommodation: In Zhangye

After breakfast go to visit 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. Then drive back to Zhangye city to visit the Giant Buddha temple  in the Zhangye 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 sculpture in China ， which was built in West Xia dynasty about 11 century AD. It is 34.5 meters 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. After this visit Ganzhou museum  in the city.

Accomodation: In Zhangye

After breakfast we will go to visit the Pingshanhu Canyon Scenic Area . The composition of this lanform is red bed landform，which came into being108 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 your body energy. The first is easy to walk along the visiting path to enjoy the whole view from top of the canyon. The second will be more 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 canyon go to visit the famous  Zhangye Danxia World Geopark . It is an amazing place for people who like traveling 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 the special yurt hotel near Danxia park

After breakfast we will start from Binggou Danxia landform Park . This area was rated as the "number 1 of window lattice palatial danxia landform in China". The scenic area is widely distributed with the danxia cliff， stone walls， stone columns，peaks， hills and other landform forms. The peak is steep and straight ， continuous with magnificent momentum.This area is famous for particular natural statues besides nice colors. Even you can find the epitomes of Louvre，palaces，Buddha shrines and camels， etc. After this drive 3 hours to Jiayuguan city to visit the Wei and Jin tomb. It was built during the Wei and Jin dynasty (220AD-419AD)，which was reputated as the largest underground mural gallery because of many colourful brick paintings painted 1700 years ago.

Accommodation: In Jiayuguan

In the morning go to visit the Jiayuguan fort . It is the west end of great wall in Ming dynasty<1368-1644AD>.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 inthe 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 at that time. In 2014 it was included into the world cultural heritage by UNESCO. After the fort visit the Great Wall Museum  to know more history about great wall and silk road. Then go to visit Overhanging Great Wall  on the cliff. It was built in the middle of 16 century 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 onetower to the other，please consider if are able to walk and climb about 1.5hrs). After this go to visit the first beacon tower of the great wall .

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 Grottos . 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 Buddhas 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 WesternXia (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 explorethe west line of Dunhuang through the Gobi desert. The first site we will visit is 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 (202BC-220AD). 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 Han great wall in Han dynasty，which had special constructure and was kept for2000 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. On the way back we go to visit the Movie City . It was built in 1987 in order to make movie Dunhuang. The movie city was imitated from the style of dunhuang in Song dynasty around 11 centyury. 

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 (around 50 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 ). It will take around 3.5-4 hours to visit including movie.
In the evening enjoy the walking tour to the Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market by your own， 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 transfer you to dunhuang airport to catch the plane back your sweet home.