15-Day Silk Road Xi’an Dunhuang Tour: Unveiling the Secrets of the Hexi Corridor

Your driver will meet you at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport or your hotel, holding a "Your Way Holiday" sign for easy identification. After assisting with your luggage and hotel check-in, the rest of the afternoon is free for you to relax and recover from your flight. You may wish to try a bowl of hand-pulled biangbiang noodles or visit a quiet teahouse within the ancient city walls. We will confirm the exact meeting time and pickup details after booking.

You drive to Lintong, about 40 kilometres east of the city, for the Terracotta Warriors, where more than 8,000 clay soldiers went in with the first emperor Qin Shi Huang around 210 BC and farmers struck them again in 1974. Your guide walks Pit 1's infantry ranks, Pit 2's mixed cavalry and archers, and Pit 3's small command chamber, showing how every face, rank, and piece of armour differs. In the afternoon comes Huaqing Palace, the hot-spring complex tied to Emperor Xuanzong and the consort Yang Guifei of the Tang dynasty, set below Mount Li.

Optional Excursions

Create Your Own Terracotta Warrior: DIY Workshop

Create your own Terracotta Warrior in this fun 30-minute hands-on workshop inspired by the Qin Dynasty’s ancient craftsmanship. Perfect for all ages, this activity offers a unique cultural experience and memorable souvenir.

+$15.00

Advisor quoted

“The Code of the Empire – Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum” XR Experience

Step into the Qin Dynasty with an XR experience recreating the Terracotta Warriors and Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Interactive technology walks you through the ancient army and the story of China's first emperor.

+$30.00

Advisor quoted

Qin Terracotta Warriors Village Visit

Step beyond the museum to explore a local village near the Terracotta Warriors, where you can discover traditional village life, local craftsmanship, and the living culture surrounding this world-famous archaeological site.

+$5.00

Advisor quoted

You climb the Ancient City Wall, the best-preserved Ming fortification in China, built 1370-1378, standing 12 metres high and running 14 kilometres around the old city, and walk or cycle a stretch of the crenellated top. Below, the timber Bell Tower (1384) and Drum Tower (1390) once marked the hours of the capital by bell and drum. Your guide then leads you into the Muslim Quarter and the Great Mosque, founded in 742, where lamb skewers, persimmon cakes, and roujiamo flat-bread burgers sit among courtyards that mix Arabic and Chinese roof lines.

Optional Excursions

Xi'an City Wall Bike Ride

If you find yourself with some extra time, a bike ride along the Ancient City Wall is an exhilarating way to enhance your Xi'an experience. This activity allows you to pedal around one of the best-preserved city walls in China, offering a unique and active exploration of its expansive ramparts.

+$7.00

Advisor quoted

Xi’an Muslim Quarter Culinary Experience

Work through the flavors of Xi'an's Muslim Quarter, from sizzling street food and handmade noodles to traditional sweets. Sample the local favorites at your own expense.

+$10.00

Advisor quoted

Xicang Bird Market & Antique Treasure Hunting Experience

Explore one of Xi’an’s most traditional local markets at Xicang Bird Market, which opens every Thursday and Sunday. Browse antique collections, curios, handicrafts, and unique local finds while wandering through lively stalls and chatting with local collectors. This market offers a glimpse into Xi’an’s everyday culture, folk traditions, and a more authentic side of local life.

+$0.00

Advisor quoted

Local Family Visit and Dumpling Making Experience

For an authentic taste of Xi'an’s culinary traditions, visit a local family and learn the art of making dumplings from scratch. From kneading the dough to preparing the perfect filling and wrapping each dumpling, you’ll be guided through every step of the process.

+$24.00

Advisor quoted

Morning brings the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built in 652 to hold the sutras the monk Xuanzang carried back from India, its brick tiers rising 64 metres over the temple grounds; your guide explains the Tang dynasty's Buddhist links along the Silk Road you are about to follow. Nearby, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda at Jianfu Temple is a quieter octagonal tower from 707, its bell still rung at dawn. After dark you walk Datang Everbright City, a lantern-lit Tang-style avenue beside the music fountain square, laid out to revive the great Qingming-market mood of the old capital.

Optional Excursions

Big Wild Goose Pagoda North Square Music Fountain Show

Watch one of Asia's largest matrix music fountain shows at night, set against the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The water jets move in step with Tang-style music, colored lights and laser effects, changing shape across the square.

+$0.00

Advisor quoted

The Longest Day in Chang'an Theme Block

Walk a full-scale recreation of Tang Dynasty Chang'an, based on The Longest Day in Chang'an. Lantern-lit streets, Tang performances, costumed characters you can talk to and traditional snacks; you can rent Hanfu to move through it.

+$11.00

Advisor quoted

Hanfu Photography

Dress in traditional Hanfu, add classic accessories, and have your photo taken in a historic setting - a hands-on way into old Chinese style. (Cost is calculated by the actual number of participants.)

+$62.00

Advisor quoted

You make an early start for Mount Hua, about 120 kilometres east and one of China's five sacred Daoist peaks, its south summit rising to 2,154 metres. Your guide rides the cable car with you and walks the ridge paths and the cliff-side plank ways, pointing out the pale granite faces, the pine-clasped crevices, and the small Daoist temples perched on the summits. There is time for a photograph at the famous Hawk Claiming perch before the round trip returns you to Xi'an by evening, ready for the rail journey west tomorrow.

Optional Excursions

North Up & West Down – Traditional Peak Exploration Route

Take the North Peak Cable Car up and hike through the mountain ridges to explore North Peak, East Peak, South Peak (Highest Summit), Middle Peak, and West Peak, then descend by West Peak Cable Car. This route provides a full Mt. Hua experience with changing landscapes along the way and is suitable for travelers with good stamina.

+$43.00

Advisor quoted

West Peak Round Trip – Short & Scenic Option

Take the West Peak Cable Car round trip for a more relaxed Mt. Hua experience. This option focuses on the most spectacular areas around West Peak and South Peak with less walking required, making it ideal for travelers who prefer comfort, shorter hiking time, or limited physical activity.

+$55.00

Advisor quoted

North Peak Round Trip – Basic Mountain Experience

The North Peak Cable Car round trip offers an easier and more economical way to experience Mt. Hua. While it provides beautiful mountain views, it does not cover the main peaks such as West Peak, South Peak, and East Peak unless additional hiking is undertaken. It is suitable for travelers seeking a shorter visit with light activity.

+$29.00

Advisor quoted

West Up & North Down – Complete Scenic Route

Ascend Mt. Hua via the West Peak Cable Car and explore the iconic peaks including West Peak, South Peak (Highest Summit), East Peak, and Middle Peak before descending from North Peak. This route covers all major highlights without backtracking and offers the most complete mountain experience. Due to longer walking distances and steep sections, good physical fitness is required.

+$43.00

Advisor quoted

Daqian Illusion XR Experience

Step into Daqian Illusion, an XR space where you choose one of six themed experiences (about 20 minutes, depending on the theme). Digital scenes, interactive technology and storytelling carry you through each one.

+$22.00

Advisor quoted

Mount Hua Sky Plank Trail XR Exploration Experience

Walk the virtual version of Mount Hua's Sky Plank Trail through an XR setup. The route's exposed plank path and drop-offs are recreated on screen, so you get the sense of the famous climb without the physical climb.

+$35.00

Advisor quoted

Your private driver will transfer you to Xi'an North Railway Station for your high-speed train to Lanzhou, a smooth three-hour journey that climbs out of the Wei River valley and onto the Loess Plateau. Upon arrival, your local Gansu guide will meet you at the station and accompany you to your hotel. Lanzhou, the only provincial capital through which the Yellow River flows, has long been a Silk Road crossroads where Han and Tibetan traders met. In the evening, explore the riverfront and discover the city's signature beef-noodle culture, best experienced fresh at dawn.

You start at the Gansu Provincial Museum, founded in 1956, where your guide unpacks the region's Silk Road finds, from Majiayao painted pottery to the Eastern Han Bronze Galloping Horse, the nimble mare that has become China's tourism emblem. Cross the Zhongshan Bridge, a steel truss built in 1907 as the first bridge ever thrown over the Yellow River. Then climb Baita Mountain, the White Pagoda hill named for a Tibetan-style stupa raised in 1750, which gives a wide view down the river valley and the city behind you.

You board the high-speed rail west from Lanzhou to Zhangye, around three hours across the Hexi Corridor, the narrow green strip that funnelled Silk Road caravans, armies, and pilgrims between the Gobi desert and the snowline of the Qilian mountains. Your guide meets you at the station and helps you settle in, and the afternoon is left free - perhaps a walk along the Black River or a taste of Zhangye's yellow-noodle wrappers. Rest early before tomorrow evening's colour at the Danxia cliffs.

Today is relaxed, building to an evening at the Zhangye Danxia Landform, a national geopark where bands of red, orange, and gold sandstone have been folded and tilted over 24 million years into striped, wave-like hills. Your guide times the visit for sunset, when the low light sets the ridges glowing, and drives you between the main viewing platforms, each named for its colour - the Rainbow Ridge, the Seven-Colour Screen, and the great single-red Peak of Colour. The linked geopark walks the lower peaks on boardwalk paths that suit most fitness levels.

A short rail hop carries you to Jiayuguan, the western gate of the Ming Great Wall, where the rammed earthen fortification finally meets the desert. Your guide walks you through the Jiayuguan Pass, its double-walled courtyard, beacon towers, and the watchtower long called the First Pass Under Heaven, beyond which imperial China ended and the steppe began. Nearby, the Wei-Jin Mural Tombs preserve more than a thousand painted brick scenes of daily life - farming, feasting, and trading - from some 1,600 years ago, sealed underground for centuries.

You ride the high-speed train to Dunhuang, the oasis town where the ancient Silk Road split into northern and southern routes around the edge of the Taklamakan desert, once called the sea of dead things. Your guide sees you settled at the hotel and keeps the day deliberately light, to rest before the caves ahead. If you feel lively, your guide can suggest a quiet walk along the Danghe river, the Dunhuang night market for cumin lamb skewers, or an early bed; the desert sun sets late but burns hard by day.

An early start brings you to the Mogao Grottoes, a network of more than 450 carved caves on a desert cliff, filled with Buddhist painting and sculpture made between the 4th and 14th centuries and UNESCO-listed since 1987. Because the fragile murals limit numbers per session, your guide books timed entry and walks you through the numbered open caves and the famous Library Cave, sealed around 1000 AD and later found to hold some 50,000 manuscripts. The afternoon continues at the Dunhuang Museum, which keeps those scrolls, Silk Road coins, and trading-town artefacts under glass.

Your guide takes you to Mingsha Mountain, the Singing Sands dunes that rise more than 100 metres beside the oasis and are said to hum when the wind drops, and the Crescent Moon Spring, a clear crescent-shaped lake ringed by reeds, willows, and pavilions that desert winds have never buried. In the late afternoon you join an optional camel ride along a dune line, the old caravan rhythm, and watch the light turn the sand from gold to rose at sunset. The climb down to the spring passes a wall of travellers' padlocks, one of the classic sights of the road.

Your guide drives you to Dunhuang airport for your flight back to Xi'an, closing the westward loop of the Silk Road in about two hours in the air, a distance that took medieval caravans many months. On arrival your Xi'an guide meets you and sees you to your hotel near the old wall, leaving the evening free for a last walk. Your guide can point you back to the Muslim Quarter for a final bowl of noodles or a quiet drink overlooking the lit Bell Tower before your departure tomorrow.

On your final morning your guide helps you check out and drives you to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport for your onward flight. If your departure is later, we can hold time for a last look at the city wall or a museum stop; tell your guide and we will adjust the drop-off to fit your flight, and you will leave with the full breadth of the Silk Road behind you.