12-Day Xi’an Gansu Silk Road Tour: From Ancient Grottoes to Tibetan Heartlands

Arrive in Xi’an, the eastern end of the Silk Road and capital of thirteen dynasties. Your driver meets you in the arrivals hall at Xi’an Xianyang International Airport, about 47 km west of the city, helps with luggage and drives you to your hotel. Check in, then take an easy first evening: the walls and towers light up after dark and the night-market stalls begin to set up. We will confirm the exact meeting time after booking.

Morning on the Xi’an City Wall, the best-preserved ancient fortification in China, built under the first Ming emperor between 1370 and 1378 with a 13.7 km rampart ring. Walk or cycle the top, past the archery towers and gate houses. Then the Bell Tower (1384) and Drum Tower (1380) at the city’s crossing axis, and into the Muslim Quarter, where the lanes around Dapi Yuan fill with cumin lamb skewers, biangbiang noodles and hot roujiamo flatbread.

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 Paper-Cutting Experience

Explore Xi’an’s traditional paper-cutting art with a hands-on cultural experience. Learn about this delicate folk craft and create your own paper-cut artwork inspired by local heritage and Chinese traditions.

+$14.00

Advisor quoted

Xiaonanmen Morning Market Experience

Experience the authentic morning life of Xi’an at Xiaonanmen Morning Market, where locals gather for fresh produce, traditional snacks, and regional specialties. Stroll through the lively streets, taste local flavors, and discover the everyday culture of the city beyond its famous landmarks.

+$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

Dumpling Feast & Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show

Enjoy a traditional dumpling feast featuring a variety of handmade dumplings while watching a captivating Tang Dynasty music and dance performance. Experience Xi’an’s culinary heritage and the elegance of ancient Tang culture through delicious flavors, graceful dances, and traditional melodies.

+$76.00

Advisor quoted

Drive to Lintong to see the Terracotta Army, the clay guard of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, found by farmers digging a well in 1974 and a UNESCO site since 1987. Pit 1 holds the main infantry hall, Pit 2 the cavalry, archers and war-chariots, and Pit 3 the command pit. In the afternoon, return to the city for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, a 64.5 m brick tower raised in 652 AD to keep the sutras the monk Xuanzang carried back from India.

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

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

“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

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 Tang Dynasty Tumbler Performance

Meet the iconic Tang Dynasty Tumbler Lady at Datang Everbright City, where a performer in traditional Tang attire brings ancient Chang’an’s elegance to life. This interactive night experience offers a unique glimpse into Tang Dynasty culture and charm.

+$0.00

Advisor quoted

Take the morning high-speed train west from Xi'an to Baoji, a journey of roughly an hour and a half across the southern Wei River plain. Baoji lies in China's Bronze-Age heartland, and its name has long been read as a treasure store. Your first stop is the Baoji Bronze Ware Museum, whose purpose-built hall beside the river displays thousands of Western Zhou ritual vessels recovered from nearby tombs, from three-legged ding tripods to wine basins and horse fittings. After lunch, wander the China Stone Drum Garden (Shigu Yuan), terraced lawns and pavilions arranged around the ten granite drums carved with the earliest surviving verse written on stone in China; the originals are now in a Beijing museum and faithful casts stand here. A short transfer ends the day at your Baoji hotel, where your guide confirms tomorrow's train.

Ride the high-speed line west from Baoji to Tianshui, an easy morning hop through the river valleys that divide Shaanxi from Gansu. The day centres on Maijishan, one of China's four great grotto complexes: a haystack-shaped sandstone cliff honeycombed with more than 200 caves stacked eight storeys high and linked by suspended plank walkways that ring the open face. Its clay-and-stucco Buddhas were first carved and then repainted across many dynasties from the 4th century onward, and the site joined the UNESCO list in 2014. Below the cliff, visit the Fuxi Temple, dedicated to the mythical culture-hero credited with drawing the Eight Trigrams here, then walk the timber-fronted lanes of restored Tianshui Ancient City. Your guide sees you to the hotel for the night.

Board the high-speed train for the long run northwest along the Wei and Yellow river valleys to Lanzhou, capital of Gansu and the only provincial capital the Yellow River flows straight through. Your driver meets you at Lanzhou West Station and transfers you to your riverside hotel; spend the evening on the waterfront as the waterwheels turn and the bridge lights come on.

Drive upstream to Liujiaxia reservoir and take a private speedboat across the green water to Bingling Temple, the ‘Temple of a Hundred Thousand Buddhas’, where Cave 169 carries an inscription dated 420 AD, the earliest dated Buddhist cave in China. Some 183 grottoes and a 27 m seated Maitreya cling to the orange sandstone cliffs. Cruise back along the reservoir and the red Danxia banks of the upper Yellow River.

A relaxed day pacing Lanzhou's Yellow River scenic line, the broad riverside promenade the city is proudest of. Begin at the Zhongshan Bridge, a 1907 steel truss engineered by a German firm and still called the First Bridge over the Yellow River; walk its deck for a wide view back to the low rooftops of the old quarter. A short stroll along the water brings you to the Yellow River Mother statue, a 1986 granite sculpture by He Maonian of a reclining mother and child, now the informal meeting point for the city's walkers and winter swimmers. Continue to the Waterwheel Garden, where replica Ming-style timber wheels, a design brought to Lanzhou in the 1490s to lift river water to the fields, still turn against the current. Close the evening with tea or dinner facing the lit banks.

Climb onto the eastern Tibetan plateau today to Xiahe, in Gannan. The morning belongs to Labrang Monastery, founded in 1709 and one of the six great Gelugpa universities of Tibetan Buddhism, its white prayer halls and open debate courtyard ringed by the world's longest prayer-wheel corridor, some 3.5 km of more than 2,000 brass cylinders that pilgrims walk clockwise at dawn and dusk. In the afternoon, drive into the quiet Ganjia secret land. Cross the open Ganjia Secret Realm, dotted with black yak-hair tents and summer herds, and reach Bajiao Ancient City, a rare cross-shaped frontier fortress raised some two thousand years ago under the Han, its rammed-earth walls still tracing the eight points that give the town its name. Finish at the White Stone Cliff, a sheer pale face studded with small meditation caves. Return to your Xiahe guesthouse.

After a last look at the monastery and the grassland, transfer by private car back down from the plateau to Lanzhou, some 280 km across Gansu’s river valleys and loess hills. Arrive in the late afternoon and check in at your Lanzhou hotel, with the evening free for a bowl of hand-pulled beef lamian noodles by the river.

Take the high-speed train southeast from Lanzhou West Station back to Xi’an, about three hours along the route you began. Your driver meets the train and returns you to your Xi’an hotel; the afternoon and evening are free to revisit the Muslim Quarter or take an evening walk along the lit city wall for your final night.

After breakfast at your own pace, your private driver transfers you to Xi’an Xianyang International Airport, or to Xi’an North Railway Station if you are continuing by train, for your onward journey. We will confirm the drop-off time after booking according to your flight schedule.