Region guide
Silk Road & the Northwest Travel Guide 2026
Mogao caves, rainbow mountains, Uyghur Old City bazaars, and the western terminus of the ancient Silk Road.
Region guide
Mogao caves, rainbow mountains, Uyghur Old City bazaars, and the western terminus of the ancient Silk Road.
12 cities · Mogao caves, rainbow mountains, Uyghur Old City bazaars, and the western terminus of the ancient Silk Road.
China's 3,100-year-old imperial capital — the Terracotta Army, the best-preserved city wall in China, and the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, layered with th…
Silk Road oasis. The Mogao Caves with their vast Buddhist murals, the singing sand dunes of Mingsha, and the Crescent Moon Spring — one of China's most atmosphe…
The western end of the Ming Great Wall — Jiayuguan Fort stands where the wall meets the Gobi Desert and the Qilian Mountains, with the Overhanging Great Wall cl…
Home to the Rainbow Danxia landforms — UNESCO-listed striped mountains of red, yellow, green, and blue — plus China's largest reclining Buddha and a deep Silk R…
China's hottest place and the second-lowest depression on Earth — an oasis city of grape trellises, ancient Silk Road ruins, and the ingenious Karez irrigation …
Xinjiang's sprawling capital. The world's most inland major city, Heavenly Lake in the Tianshan Mountains, the Grand Bazaar, and Uyghur food culture unlike anyw…
Xinjiang's westernmost city, a Silk Road crossroads where Uyghur culture, Central Asian bazaar life, and the edge of the Taklamakan Desert collide. The Sunday B…
Gansu's provincial capital on the Yellow River. Beef noodles, the Flying Horse of Gansu, and Silk Road history at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.…
Qinghai's high-altitude capital. Kumbum Monastery, the vast Qinghai Lake, Hui Muslim markets, and a Tibetan-Han cultural crossroads at 2,275 meters.…
Gansu's Tibetan Buddhist heart — the golden-roofed Labrang Monastery, 3-kilometer prayer wheel corridors, and grasslands that stretch to the edge of the sky at …
A key base of China's mid-20th-century history from 1935 to 1948 — cave dwellings, Pagoda Hill, the Loess Plateau, and a formative chapter of modern China, set …
The ancient overland route from central China through the desert to Central Asia. Xi'an, Dunhuang's Mogao Caves, Turpan's Uyghur culture, and Kashgar's Sunday m…
April–May and September–October work for most of China. Silk Road & the Northwest has its own peak season — check the individual city guides for timing.
High-speed rail covers most major cities in Silk Road & the Northwest; smaller towns use regional trains or buses. Each city guide has transport links.
Mainland China uses one national visa policy. Hong Kong and Macau have separate entry rules, so check those city guides if they are included in Silk Road & the Northwest.
Huling na-update: