5 Days in Dunhuang

The full ticket books 8 guided caves from a complex started in 366 AD that holds 735 grottoes; see the digital centre's two films first, then eat your way through Shazhou night market.

1. dunhuang mogao grottoes
2. dunhuang shazhou night market

Late-afternoon entry to Mingsha — dunes top 100 metres and one ticket allows re-entry within 3 days; on the way back stop at the White Horse Pagoda, tied to a monk's horse of the 4th century.

1. dunhuang mingsha crescent spring
2. dunhuang baima pagoda

About 300 kilometres all told: the Han pass of around 121-111 BC, a 2,100-year-old reed-layered wall section, then sunset among the Yadan yardangs some 180 kilometres out.

1. dunhuang yumen pass
2. dunhuang han great wall
3. dunhuang yadan geopark

Yangguan lies about 70 kilometres southwest, its beacon tower paired with a small site museum; the Western Thousand-Buddha Caves, roughly 35 kilometres west, take small groups only, so book the timed slot.

1. dunhuang yangguan pass
2. dunhuang xiqian caves
3. dunhuang leiyin temple

A slow morning at the city museum — its Library Cave replica recalls the 1900 discovery of 50,000-plus manuscripts — then final market bites before the train or flight out.

1. dunhuang museum
2. dunhuang shazhou night market