7 Days in Dunhuang

Start with the digital centre's two films, then the 8 guided caves of the full ticket; the complex begun in 366 AD now counts 735 grottoes, and the Library Cave of 1900 held 50,000-plus manuscripts.

1. dunhuang mogao grottoes

Go late afternoon — dunes over 100 metres, camel trains on the ridge line, and re-entry within 3 days on one ticket; the night market's apricot-pi shui and lamb skewers close the day.

1. dunhuang mingsha crescent spring
2. dunhuang shazhou night market

A 300-kilometre loop built around the Han pass of around 121-111 BC, a 2,100-year-old reed-layered wall, and sunset among the yardangs 180 kilometres northwest.

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

Yangguan sits about 70 kilometres southwest, its beacon tower over a wide desert view; the Western Thousand-Buddha Caves 35 kilometres west admit only small timed groups.

1. dunhuang yangguan pass
2. dunhuang xiqian caves

An honest neighbouring-county day in Guazhou, about 160 kilometres east: the Yulin Caves' 43 niches carry Tang-to-Yuan murals, and Suoyang City preserves a Tang-era garrison town of some 1,300 years.

1. dunhuang yulin caves
2. dunhuang suoyangcheng

About 100 kilometres south, the abandoned Aksay county seat at Boluozhuanjing now serves as a film set of rusting ruins; return for a slow walk along the Danghe riverfront.

1. dunhuang boluozhuanjing film base

The museum's Library Cave replica and the 4th-century White Horse Pagoda fill a quiet morning before the train or flight.

1. dunhuang museum
2. dunhuang baima pagoda