10 Days on the Silk Road

Morning with the roughly 8,000-figure army, afternoon at the Huaqing palace pools at the foot of Mount Li. Xi'an has its own page — these two days are the gateway, not the full visit.

1. terracotta army
2. huaqing palace

Cycle the nearly 14-kilometre Ming wall, book ahead for the Shaanxi History Museum's Silk Road galleries, then eat through the Muslim Quarter. Next morning the rail line leaves Shaanxi for Gansu — crossing one, honestly labelled.

1. xian city wall
2. shaanxi history museum
3. muslim quarter

About 1.5 hours by high-speed rail to Tianshui, then the cliff face of 221 caves and more than 10,000 clay sculptures begun around 384-417 — Silk Roads World Heritage since 2014. The walkways themselves climb the 142-metre hill.

1. tianshui maijishan grottoes

The Fuxi Temple of 1483-1484 and the Taoist Yuquan Guan, with a bowl of Tianshui guagua for lunch. Evening high-speed rail, about 1.5 hours up the Wei valley to Lanzhou.

1. tianshui fuxing temple
2. tianshui yuquan guan

The Bronze Galloping Horse of 1969 and the Silk Road galleries in the morning; the Yuan-era White Pagoda across the 1909 bridge in the afternoon. Lanzhou has its own page for a longer stay.

1. lanzhou gansu provincial museum
2. lanzhou white pagoda hill

Two hours northwest to Wuwei — no dedicated page on this site, so note the details here. The Leitai tomb that yielded the Bronze Galloping Horse in 1969, the 1437 Confucian temple and its 1094 Xixia stele.

1. silk road leitai tomb
2. silk road wuwei confucian temple

An hour further west. The 34-metre reclining Buddha sculpted in 1098, then evening light on the rainbow Danxia — some 50 square kilometres of Cretaceous red-bed strata.

1. zhangye giant buddha temple
2. zhangye danxia

South into Sunan county — honestly labelled, it's Zhangye's autonomous county — where temples and tunnels cut the cliff in the Mati hills about 60 kilometres out. Evening rail, roughly 40 minutes, to Jiayuguan.

1. zhangye matisi

The pass of 1372 with walls near 10 metres, the museum under its walls, and the first beacon on the Taolai river cliff — about 7 kilometres southwest. Sunset from the ramparts is the corridor's signature view.

1. jiayuguan pass
2. jiayuguan first beacon

Morning rail around three hours to Dunhuang. Pre-booked Mogao — 735 caves, about 45,000 square metres of murals, UNESCO since 1987 — then late light on the Mingsha dunes above Crescent Spring. Fly out, or continue west per the 14-day plan.

1. dunhuang mogao grottoes
2. dunhuang mingsha crescent spring