10-day Silk Road Buddhist Tour

Tour Itinerary

• DAY 1 Dunhuang

  Transfer via: flight - your arrangement

  Activities for today: Airport to hotel transfer

  On arrival at Dunhuang Mogao International Airport, you will be greeted and transferred to your hotel in Dunhuang downtown.
  
  Note:
  You can take train to Dunhuang Railway Station from other China cities. The station is 12 km away from Dunhuang downtown area. If you take train from the cities of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (e.g. Urumqi,Turpan, Kashgar) to Dunhuang, your train will stop at South Railway Station (high-speed trains) or Liuyuan Railway Station (normal trains). Both the two stations are in Liuyuan Town, Guazhou County, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province. It takes about 2.5 hours to drive to Dunhuang downtown from both of the railway stations.

• DAY 2 Dunhuang

  Activities for today: Mogao Caves, Echoing Sand Mountain, Crescent Lake

  After hotel breakfast, we will take your to visit Mogao Grottoes, the Echoing Sand Mountain and Crescent Lake.
  
  - The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples 25 km southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out in AD 366 as places of Buddhist meditation and worship. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient Buddhist sculptural sites of China.

  

  

  
• DAY 3 Dunhuang

  Activities for today: Dunhuang Yardan National Geopark, Pass of Jade Gate, Great Wall of the Han Dynasty, White Horse Pagoda

  This morning drive to explore Dunhuang Yardan National Geopark. In the afternoon, move on to visit Yumenguan (The Pass of Jade Gate), the Great Wall of the Han Dynasty and the White Horse Pagoda.
  
  - The White Horse Pagoda was built to commemorate Tianliu, the white horse of the Buddhist monk Kumārajīva, which carried Buddhist scriptures all the way from Kucha to Dunhuang in China c. 384 CE. It is said that in 384, Fu Jian, the founder of the Former Qin Regime (350 - 394), invited Kumarajiva from the western regions to central China to spread Buddhism scriptures. When he reached Dunhuang, his white horse got sick and died. The white horse had crossed the vast and desolate desert with Kumarajiva and had meant a lot to him. Upon its death, Kumarajiva felt very sorrowful. Therefore, he and local Buddhist followers raised money and had this dagoba built in 386. The structure has nine stories in total, implying that the horse died when it was nine years old.

  

  

  
• DAY 4 Dunhuang/Jiayuguan

  Activities for today: Jiayu Pass, Great Wall Museum, Cantilever Wall

  Travel east to Jiayuguan (Jiayu Pass), the first frontier fortress at the west end of the Ming dynasty Great Wall. Visit Jiayuguan (Jiayu Pass), the Great Wall Museum and Overhanging Great Wall(aka Cantilever Wall).
  

  

  

  
• DAY 5 Jiayuguan/Zhangye

  Activities for today: Wei-Jin Art Gallery, Zhangye Danxia National Geopark

  This morning, pay a visit to the Wei-Jin Art Gallery. In the afternoon, go on to Zhangye for a visit of Zhangye Danxia National Geopark.

  

  

  
• DAY 6 Zhangye/Lanzhou

  Transfer via: train - our arrangement

  Activities for today: Zhangye Giant Buddha Temple, Horse Hoof Temple Caves

  After breakfast, visit Zhangye Giant Buddha Temple and the Horse Hoof Temple Caves. Transfer to the railway station and catch your train to Lanzhou.
  
  - The Giant Buddha Temple (Dafo Temple) in Zhangye city, about 600 kilometers west of Gansu's provincial capital Lanzhou, is named after a statue worshiped inside. Up to eight people can stand on the ear of the 34.5-meter-long reclining Buddha. The statue depicts Sakyamuni's attainment of nirvana. His 10 disciples wear vivid facial expressions behind him.
  
  - The Horse Hoof Temple (aka Mati Temple) is located in the Sunan Yugu Autonomous County of Gansu Province; it is 65 km away from ​​Zhangye in the north. The temple was built in northern Liang period (397-460) and is a large-scale grotto group.The temple originally was a Chinese Buddhist temple, and later gradually changed into a Tibet Buddhist temple decorated outside with numerous colored flags. Comparing with Zhangye, here is completely different in terms of spirit and culture.
  

  

  

  
• DAY 7 Lanzhou

  Activities for today: Gansu Provincial Museum, Lanzhou Waterwheel Garden, Zhongshan Bridge, White Pagoda Mountain, Satue of Mother Yellow River

  Today enjoy a full-day tour of Gansu Provincial Museum, Lanzhou Waterwheel Garden, Zhongshan Bridge, the White Pagoda Mountain and the Statue of Mother Yellow River.
  
  

  

  

  
• DAY 8 Lanhzhou/Xiahe

  Activities for today: Binglingsi Grottoes

  This morning, depart Lanhzhou for Xiahe. En route stop for a visit of Binglingsi Grottoes.
  
  - Binglingsi Grottoes, also called Bingling Temple Grottoes or Bingling Thousand-Buddha Caves, is a series of 1600-year-old grottoes filled with Buddhist sculpture carved into natural caves and caverns in a canyon along the Yellow River, some 80km from Lanzhou. On June 22, 2014, Binglingsi Grottoes were successfully included in the world heritage list as a site of the ancient Silk Road.
  

  

  

  
• DAY 9 Xiahe/Lanzhou

  Activities for today: Labrang Monastery

  Spend the whole morning on visiting Labrang Monastery. Drive back to Lanzhou in the afternoon.
  
  - Labrang Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug Pa of Tibetan Buddhism, and is located in Xiahe County of Gansu province, which was in the traditional Tibetan Cultural Area of Amdo. It was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhaypa, Ngawang Tsondru, and also a "home" to the largest number of monks outside Tibet Autonomous Region. It used to house more than 4,000 monks. The monastery’s white walls and gilded roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Indian Vihara architectural styles. It contains 18 halls, six institutes of training, a huge gilded stupa, a courtyard for debating, and holds about 60,000 sutras. Together with Kumbum monastery, it is Gelug Pa’s most important monastery outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
  

  

  

  
• DAY 10 Lanzhou/Exit

  Transfer via: flight - your arrangement

  Activities for today: Hotel to airport transfer.

  Your Silk Road expeditions come to a close today. Our driver will escort you to Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport.
  

Price Details & Inclusions of this Trip