【2027 Silk Road Express】17 Days 16 Nights Hidden Realms of Xinjiang

【Morning】 Drive to visit ★the Qinghai Tibetan Culture Museum (private dedicated guide) (10 km / 30 min) — China's first comprehensive national-level museum devoted to Tibetan culture, home to the 618-metre Great Painted Thangka Scroll.

【Afternoon】 Drive to visit ★Kumbum Monastery (Ta'er Temple) (private dedicated guide) (38 km / 45 min) — one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school and the birthplace of Master Tsongkhapa, known for the "Three Arts of Kumbum": butter sculpture, murals and appliqué embroidery.

【Evening】 We board the Silk Road Express and set out on a remarkable journey.

【Morning】 The train winds westward like a silver thread through the emerald wilds of the Qilian Mountains — the scenery shifts without pause, as though you were travelling inside a moving scroll painting.

【Afternoon】 Escorted by a professional off-road convoy: crossing Dahaidao, the Great Desert Road (VIP private car through light wilderness) (72 km / 1.5 hrs) — as if driving a time capsule towards the most primeval dream on earth.

【Morning】 Drive to Hami Station and board the Silk Road Express, running west to Urumqi, the "beautiful pasture", along the foot of the Tianshan Mountains.

【Afternoon】 Visit ★the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum (private dedicated guide) (8 km / 30 min) — from the smile of the Beauty of Loulan to the brocade armguard inscribed "Five Stars Rising in the East, Blessing China".

【Early Evening】 Visit ★Wild Horse Ecological Park (6 km / 20 min), home of the Akhal-Teke "heavenly horse", with petrified wood, millennia-old desert poplar and nomadic steppe stone figures.

【Morning】 Drive to Hemu (240 km / 5 hrs) via the celebrated Ahe Highway — northern Xinjiang's moving gallery, cutting deep into the Altai range past canyon streams, virgin taiga forest and high summer pastures.

【Early Evening】 Visit ★Hemu Village (private scenic shuttle) — an unspoilt ancient Tuvan settlement known as "God's own private garden", with log cabins, the Hemu River, birch woods and snow peaks.

【Morning】 Drive to ★the Kanas Twin Lakes cruise pier (100 km / 3 hrs) and board a boat — the lake shifts through its spectrum with the light, from emerald green to deep indigo.

【Afternoon】 Visit ★Guanyutai Pavilion and climb for a view out over Kanas — below, the lake becomes a crescent moon resting quietly in the embrace of the Altai Mountains.

【Morning】 Drive to ★The Three Bays of Kanas — Crescent Moon Bay, Dragon Bay and Fairy Bay, "an amber necklace strung with care by heaven and earth".

【Afternoon】 Drive to the railway station (230 km / 4 hrs) and board the Silk Road Express.

【Morning】 Drive to Sayram Lake (150 km / 2.5 hrs).

【Afternoon】 Visit ★Sayram Lake (VIP private car) — "the last teardrop of the Atlantic", Xinjiang's highest and largest alpine cold-water lake, with a 92-kilometre shore road leading to the General's Platform; then return to Yining, pausing en route for a distant view of ★Guozigou Bridge, "a stairway to heaven raised by the gods".

【Morning】 Drive to Nalati Grassland (250 km / 3.5 hrs).

【Afternoon】 Visit ★Nalati River Valley Grassland & Sky Grassland (horse riding in hidden country) (VIP private car) — one of the world's four great alpine valley grasslands: the Sky Grassland at 2,200 metres and the River Valley Grassland along the Kunes River, "one mountain, two distinct landscapes".

【Morning】 Free time at the hotel; guests may re-enter Nalati Grassland for a second visit.

【Midday】 Drive back to Yining city (250 km / 3.5 hrs).

【Afternoon】 Visit ★Kazanqi Folk Tourism Area — Yining's unspoilt multi-ethnic old town, with blue-walled lanes, century-old courtyards, khadik horse-drawn carriages, Meshrep song and dance, and old-fashioned ice cream.

【Afternoon】 Drive to visit ★the Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves (private dedicated guide) (75 km / 1.5 hrs) — the earliest-carved and westernmost large cave complex in China, with 349 surviving caves and close to 10,000 square metres of murals in the wholly original Kucha style.

Friendly Note: Some steps at the Kizil Thousand-Buddha Caves are fairly steep; guests with limited mobility may substitute a visit to Keziliya Grand Canyon.

【Morning】 Drive to the N39° Maigaiti Desert Scenic Area (200 km / 3 hrs).

【Afternoon】 Drive to ★the Taklimakan N39° Desert at Maigaiti (UTV dune bashing + camel riding) — the 39th-parallel adventure corridor, with endless golden dunes and almost no light pollution after dark.

【Evening】 Enjoy the ★Dolan Muqam immersive concert beneath the stars — intangible-heritage performers render the original music of the Western Regions, followed by lively Meshrep interactive dancing.

【Morning】 Wake at your leisure, then drive back to Kashgar city (200 km / 3 hrs).

【Evening】 Watch ★Rendezvous with Kashgar, an immersive production — a time-travelling Silk Road epic with the Twelve Muqam as its soul, telling three stories of music, devotion and perseverance.

【Morning】 Stroll through ★Kashgar Old City (intangible-heritage handicrafts) — a Western Regions treasure preserved across two thousand years of the Silk Road, where East and West met.

【Afternoon】 We board the Silk Road Express and depart Kashgar, travelling east back to Xining, the "summer capital of the plateau".

【Today】 We spend the day aboard the Silk Road Express — from Bogda Peak's ice ranges to the Kumtag Desert's golden cipher, your window becomes a moving IMAX screen.

【Morning】 We may arrive in Xining relatively early today. Drive to Qinghai Lake (140 km / 2.5 hrs).

【Afternoon】 Visit ★Qinghai Lake Erlangjian Scenic Area (UTV ride along the lakeshore + boat cruise) — a peninsula like an emerald sword drawn across a jade dish, with water clear to a depth of nine metres and seven gradations of blue-green.

【Today】 Wake at your leisure at the hotel; your dedicated driver will then transfer you to the airport or railway station in line with your flight or train time.

Meals: Breakfast – hotel breakfast | Lunch – own arrangement | Dinner – own arrangement

Special Reminder: As train times are not yet confirmed, the sightseeing times above are for reference only and the actual schedule shall prevail.