【2027 Silk Road Express】Golden Autumn Itinerary (Xining-Kashgar or Reverse)

【Morning】 Drive to visit ★Tibetan Culture Museum (private guided tour) (10 km / approx. 30 min) — China's first national-level comprehensive museum dedicated to Tibetan culture, home to the 618-meter Painted Panorama, a monumental Thangka masterpiece.

【Afternoon】 Drive to visit ★Kumbum Monastery (VIP shuttle service within the monastery area + private guided tour) (38 km / approx. 45 min) — one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school, birthplace of Master Tsongkhapa, celebrated for its golden roofs, red walls, and the three artistic treasures of butter sculptures, murals and Thangka embroidery.

【Evening】 Board the Silk Road Express and embark on an extraordinary journey.

【Today】 Escorted by a professional outdoor vehicle team, ★cross the Dahaidao (lightly uninhabited zone) (72 km / 1.5 hours). Your wheels trace marks left by a hundred million years of wind erosion, threading through the wild folds of Hami's Dahaidao. Ochre-red and dark-blue yardang peaks stand in solemn ranks like the ruins of another planet — as though driving a time capsule toward the earth's most primeval dream.

【Full Day】 Drive to the Tarim desert poplar forest (approx. 100 km / 100-minute journey) and explore ★the Tarim Populus Euphratica Forest Scenic Area (private mini-train and bespoke tea service) — the world's largest, densest and best-preserved expanse of the "living fossil of the Tertiary period", over 400,000 mu of natural desert poplar blazing like flame beneath perennial snow.

【Evening】 A private vehicle returns you to the Silk Road Express for the entertainment on board.

【Midday】 Drive to ★Maigaiti N39 Camp (camel riding and UTV dune bashing) (200 km / 3 hours), retracing the old Silk Road trading route. Drift across the Taklamakan sand sea with the camel train, then take on the same desert course used by the Taklamakan Rally for a thrilling off-road adventure.

【Nightfall】 We invite you into the heart of the desert, where all artificial light is left behind — dusk-lit sand as the backdrop, the wild starry sky as your seat — for an immersive musical feast that is quiet, weighty, and restorative.

Important Note: A border area permit is required to travel to the Pamir Plateau.

【Morning】 Dawn light drifts into your desert room; wake naturally, with no alarm to hurry you. Sit awhile and watch the light shift across the sand sea, and keep this slow, quiet ease found deep in the desert for yourself.

【Afternoon】 A private vehicle brings you back to Kashgar (200 km / 3 hours). Wander through ★Kashgar Old Town, where camel bells scatter the bright sun and the scent of baking naan drifts through century-old lanes. Deep within the bustling old town, a quiet courtyard has been found for you — sit awhile over refined Western Regions tea pastries, and try your hand at millennium-old intangible-heritage pottery shaping, traditional ethnic block-printing, or the much-loved little lamb crafts.

【Today】 Sleep in and wake naturally at the hotel. Your private driver will then transfer you to the airport or railway station according to your flight or train schedule.

Special Reminder: As train schedules are not yet confirmed, all touring times above are for reference only; actual timing will apply.