Xining, Qinghai and Gansu 8 Days Tour｜4-6 People Small Groups・Qinghai Lake・Dunhuang・Seven Color Danxia

Arrive Xining, the journey starts here. Airport or station transfer to city hotel, about 30 kilometers drive.

No sightseeing will be arranged today, so as to allow your body to rest fully upon arrival, and to store up energy for the next journey across the two provinces. If you are still in good spirits, you may stroll to the Dongguan Mosque to experience the Hui culture of Xining, or go to Mojia Street for food to experience the real atmosphere of the local marketplace.

➤ Dongguan Mosque｜Northwest Islamic Cultural Landmark
Dongguan Mosque is one of the largest mosques in northwestern China, which was built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt during the Republic of China. It is a fusion of Chinese palace and Islamic architectural styles, with a golden roof and blue tiles, making it magnificent. The mosque is still an active place of worship for Muslims, and is an important window to the diverse religious cultures of Xining, where the faithful gather every Lord's Day.

➤ Mogia Street｜Xining Late Night Snack Landmark
Mojia Street is the most famous Halal food street in Xining, where you can find hand-held mutton, stuffed skin, mutton soup, kebabs, and other Hui snacks, which are crowded at night and full of aroma. It is within walking distance of the hotel, making it the most relaxing place to experience on your first night on the ground.

★Thoughtful reminder: Xining is about 2,200 meters above sea level, some travelers may feel a slight headache or shortness of breath upon arrival, which is normal. It is recommended to avoid strenuous activities and stay up late to allow the body to naturally adapt to the plateau environment and prepare for tomorrow's departure.

After crossing the Riyue Mountain, we officially entered the Tibetan cultural circle. Walking slowly along the herdsmen's path of Qinghai Lake, the wind blows the grass low, the lake light in the distance with a deep blue color, and the oxen dotted the grassland in twos and threes. The whole journey along the western road around the lake, lake scenery and grassland in turn into the mirror, is the most healing part of the journey in the Qinggan highway scenery. It is about 150 kilometers from Xining to Qinghai Lake and 150 kilometers from Qinghai Lake to Chaka.

➤ Sun Moon Mountain｜Historical Watershed of Farming and Ranching Riyue Mountain, at an altitude of 3,520 meters, is the natural boundary between the agricultural and pastoral regions of the Tibetan Plateau, as well as the geographical divide between monsoon and continental climates. During the Tang Dynasty, Princess Wencheng passed through the mountain on her way to Tibet to make peace, and it is said that she once looked back at Chang'an from the summit, thinking of her hometown, thus giving rise to the name "Sun and Moon Mountain". There are Sun Pavilion and Moon Pavilion at the mountain pass, which is the first historical point for travelers to cross the plateau.

➤ Qinghai Lake｜China's Largest Inland Saltwater Lake Qinghai Lake, known in Tibetan as "Tso Wen Bu", meaning "green sea", has a surface area of more than 4,400 square kilometers and an elevation of 3,196 meters above sea level, making it the largest inland saltwater lake in China. The lake's blue water is deep and clear, and the surrounding snow-capped mountains, grasslands and sand dunes form a richly layered plateau scene. Along the western route of the lake, there is a wide view, and on a clear day, the lake and the sky almost merge into one, making it the most representative scenic section of the Qinghai-Gansu Loop.

➤ Chaka Salt Lake (Transit)｜The Night Before the Mirror in the Sky We arrived in Chaka this evening and will visit the Salt Lake tomorrow. The town of Chaka is quiet and simple, and the oxygen-supplied hotels provide a peaceful rest for travelers arriving at the plateau for the first time.

★Thoughtful reminder: today's drive is about 300 kilometers, on the way to the plateau section, it is recommended to add more water in the car. Qinghai Lake windy, get off the car to take pictures, please have a jacket; if you plan to stay longer at the lake, remember to do a good job of sunscreen.

Walking into the Salt Lake, stepping on the white salt crystals, the distant mountains and the sky reflecting on the surface of the lake, you can't tell where is the earth and where is the sky. This is one of the most worthwhile mornings to wake up early for the Qinghai-Gansu Loop. After the tour, drive to Golmud, crossing the hinterland of the Qaidam Basin and entering another magnificent plateau world. The distance from Chaka to Golmud is about 150 kilometers.

➤ Chaka Salt Lake｜Mirror in the Sky Chaka Salt Lake covers an area of about 105 square kilometers, and its water is shallow and clear, with salt crystals deposited at the bottom of the lake. On a clear day, the sky and clouds are completely reflected in the lake, forming the famous "Mirror in the Sky" scenery. With a mining history of more than 3,000 years, Chaka Salt Lake is one of the oldest salt lakes in China and the most important salt production area in Qinghai. There is a narrow-gauge tourist train in the lake area, and you can go deep into the heart of the lake along the railroad track and overlook the whole salt field panorama.

➤ Tsaidam Basin｜The Uninhabited Wilderness on the Plateau Located in the central part of the Qaidam Basin, with an average altitude of about 2,700 meters above sea level, Golmud is China's highest and third-largest basin in terms of area. The land is sparsely populated, with the Gobi wall interspersed with salt marshes, and there is nothing but silence in between the earth and the sky. For many travelers, the journey through Tsaidam itself is part of their travel memories - the desolate is not a depression, but another kind of grandeur.

★Thoughtful reminder: today's drive is about 150 kilometers, the trip is relatively easy. Chaka Salt Lake, be sure to wear waterproof shoe covers, some areas of salt water is deeper, be careful; the lake surface of the ultraviolet rays are strong, please do a good job of sunscreen.

Today is the day with the longest mileage and the largest span of scenery. Starting from the highland salt lake, crossing the vast Gobi, arriving at the Silk Road town of Dunhuang. Along the way, the salt bridge of Charkhan Salt Lake spans across the eye, the solitude of the oil town of Akse makes people feel the true scale of the frontier, and in the evening walk into the Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market, the lights and the aroma of the smoke come to the face, and the journey formally enters another dimension. It is about 60 kilometers from Golmud to Tsarnaev, 250 kilometers from Tsarnaev to Akse, and 110 kilometers from Akse to Dunhuang city.

➤ Charkhan Salt Lake｜Million-foot Salt Bridge Charkhan Salt Lake is the largest salt lake in China and one of the largest potassium and magnesium salt deposits in the world, with a surface area of 5,856 square kilometers. There is a 32-kilometer-long "Ten Thousand Feet Salt Bridge" on the lake, which is made of salt crystals naturally solidified by the road surface to carry vehicles, and when you drive on it, you will be surrounded by a world of white salt crystals on both sides, which is a strange and shocking landscape.

➤ Akse Oil Town｜Lonely Stations along the Silk Road Akse Hassak Autonomous County is the only Hassak settlement in Gansu, located at the westernmost tip of the Hexi Corridor, adjacent to Xinjiang and Qinghai, and historically an important passage on the Silk Road. The town is small in size, but has left a special industrial history in the Gobi due to the development of petroleum resources, and is a short stopover with the most frontier feeling on the way across the Great Northwest.

➤ Dunhuang Shazhou Night Market｜Silk Road Scenery Night Prelude The Shazhou Night Market is Dunhuang's hottest nighttime spot, with stalls stretching for hundreds of meters, featuring hand-held mutton, kebabs, apricot water, and camel's milk ice cream. The first night you arrive at Dunhuang, you can feel the fireworks of the ancient Silk Road city from here.

★Thoughtful reminder: Today's drive is about 420 kilometers, which is the longest day of the whole journey, so it is recommended to take a rest, hydration and snacks in the car at the right time. Arriving at Dunhuang at an altitude of about 1,100 meters above sea level, which is significantly lower than the previous days, the body usually feels much more relaxed.

Today you can walk into the soul of Dunhuang. Watch the sunrise over the Mingsha Mountain in the morning, when the light turns the sand dunes golden red; go deep into the Mogao Caves in the afternoon and gaze at the thousand-year-old murals under the dim light; in the evening, you can choose to go into the desert campsite and spend a night in the desert hinterland in dialogue with the starry sky, or stay in Dunhuang's night market for a free roam, it's all up to you. It's about 5 kilometers from downtown to the Mingshashan Crescent Springs and 25 kilometers from downtown to the Mogao Grottoes.

➤ Mingsha Mountain｜Wonderful desert landscape with thundering sand Named after the thunderous roar of the wind-blown sand grains when they rub together, the mountains are made up of red, yellow, orange, green and white sand and stretch for 40 kilometers, with the highest sand peak at 1,715 meters above sea level. Hidden in the sandy mountains and shaped like a curved moon, the Crescent Moon Spring has existed for more than a thousand years without drying up or filling up, and has been called the "No. 1 Spring in the Desert", which is one of the most inexplicable wonders of nature.

➤ Mogao Grottoes: A Treasure Trove of Frescoes of Human Civilization The Mogao Caves, commonly known as the Thousand Buddha Caves, were first excavated in the second year of Jianyuan of the pre-Qin Dynasty (366 A.D.), and continued to be excavated through the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Northern Dynasties, the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, the Song Dynasty, the Western Xia Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty, etc. The 735 existing caves, with 45,000 square meters of mural paintings, and 2,415 colored statues, are the world's largest and best-preserved sacred places of Buddhist art, which were inscribed on the UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1987. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987. Each cave is a piece of history, a belief, an era of the art of framing.

➤ Desert Secret Desert Camping (Self-paid) Dunhuang Desert Campground offers a variety of optional experiences, including camel ride through the dunes, UTV Bombardier Desert Racing, Desert Extravaganza Dinner, Desert Starry Night Afternoon Tea, etc. Prices vary according to items. Non-participants can stay at Dunhuang Night Market for free activities, tour guides will provide recommendations.

★Thoughtful reminder: Mogao Grottoes must be booked in advance, by our unified processing, please rest assured. The Ming Shashan riding camel, sandboarding and other self-paid programs, you can decide whether to participate in the scene. Desert ultraviolet rays are strong, it is recommended to do a good job of sunscreen and bring enough water.

Leaving Dunhuang, today we traveled east along the Hexi Corridor, passing through the ruins of the Sons of the Earth and the Suoyang City in Guazhou, and finally arriving in Zhangye. This section of the road is the historic backbone of the Silk Road, where the sound of caravan camel bells echoed across the Gobi 2,000 years ago. Modern highways have replaced the ancient routes, but the vast wilderness and the Qilian snow-capped mountains that loom in the distance still give you a sense of the way time moves here. It is about 110 kilometers from Dunhuang to the Son of Earth, 40 kilometers from the Son of Earth to Suoyang City in Guazhou, and 480 kilometers from Guazhou to Zhangye.

➤ Children of the Earth｜Contemporary Earth Art in the Gobi Wilderness "Son of the Earth" is a large-scale geoscopic installation by Chinese artist Li Yuchuan, in which a giant reclining figure blends into the Gobi earth in earthy tones, his body straddling the earth and sky. Focusing on the relationship between human beings and nature, the work presents a quiet and shocking poetic power in the wilderness, and has become one of the most eye-catching art landmarks in the Hexi Corridor in recent years.

➤ Ruins of Suoyang City in Guazhou｜Ancient City on the Silk Road for a Thousand Years Suoyang City was an important fortress city on the Silk Road during the Han and Tang dynasties, with a complete silhouette of the existing city wall and clearly recognizable beacon flints and barricade walls, it is one of the most well-preserved ancient cities in Gansu, and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2014 as a part of the "Silk Road: The Road Network from Chang'an to the Tianshan Corridor". Standing in front of the remains of the city wall, it is not difficult to imagine the historical scene where generals of the Han and Tang dynasties stood guard.

★Thoughtful reminder: Today's drive is about 480 kilometers, which is the second longest distance of the whole day. On the way to the Gobi section of the road is flat, you can take a full rest in the car. After arriving in Zhangye, it is recommended to go to bed early, tomorrow the seven-colored Danxia scenic area tour is more intense, you need to maintain sufficient physical strength.

Today is the closing day of the whole journey with the most spectacular scenery. Early in the morning into the seven-colored Danxia, see thousands of colorful hills burning in the morning light; over the Biandukou into the Qilian Mountain hinterland, snowy peaks and grasslands in the window out of the superposition; through the Menyuan hundred miles of rapeseed sea (seasonal), the golden flower fields all the way to the sky; and finally climbed the Darbanshan Observation Deck overlooking the Qilian Mountains panoramic view of the trip to the Great Northwest trip to draw the most complete ending. Zhangye to Biandukou is about 120 kilometers, Biandukou to Qilian County is about 105 kilometers, Qilian County to Menyuan is about 170 kilometers, Menyuan to Daban Mountain is about 30 kilometers, Daban Mountain to Xining is about 130 kilometers.

➤ Zhangye Colorful Danxia｜The Most Bizarre Colorful Hills on Earth Zhangye Danxia Landforms is one of the largest and most colorful Danxia landforms in China. The red, yellow, orange, green and white rock layers have been eroded by tens of millions of years of geological movement and weathering, and the layers are intertwined to form a spectacular colorful hill landscape. The National Geographic magazine once rated it as "one of the most bizarre landforms on earth", and the hills are most saturated and colorful at sunrise and sunset when the light rays are oblique.

➤ Biandukou/Qilian Mountains｜Magnificent Passes over the Highlands Biandukou is the Qilian Mountains north and south of the important channel, but also Gansu into the natural gateway to Qinghai, history is an important hole in the ancient Silk Road, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty had a large army from here over the Qilian Mountains to visit the Western Regions. Pass on both sides of the meadows are wide, Qilian snow peaks across the sky, Zuoer red mountains and white snow-capped mountains reflecting, is one of the most dramatic tension of the mountain landscape of the Qinghai-Gansu Loop.

➤ Mengyuan Hundred Mile Rapeseed Flower Sea (blooming around July) Menyuan County is one of the largest rapeseed planting bases in China, and the blooming period is around early to mid-July every year. More than a hundred miles of golden flower fields are spread along the Datong River Valley, which, together with the distant snow-capped Qilian Snow Mountains, constitute the most shocking seasonal limited landscape in Northwest China. During the non-flowering season, the Menyuan meadows are still vast and the most comfortable plateau valley at the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains.

➤ Darshan Mountain Viewing Platform｜High point for panoramic view of Qilian Mountains Darban Pass, at 3,792 meters above sea level, is an important watershed between Qinghai and Gansu, and is also the last plateau viewing point before returning to Xining. Standing on the viewing platform on a clear day, you can see the rolling Qilian Mountains, snow-capped peaks, meadows, and valleys, which is the most spectacular panoramic end of the entire Qinghai-Gansu Loop.

★Thoughtful reminder: today's itinerary series of attractions, driving distance is long, it is recommended to get up early to start, in the Danxia scenic area to reserve sufficient time to visit. Colorful Danxia scenic area of strong ultraviolet rays, please do a good job of sunscreen; mountain road section of the altitude fluctuations, pay attention to keep warm.

The journey ends in Xining. All-weather shuttle service, whether early in the morning or late at night flights, arranged for a special car to the Xining airport or train station, no carpooling, no waiting, to ensure that you feel at ease on time to embark on the return journey. In seven days, you have traveled through Qinghai and Gansu, from the Mirror of the Sky to the Silk Road Grottoes, from the salty sea of the plateau to the colorful hills, the vastness of the Great Northwest has been left in your memory and is waiting for you to savor it slowly.

★Thoughtful reminder: If you need assistance in purchasing air or train tickets to leave Xining, please inform us in advance so that CITS can make arrangements for the trip together and make it more hassle-free.