Summary: This tour  will bring you to take the adventure tour along the main route of ancient silk road from Lanzhou , Xiahe , Zhangye , Jiayuguan  to Dunhuang .You may not only learning about the treasure of the silk road culture and Buddhism art but also enjoy the wonderful natural scenery in the northwest of China.  You have chance to experience the camel ride in the desert like ancient caravans.

Day1   Lanzhou   

The guide and driver will meet you at Lanzhou airport upon arrival. Then transfer you to Lanzhou city for checking in. (According to your arrival time ，we would like to show you around the scenery along the bank of yellow river in Lanzhou if the timing of your flight is ok.)

Lanzhou city is an important transportation hub along the silk road. Now it is capital city of Gansu province with a population of 3.3 million. Lanzhou is also the only city which the yellow river runs through. Beef noodle can be the special local flavor in Lanzhou where it was originally found in Qing dynasty.

Accommodation: In Lanzhou

After breakfast drive to visit the  Binglingsi grottos   in the south of Lanzhou. (After arrival at Yongjing city， you will take speed boat to reach to Binglingsi grottos). These grottos were built during the Western Qin， North Wei， Sui， Tang， and  Song， Yuan， Ming， Qing dynasties (from 3 to  18 century AD)，which stretch for 200 meters longalong the cliff. After this drive back to Lanzhou fast train station to Zhangye by fast train.

Accommodation: In Zhangye 

After breakfast we will start from the Giant Buddha temple  in the Zhangye city，which was an important place of the ancient Silk Road. It is in the city proper of  Zhangye city and it was a famous imperial temple in the history. When you get there，you will see the biggest indoor reclining Buddha sculpture in China，which was built in west Xia dynasty about 11 century AD. It is 34.5meters long and 7.5 meters wide between two shoulders. Its ear is 4 meters long，and its feet are 5.2 meters long. Behind the reclining Buddha palace there are hidden Buddhism sutra pavilion and a clay pagoda.(Before the temple you will have chance to see local people doing some exercises in the square in front of the temple， such as water calligraphy，Taiji， square dancing.) The tour today will end up to visit the famous Zhangye Danxia World Geological Park  . It is an amazing place for people who like traveling and photographing， which is the most typical arid area of northwest of China. Ribbons of reds， oranges and yellows slice through the rock， to create a rainbow vista contained only by the contours of the jagged mountain peaks，so local people prefer to call it "Rainbow Mountain". It is national AAAA tourist attraction. In 2011it was rated as one of "10 amazing geographical wonders of the world' by national geographical magazine of U. S. In 2015 it was selected by many well-known websites as one of 25 dreaming travel destinations all over the world.

Accommodation: In Zhangye

After breakfast we will go to Visit the  Pingshanhu  Grand Canyon . The composition of this lanform is red bed landform，which came into being 108 million to 240 million years ago.The canyon is characterized by different gullies. The hills look low and gentle. The tonal is mainly with red white and ochre red .The color of the hills shows a bit drab. Most of them are conical or columnar in shape. It is a good place to take photo and hike at the bottom of the canyon. We have two options here which depends on your interest and body quality. The first is easy to walk along the visiting path to enjoy the whole view from top of the canyon. The second will be a little challenging，which is going down to the bottom of the valley to do 2 hours hiking to enjoy different scenery besides the first choice. After the Pingshanhu area we will drive to south of Zhangye city to visit the Mati temple . It was built in Jin Dynasty<265--420AD>，which is a nice place to enjoy the scenery of Qilian snow mountain closely， explore the culture of Han and Tibetan  Buddhism both and closely feel the custom of Yugu minority which only live in Zhangye. One horse hoofprint is left in Cave 9，which is said to be left by a heavenly horse. As a result， the temple was named from the print of  horse hoof  left by the legendary heavenly horse， which is called Mati temple by local.

Accomodation: In Zhangye

In the morning drive 3 hours to arrive at Jiayuguan city to visit the  Jiayuguan fort . It is the west end of great wall in Ming dynasty<1368-1644 AD>. It will take you to enjoy the majesty of the fort and appreciate the wisdom of the ancients. Jia Yu means beautiful valley because it was built in the valley between two mountains. The Jiayuguan was pretty well preserved，so it got a nice reputation as the Heavenly Pass. The Jiayuguan fort can be the westmost customs in Ming dynasty ，where the passport should be checked and tax would be collected. In 2014 it was included into the world cultural heritage by UNESCO. After the fort visit the Overhanging Great Wall  on the cliff. It was built in the middle of 16century and got the reputation as the western badaling great wall of China. It is in the north of the Jia Yu Guan Fort 7.5 km，which was built along the ridge of the north mountain. It is one important part of Ming great wall. Because this part of wall looks like climbing the mountain，it was named overhanging great wall. It was used to block the big gap in the mountain，which avoids the enemies smuggling. (There are many steps from one tower to the other，please consider if are able to walkand climb about 1.5hrs).In the late afternoon we will take you to visit the Wei and Jin tomb  in the north Gobi desert of Jiayuguan，which was built 1700 years. There are many mural painting bricks in the tomb ， which described the life of the masters of the tomb. This tomb area was reputated as the underground mural gallery.

Accommodation: In Jiayuguan

After breakfast  we will drive about 4.5 hours along the Gobi desert to Dunhuang. Up upon arrival we will go to visit the Mogao Grottos ，also well known as the Thousand Buddha Grottos in local. It was listed as World Heritage site by UNESCO. It is one of the great artistic and religious wonders of the world and it is famous for its exquisite murals and various sculptures inside the caves，which was built in different dynasties，spanning 1，000 years of Buddhist art. You have chance to enjoy the Silk Road movies in the tourists center about 50 minutes before our exploration into the Grottos.The professional docent  from the Mogao grottos will show you around 8 grottos with their special flashlight，ensuring you have clear view of the murals and paintings. （Note: No photos and Videos in the caves and in the cinemas of tourists centre). It will take around 3.5-4 hours to visit including movie. .

Accommodation: In Dunhuang

After a special picnic breakfast  we will spend a whole day to explore the westline of Dunhuang through the Gobi desert. On the way you may make a walking experience for  some minutes in the Gobidesert ， which depends your own interest. The first site we will visit is the  Yumen Pass (Jade gate pass). Yu means Jade，Men means gate . It  got the name because of the famous Khotan jade being introduced to Dunhuang  through the gate. Yumen pass used to be the north customs of the silk road in Han dynasty (202BC-220AD). From here you can not only learn more history andculture about the ancient Silk Road， but also enjoy the special scenery in thevast Gobi desert. After the gate， take shuttle bus to visit the ruins of great wall in Han dynasty，which had special constructure and was kept for 2000 years .Then we will keep driving 1 hour to the magnificent Yadan National Geopark . It is called"Ghost City" by locals.This area extends 25 km from east to west and about 22 km from south to north. It features the unique and wonderful scenes and landscapes in the Gobi desert，which can be the largest area of Yan Dan landform in China.

In the evening enjoy the walking tour to the   Shazhou Night Market ，the most bustling place of Dunhuang at night. It's easy to enjoy your leisure time to wander arond the market and taste local flavor as well.

Accommodation: In Dunhuang

After breakfast we will go for Echoing Sand Dune and Crescent Lake . Throughout the ages it is famous for the wonderful scenery of "coexistence of mountain and spring and symbiosis of sand and water"， which is known as "one of  the most unique scenery along the ancient silk road". Local people would like to compare them as a deep lovely couple. When many people slide down from the sand dune，the special sound will be made just like echoing. In 2015 the Echoing sand dune and crescent lake were approved as national 5A tourism attraction.You have chance to take a camel ride (around 50 minutes) (by your own expense) like ancient caravan. (Do not forget to bring your sunglasses to prevent strong sun ray and mask to keep out the dust)

After this transfer you to dunhuang airport  to catch the plane and fly back your home.