18D Southern Train Baiyun Express: Grand Tour of North & South Xinjiang (Tianshan Brocade Edition)

Welcome ceremony with live band and song-and-dance performance. Board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express and begin a cultural journey along the Silk Road, savouring the elegance of unhurried travel. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Afternoon: Explore the Three Gorges Museum through the intertwined stories of Three Gorges civilisation, ancient Ba-Yu culture and Chongqing’s urban transformation.

Evening: Chongqing’s signature hotpot dinner, then take in the city’s celebrated three-dimensional skyline after dark from the Raffles City Sky Crystal Observation Deck. Board the Baiyun Express for Urumqi. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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As the train glides on, admire the far-reaching landscapes of the Hexi Corridor. Join curated onboard activities prepared by the train’s hospitality team, and a Silk Road Cultural Salon hosted by a cultural specialist travelling aboard. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Arrive in Urumqi at midday with a welcome at the station, followed by a Xinjiang welcome banquet lunch. Choose one route:

Route A — Xinjiang Museum & Grand Bazaar
Visit the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, its Silk Road treasures interpreted by a distinguished historian, then wander the vast fortress-style Xinjiang International Grand Bazaar.

Route B — Heavenly Lake of Tianshan
Visit Tianshan Tianchi Lake, embraced by spruce forests and framed by Bogda Peak.

Dinner of Xinjiang regional cuisine, then board the Baiyun Express for Altay. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Choose one route for Days 5–6 (routes cannot be mixed):

Route A — Altay–Hemu Highway
Travel the Altay–Hemu Highway, celebrated as a vast open-air gallery, to Hemu Village (240 km; approx. 6 hrs) — often described as a sanctuary of the gods and one of China’s most beautiful ancient villages. Mountain light-meal lunch.

Route B — Chonghuer Village & Curated Tea Interlude
Visit Chonghuer, a Kazakh community where local hosts welcome you into their homes for traditional music and dance with a Kazakh family banquet lunch, then continue north to Hemu for a Curated Tea Interlude.

Should the road be impassable because of weather or official traffic controls, an alternative route will be used.

Hemu regional dinner. Overnight at Hemu Holiday Hotel or similar.

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Route A — Hemu Village & Kanas Lake cruise
Explore Hemu, a Tuvan settlement of river valley, alpine meadows, rustic bridge and timber homes, with a Curated Tea Interlude. Drive to Kanas (80 km; approx. 2 hrs) and cruise the lake as snow peaks shimmer in its turquoise waters.

Route B — Tiejia Highway & Baihaba
Follow the quiet Tiejia Highway to Baihaba (120 km; approx. 3 hrs), uniting the snow mountains, forests and grasslands of North Xinjiang. At this old frontier village on the China–Kazakhstan border, Tuvan and Kazakh communities live among timber homes beneath the snowy peaks.

Kanas regional dinner. Overnight in a premium boutique lodge within the Kanas Scenic Area (Manyunjian, Golden Lotus or similar).

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Take the scenic-area shuttle to the Three Bays of Kanas (approx. 3 hrs): mist-veiled Fairy Bay, gracefully curving Moon Bay and the luminous waters of Wolong Bay. Drive to Burqin (160 km; approx. 4 hrs) for a living-heritage cold-water fish banquet, an Altay specialty from the Irtysh River’s fishing traditions. Board the Baiyun Express for Yining. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Choose one route for Days 8–11 (routes cannot be mixed):

Route A & Route B — Sayram Lake
Disembark at Yining and travel to Sayram Lake (approx. 150 km; 2 hrs). Circle the lake, its sapphire waters reflecting the snow peaks. Sayram Lake whitefish lunch and Ili regional dinner. Overnight at Hotel Indigo Sayram or similar.

Route C (+RM4,000 per person) — Yining–Zhaosu Highway, Jade Lake & sunset cruise
Cross river valleys, forests, snow mountains and grasslands on the scenic Yining–Zhaosu Highway (approx. 150 km; 2.5 hrs) to Jade Lake in Zhaosu. At dusk, a private chartered lake cruise with sunset dinner on board. Overnight at Zhaosu Muzitao Luxury Wilderness Resort.

Route C: if the Yizhao Highway is closed the national highway is used; if boats are unavailable the visit is replaced by Aheyazi Canyon with dinner at the hotel.

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Route A — Tianshan Sea of Flowers & Nalati
Tianshan Sea of Flowers (approx. 90 km; 1.5 hrs) for Yili’s fragrant fields and seasonal blooms, then on to Nalati Grassland (approx. 250 km; 4 hrs), a heartland of Kazakh nomadic culture. Overnight at Hotel Indigo Nalati or similar.

Route B — Kalajun Grassland, light hiking & fireside gathering
Travel to Kalajun Grassland, part of the Tekes World Natural Heritage landscape (approx. 260 km; 4 hrs). Walk alongside local herders and their flocks on a grassland light hike, then gather around the fire at a grassland wilderness retreat (Huajian Camp / Boundless Realm).

Route C — Xiata Ancient Trail
Travel to Xiata, the ancient Silk Road passage associated with Xuanzang’s westward journey, facing the monumental Muzart Glacier among spruce forests, gorges and valley meadows. Return to Yining (approx. 250 km; 4 hrs). Overnight at InterContinental Yining or similar.

Route C: if weather closes Xiata, the visit is replaced by the Zhaosu Heavenly Horses River Crossing.

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Route A — Nalati Grassland & Duku Highway to Bayanbulak
Explore Nalati Grassland (approx. 4 hrs), the “Green Island of the Tianshan”, then cross the Tianshan via the celebrated Nalati–Bayanbulak section of the Duku Highway. Overnight at Holiday Inn Bayanbulak or similar.

Route B — Kurdning
Travel to Kurdning (approx. 110 km; 2 hrs), named among China’s ten most beautiful forests — a rare east-west spruce valley of snow-mountain views, streams and meadows. Return to Yining (approx. 170 km; 2.5 hrs) and board the Baiyun Express for Kuqa.

Route C — Sayram Lake
Travel to Sayram Lake (approx. 150 km; 2 hrs) and circle its sapphire waters, with a Sayram Lake whitefish lunch. Return to Yining and board the Baiyun Express for Kuqa.

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Route A — Duku Highway south
Follow the southern section of the Duku Highway to Kuqa — one of China’s most beautiful roads, with four seasons in a single day.

Route B & Route C — Arrive Kuqa by train
Arrive in Kuqa on the Baiyun Express.

Explore Kiziliya Grand Canyon’s red-rock fissures and narrow Danxia passages. Kuqa regional lunch and dinner, then board the Baiyun Express for Kashgar. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Arrive early in Kashgar and follow the China–Pakistan Friendship Highway onto the Pamir Plateau, passing Gaizi Canyon, Gaizi Post Station, Liushai River and Red Mountain. Visit Baisha Lake (approx. 40 mins), where white sand mountains meet blue water and snowy peaks. Continue to Tashkurgan, a county bordering three countries, for a private Tajik family visit with a national living-heritage eagle-flute performance and eagle dance. Tashkurgan yak hotpot dinner. Overnight at Snow Crown Hotel Tashkurgan / Wanda Moments or similar.

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Depart Tashkurgan for Karakul Lake (approx. 100 km; 1.5 hrs), a rare high-altitude lake encircled by ice-clad peaks, with close views of the Three Giants of the Kunlun rising above 7,000 m. Return to Kashgar for a whole-roast lamb banquet. Overnight at Kashgar Global Harbour Hotel or Radisson Kashgar or similar.

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Explore Kashgar Ancient City (approx. 1.5 hrs), a 5A-rated scenic area shaped by more than two millennia of history, with a Curated Tea Interlude in the old quarter. Visit Id Kah Grand Mosque, a meeting of Islamic architectural form and traditional Chinese craftsmanship. Kashgar local lunch and dinner, then board the Baiyun Express for Korla. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Arrive in Korla, the City of Pears. At Bayingolin Museum, explore the civilisation of Loulan, nationally treasured Silk Road artefacts and the Torghut people’s historic eastward return. Continue to Bosten Lake, China’s largest inland freshwater lake, travelling through reed wetlands and cruising among water lilies. Korla regional dinner, then board the Baiyun Express for Golmud. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Arrive in Golmud and visit Qarhan Salt Lake, China’s largest salt lake — cross the celebrated salt bridge and see emerald, mirror-like waters and natural salt formations within the Qaidam Basin. Salt-lake wellness halal dinner, then board the Baiyun Express to begin the homeward journey. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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Carrying the splendour of the Tianshan and the grace of the Silk Road, travel home on board via Chongqing to Guangzhou, where the journey concludes. Overnight on board the Southern Train • Baiyun Express.

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