Lanzhou · Wuwei · Zhangye · Jiayuguan · Dunhuang. The Gansu corridor by high-speed rail, from beef noodles to the desert's edge.
Lanzhou is the true gateway to the Silk Road. The Yellow River runs straight through the middle of the city, the beef noodles here are the standard the rest of China copies, and from Lanzhou a single high-speed line runs the entire Gansu corridor west — Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang — following the road the caravans took.
This is the quieter Silk Road. It skips the long western flights and stays where the archaeology is densest: Han-dynasty tombs, the Great Wall's western terminus, 492 painted caves, and four cities where Uyghur, Hui and Han China have been mixing for two thousand years.
Zhongshan Bridge over the Yellow River, the Gansu Provincial Museum's Flying Horse of Gansu, and a morning eating beef noodles at a shop your guide actually uses. Optional: the Bingling Temple grottoes by boat.
High-speed rail to Wuwei. The Leitai Han Tomb, the bronze cavalry that gave the Flying Horse its fame, and the Confucian temple — one of the best-preserved in China.
The Danxia landform at its late-afternoon best, striped in rust and ochre. Then the Giant Buddha Temple and the Qilian mountain foothills, where the corridor narrows.
The fortress at the western end of the Wall, alone in the desert, plus the overhanging Great Wall and the Wei-Jin tomb murals. Two nights, so you can see it at dawn and at dusk.
The Mogao Grottoes with a specialist guide, Crescent Moon Lake in the Singing Sand Dunes at sunset, the night market, and the desert's edge. Then a domestic flight onward.
Best time to travel: April–June and September–October. July and August are hottest; the corridor is dry and sunny almost all year.
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Desert dunes and painted caves
Where China began
The roof of the world
Emperors, hutongs and the Great Wall
The future on the Huangpu
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