Dunhuang Culture Discovery
5-Day Dunhuang In-Depth Private Tour
This exclusive tour provides a multidimensional experience of the history and culture of Dunhuang and the Mogao Caves. Besides a cultural experience, you will also have the opportunity to enjoy the austere scenery and landscapes.
Highlights
- Grasp the opportunity to see the Mogao Caves, which might disappear in 50 years.
- Paint your exclusive mural on a mud slab that is made from the same materials as the Mogao Caves.
- Visit a unique section of the Great Wall that was built with plant stems and gravel.
- Explore Devil City (Yadan landscape) to witness a masterpiece that was created by wind and sand.
Discover real reviews of Highlights Travel Family's best-rated service across trusted platforms.
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Best Tour Ever
Other highlights are too many to mention but here are a few Ken taking us to the Terracotta Warriors and our food tour in Xian was amazing, more
Feb 2024, Liz Hickson
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Amazing Time in Xi'an
On our way to our hotel Jenny arranged dinner to be delivered by the hotel robot (an experience that was a must on the kids list!) before we even checked in, nothing was a problem, everything quickly solved!Jenny's knowledge of Xi'an and its history was also amazing. No question went unanswered, it was such an interesting trip! We'd definitely like to come back and spend a little longer here to see what else there is to do. more
Feb 2024, JenB
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Thank you, Shannon. Thank you, Xi,an.
We met our tour guide Shannon in Xi,an and we enjoyed very much our stay. Her good English level and her knowledge of the history of the city made our jorney very memorable. Kind, flexible and patient, she attended all our wishes. We will always be grateful for her work. more
Feb 2024, Man B
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Historical Xi'an
Our guide in Xi'an was Ken. Ken's knowledge of Chinese history is excellent so we were well entertained with the history of Xi'an and China while we were driving to various sites. The main attractions we went to were the Terracotta Warriors, The City Wall and The Big Goose Pagoda. The history behind the sites were well explained to us by Ken and he could answer all our questions. It made the site visits so much more interesting. Ken also assisted us in ordering food and introduced us to local dishes which were all great recommendations. Wish we could have spent more time in Xi'an. Thanks Ken for a memorable trip. more
Feb 2024, ChumSA
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Historica Xian
Mi esposo y yo, tuvimos la oportunidad de visitar la hermosa ciudad de Xian, la muralla de la ciudad, los guerreros de terracota, el barrio musulmán, todo esto con la mejor guia del mundo mundial!!! Susana, quien aparte de ser super simpática, tiene un gran conocimiento de la ciudad, la historia de los lugares y monumentos y aparte está siempre al pendiente de cualquier cosa que necesites y va más allá par hacerte tener una experiencia excelente, nos quedamos con ganas de regresar. Gracias x todo!! more
Feb 2024, Betty A
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Memorable and Great Trip!
Our guide, Jenny, was extremely knowledgeable of the area, history and culture. She addressed our questions and provided additional insights and recommendations for our free time. She was an amazing guide that always checked in and took the extra steps to make the trip special. Jenny definitely made our trip to Xi’an memorable and very special! more
Feb 2024, karolX8974SV
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China highlights Xi’An.
I had a wonderful trip to China. Susan was my guide. The history and sights picked were wonderful. The Terracotta Warriors were the highlight of me trip. Susan even helped me get some of the authentic replicas shipped home that arrived at my house just two weeks later. The making of dumplings with Susan’s aunt and neighbor was most memorable as well. Susan also sent pictures of the Chinese New Years Lanterns to me after I arrived home. They were in construction when I was there. more
Feb 2024, Megan S
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China Highlights is Excellent
Jenny was the tour guide in Xian, showed us the terracota warriors found in 1974 by a farmer behind a mountain masoleum, with projected ongoing excavations for next 100 years. Made clay model terracota warriors.Jenny is very enthusiastic and bubbly, helped us all the way, from picking up us from train station to dropping us off at the airport. more
Jan 2024, Brahma P
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Excellent 2-day Xi'an trip
Xi'an was my last stop in Northern China with China highlights. I have had great experiences with all of my guides but Mervyn was exceptional. Really easy to talk to, wonderfully knowledgeable and was really on top of the details. The timings for entry to and moving venues were really smooth.While in Xi'an, I visited the Terracotta army, the Xi'an museum & , the Muslim quarter and the city walls. All great to see if you come to the city.Mervyn chose some great restaurants with delicious local dishes as well as helping me to try really good snacks and street food in the Muslim quarter.Highly recommended! more
Jan 2024, Sherpa325441
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Xian the city where all began!
Our guide (Ken) speak very good English and know a lot, he was very patient and he had no problems with plan changing.We really recommend the private tour, it is very convenient and time saving. You can visit all the places using your private driver without having to wait. more
Jan 2024, Maria V
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Great Guide Made Xi’an Extra Special
Our tour guide Jenny was excellent and made our time in her city extra special. Not only was she a wealth of knowledge about Xi’an’s ancient history, she also had insights and great recommendations for local restaurants and places to see based on her own experience. We saw Teracotta Soldiers, the Muslim quarter, a shadow puppet show, the Xi’an museum, and had a dumpling banquet!! Highly recommend China highlights who coordinated our trip to multiple cities in China. more
Jan 2024, Rose A
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Memorable Trip with Rocky
Our tour guide was Rocky and he reached early at the train station to wait for us on the first day when we travelled down from Beijing. In fact, every morning, he will be super early to wait for us at the hotel....he will not rush us. He is definitely someone with good work ethic and someone who takes his work very professionally.Rocky was very helpful and together with the driver Li Shifu, helped us with our luggage. Rocky filled us in with so much history and was always ready to answer our questions on anything about China. He ordered very nice local food for our meals and also showed us other nice local food. We are so fortunate to have Rocky as our guide. more
Jan 2024, Celia L
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Our trip to Xi'an was incredible.
Our trip to Xi'an was incredible. We had Ken as our tour guide for a few days and we loved all the experiences. He is a very capable guide and knows a lot about history. We needed him to translate many things in the city and he was very patient with us. He speaks very good English and is punctual. He took many pictures for us and was very calm dealing with my father who walked sometimes slowly. more
Jan 2024, Monica L
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What a perfect stay
At each location the local guide (Nina in Beijing, Mervyn in Xi’an and Jack in Lijiang) together with their drivers was amazing and really helpful and helped us to organized additional visits or gave us very appreciated recommendations about where to go or eat in the evening. The drivers were always on time and brought us safely everywhere we went. What a perfect stay! more
Jan 2024, RC
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Lots to see and experience! We had a blast!
Jenny (from China Highlights) was a fantastic guide in Xi’an and gave great local entertainment and food recommendations - special mention to the Empress of the Great Tang show and Muslim Quarter local cuisines!She was also very knowledgeable of Xi’an history and really brought to life the stories behind the famous Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses, other local attractions like the Wild Goose Pagoda and more!My husband and I really enjoyed our 1.5 days in Xi’an and would highly recommend. Thanks Jenny! more
Jan 2024, a_raptor
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Susan was our guide and she was really helpful and highly prepared. She gave us all the information about places visited and organized everything in evergreen single details.I highly suggest to choose China Highlights and Susan to discover this Amazing city. more
Jan 2024, Alessandra
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What a perfect stay!
What a perfect stay! We were nicely picked up at the train station by Mervyn and the driver on the day of the arrival and given some good suggestions for the dinner. The day after, first stop was the Terracotta army. On the way Mervyn told us many interesting things about the history of China and the various capitals, dynasties and the mausoleums and walked us through the Terracotta museum. Very good food for dinner’s at the resteurant recommended. We then took a funny bicycle ride on the city wall and visited the super nice streefood and the mosque in the Muslim quartier. Then a tasty dinner with a huge variety of dumplings and a nice dance opera show. Finally the drum tower, the bell tower and the wild goose pagoda. Mervyn was very well organised and would explain all the nice background information. more
Jan 2024, rnt200120
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Xi’an with Juan!
From the beginning at the airport drive to the hotel, Juan explained us in a perfect Spanish the history of Xi’an. His seemly inexhaustible knowledge about culture and history let us truly enjoy places such as the city wall and the terracota warriors, places whose potential we could have only overseen if gone by ourselves. more
Jan 2024, Diego Gorrón
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This is the way to see China
We travelled to China in September/October to visit a relative who lives in Shanghai. He was too busy to show us the sights of China so we decided to use China Highlights. I am so pleased we did. Carol arranged a trip for us to X'ian and back to Shanghai. It wasn't cheap, but it was well worth it. We caught the bullet train to X'ian. more
Jan 2024, LDreviews
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Susan is great!
Susan is great!She is very knowledgeable about Xi An city and history. We really enjoyed and learned a lot about that city. more
Jan 2024, Tiong-Oen
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Suggested Itinerary
Your local tour guide will meet you in the arrivals hall of the airport or at the exit of the train station. After your guide meets you, he/she will escort you by private vehicle to your hotel. Have a good rest and be ready for the next day's adventure.
Evening idea:
Shazhou Night Market is worth visiting to experience the local flavor of Dunhuang. If you want to get close to this city quickly, try some local snacks, such as yogurt and nangs (flatbread).
Hotel options:
Dunhuang Hotel (4-star)
The Silk Road Dunhuang Hotel (5-star)
breakfast and lunch
Mogao Caves ticket booking:
In order to protect the fragile murals and paintings, the number of daily visitors to the Mogao Caves is restricted and your entrance ticket(s) must be reserved on the official website, which is in Chinese.
Tickets are difficult to get hold of, especially during the tourist peak season (July to October). Although we can guarantee tickets at least 5 days in advance, early booking is still recommended.
After breakfast, start to explore Dunhuang at the famous Mogao Caves. First, you will watch two movies to get a rough idea of the history of the Silk Road and the Mogao Caves. Then take the shuttle bus to the original cave area, where a professional expositor will lead you to visit seven caves.
After lunch, you will visit Dunhuang Museum. This museum has a great exhibition of the Silk Road culture, and it has duplicate caves with exquisite murals and statues that you can take photos of.
Tips to Tailor-Make Your Tour:
The Mogao Caves include 735 caves, and 40 to 60 caves are normally open to the public. A normal visit to the Mogao Caves includes seven caves but, if you would like to see some special caves, we can arrange for you to visit some that are not open to the general public.
These special caves are treasures — they contain important murals and statues, and have made a significant contribution to the study of human culture and art .
breakfast and lunch
After the previous day's study of culture, you can test yourself on what you have learnt.
After breakfast, you will visit the Dunhuang Research Academy, a place where you can sit down to listen to the story behind the murals and appreciate the painting skills.
Make your own mural: Choose one of the mural samples and copy it onto a mud slab, which is made from the same material as the Mogao Caves. Take your masterpiece home with you.
Enjoy an organic vegetarian lunch at the academy before continuing your journey to the desert with a visit to the Singing Sand Mountains and Crescent Moon Spring. Ride a camel in the desert and imagine what it was like to ride across the desert 1,000 years ago.
Tip to tailor-make your tour:
It is beautiful to see the sunset in the desert in the late afternoon. If, however, you prefer to enjoy cool weather in the desert, you can adjust the visiting time to the morning.
breakfast & lunch
Witness the cultural relics and amazing landscapes near Dunhuang.
In the morning, you will be driven to the ruins of the ancient Great Wall of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). You will see that it was built using layers of desert plant stems and gravel, which is quite different from the bricks used in other sections of the Great Wall.
You will also have a chance to visit Yumen Pass ('Jade Gate Pass'), which was once used as one of the west gates out of China during the Han Dynasty. It has been badly damaged by the shifting sands but still highlights the splendor of this magnificent architectural structure.
In the afternoon, explore Devil City — Yadan National Geological Park. Devil City is famous for its nighttime sounds and vivid rocks in various shapes that look like animals or world-famous attractions. If you want, you can stay there until sunset.
breakfast
Your guide and driver will take you to the airport/train station and ensure your check-in goes smoothly.
Our Service Includes:
- One-to-one consultancy with our travel expert
- Versatile and knowledgeable local guides
- Your own chauffeur and comfortable vehicle
- Hand-picked hotels to suit your preferences
- Hotel buffet breakfasts and local restaurant lunches
- Entry to all attractions on the itinerary
- The booking of internal transportation per your preferences
- A 24/7 helpline while you are traveling
Trip Notes
Transportation to and from Dunhuang
Domestic flights and trains have easy access to Dunhuang. There are daily flights between Dunhuang and the main cities in China, such as Xi'an, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Lanzhou. Please tell us your previous/next destination and we will help you to arrange the transportation.
Tour Price
Price includes: