Badain Jaran Desert Adventure From Zhangye

Itinerary

• Day 1: Arrival, Zhangye

  On arrival at the Zhangye airport or railway station, be welcomed by your local guide and driver. After checking into your hotel, have a good rest and recharge for the tour tomorrow.

  • Zhangye

• Day 2: Zhangye - Badain Jaran

  Zhangye is quite a place to witness the uncanny works of nature. Begin the feast to your eyes from the Pingshan Lake Grand Canyon, a majestic landscape not far from the urban area. Being hailed as comparable to the Colorado Grand Canyon, this rugged and maze-like canyon showcases magnificent terrain, marvelous stone forests, crisscrossed gullies, and forested peaks.

  Afterwards, about three-hour road journey takes you to the entrance of the Badain Jaran Desert. Get on an off-road vehicle to deep into the desert and settle down at your lodge.

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  • Badain Jaran

• Day 3: Badain Jaran Desert

  Get up freshly in the morning and have a full-day tour of the Badain Jaran Desert, which boasts five wonders, namely, sandy peaks, singing dunes, colorful lakes, unique springs, and ancient temples. Just immerse in diverse sceneries and various activities in the vast desert. Here, you will also encounter the world's highest stationary dune Bilutu Peak, rising 450 meters over the surrounding area.

  Though with only an average annual rainfall of 30-120 mm, in sharp contrast to its potential evaporation of 3000 mm, Badain Jaran Desert miraculously features over 100 inland lakes, freshwater or saline ones, waiting for deep exploration. Today, you will visit Badain Lake, a representative of the few freshwater lakes there.

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  • Badain Jaran

• Day 4: Badain Jaran - Zhangye

  Enjoy sunrise and leisurely breakfast before taking the off-road vehicle and car back to Zhangye. Arrive at noon, have lunch and then take refreshments at your hotel.

  In the afternoon, follow your guide to visit the Giant Buddha Temple, which houses the thirty-five-meter-long reclining Buddha statue sculptured nearly one thousand years ago. Indulge in treasured murals, calligraphy, and historical relics with great significance for studying the cultural exchanges between China and the Western Regions of that era.

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  • Zhangye

• Day 5: Zhangye, Danxia Landform

  Have a morning exploration of the Mati Temple Scenic Area. Quite different from a temple in the traditional sense, Mati Temple is the one that houses thousands of caves carved on a cliff.

  After admiring the Buddha statues and murals in Mati Temple grottoes, head to Zhangye National Geopark, marveling at the spectacular Danxia landform and enjoying the rainbow-like landscapes. Witness another masterpiece of nature and spot the dazzling colors of this earth's paint palette.

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  • Zhangye

• Day 6: Zhangye, Departure

  Depart from Zhangye, you may want to continue your journey to other cities like Dunhuang or Xi'an, which are quite easily accessible.

  At the appointed time, the guide and driver will pick you up and escort you to the airport or railway station.

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