Silk Road refers to the east-west trade route which is first traveled by Zhang Qian as a diplomat to the Western Regions during the Han dynasty in China. The name "Silk Road" was given to the route by Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, a German scholar in late 1800. It is regarded as the greatest trading route and information super highway of its age.

Three provinces and several cities are covered in the Silk Road tour. Among them, Xian which belongs to the Shaanxi province; Lanzhou, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang etc. which belong to Gansu province are suitable to be visited any time of the year. While for the cities like Turpan, Urumqi, Kashigar etc in Xinjiang province, May to October is the best time to visit there, especially June to September the harvest time of this area, when you could taste the delicious fruit and experience the country life.

The transportation between cities on the silk road are mainly by road, and sometimes you need to take train between two cities, since only Xian, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, Kashigar and Yili on silk road have airports, and among those, only Xian and Urumqi have international air connections. Though the roads in Xinjiang are as normal as in other cities, but the ride may still bumpy in some rural areas because the poorly maintained road condition and takes relatively long time between cities as the vast desert territory, marshy grassland, valleys and forests.

We suggest you to join an organized tour since Xinjiang is a place with vast territory, changeable weather (you may experience four seasons in one day), many minorities with different customs and other unexpected factors. If you join an organized tour, all the travel needs will be arranged before your departure and your guide will give you various useful advice during the tour to avoid unnecessary troubles.

We suggest you to take three kinds of medicines which could make you feel better from mountain sickness, like anti-nausea medicine, travel pill; medicines for preventing you from sunstroke when traveling in summer; medicines for fever, cold, diarrhea, carsickness etc. Also people who are sensitive to dry temperature should bring some nasal ointment and throat-moistening pills.