Following the Silk Road in China's Wild West

14 days from £9,130 for 2023 per person

• Beijing
• Turpan
• Kashgar
• Dunhuang
• Shanghai

For many centuries, the Silk Road was the world's longest and most established trade route. Camel caravans strode through scorching deserts and towering mountain ranges while vibrant oasis towns sprung up to supply their needs. However, it was more than just goods that flowed along this vast web of cities spanning Asia. Ideas, culture, innovation, cuisine and religion also worked their way from East to West and vice versa.

Marco Polo travelled this route in the mid 13th-century and his stories of the exotic wonders he witnessed ignited a European fascination with the East that continues to this day. Xinjiang (literally meaning 'New Frontier' in Chinese) was one of the last additions to the Chinese empire and remains culturally distinct with the Muslim Uighur ethnicity still outnumbering the Han Chinese. The province is China's largest and a true crossroad melting pot sharing borders with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

This journey starts in Beijing with a few Han cultural highlights including the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and the Imperial Summer Palace. From the capital, you'll be whisked away to Turpan in the Taklamakan desert. This area is 200m below sea level, the furthest point on Earth from an ocean, and a strong cultural contrast from Beijing. Explore the ruins and ingenious irrigation systems of ancient, abandoned cities before watching the 'Flaming Mountains' glow a brilliantly vivid red at sunset.

Next stop is Kashgar where you'll wander the narrow alleyways of the mudbrick Old Town dotted with mosques and traditional bakeries. The area bursts frenetically to life once a week for the famous Sunday Market selling everything from grilled goat to exquisite handmade textiles. You'll feel transported out of China and back in time as you watch buyers animatedly haggle over two-humped Bactrian camels or sacks overflowing with colourful spices.

Before returning east, visit Dunhuang with it's grottoes full of ancient Buddhist carvings and manuscripts. The nearby Mingsha dunes were dubbed "The Rumbling Sands" by Marco Polo for the roaring sound they make when the wind blows.

End the tour with a journey back to modernity in the ultra stylish megalopolis of Shanghai. Stroll down the Bund to take in the grand late-colonial buildings and the glittering skyscrapers of Pudong towering above the Huang Po river. The fine dining, excellent shopping and memories of the 'Wild West' will have you clamouring to return.

This is purely a suggested itinerary so can be booked as it is, or used as a starting point for creating your own luxury tailor-made tour of China. If you'd like to see similar trips, take a look at our Epic Journey collection as well as our favourite Active and Family Holidays.

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.
Susan Heller