Mindy Lim

2026年9月11日

My wife and I are from Belgium, we live in HK and during the golden week in september 2026 we went to Xinjiang. This was our first trip to Xinjiang, we had only 8 days so we decided to focus on Kashgar, Karakul lake, Tashgurkan, Taklomakan desert and Turpan. Overall it was an amazing trip that we highly recommend to anyone who wishes to experience amazing sceneries, local Uygur and Takish cultures, and delicious food. We used visitcnvoyage for the trip, we also highly recommend them, they really went the extra miles to please us, we really appreciate this. Them was in constant touch with us over the phone or Wechat to make sure we were satisfied and to fine tune and adjust the trip according to our requirement or the situation.

1. We flew in the morning HK-Urumuqi-Kashgar, arrived in Kashgar in the afternoon, spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening walking around the city, experiencing local market and tasting fantastic Muslim food, we spent the first night in Kashgar.
2. The second day in the morning we went to see the Shipton Arch. This is not to be missed, it’s less than 2 hrs drive from Kashgar, and then we walked up the arch for about 2-3hrs (two ways). We packed a small lunch from the hotel and had it in the canyon on the way down. The Arch is fantastic, it’s huge, it’s about 500 m length and100 m large, it’s really worth hiking up there. In the afternoon, we came back to Kashgar and explore again the city by walking in the evening.
3. The 3rd day we drove to Karakul lake, fantastic sceneries around the route, arrived at the lake and walked around the lake (about 2 hours walk, highly recommended), had lunch at the lake, then drove to Tashgurkan and arrived there in the evening. On the way to Tashgurkan we could see some of the highest peaks ( 7000m+) in Pakistan.
4. We spent the 4th day in Tashgurkan, so much to see there, so we spent the whole morning visiting the old fort, then walking in the grassland and had lunch with local family in their Yurt. In the afternoon we drove back to Kashgar and arrived in the evening.
5. The 5th day we discovered Kashgar cattle market. We planned to be in Kashgar on Sunday because the cattle market is only on Sunday. Very interesting to see, and also fantastic local food! In the afternoon we went to visit the old city and we love to get lost in the meanders of the city and we also took lovely pictures. Please don’t forget to try the local ice cream!
6. On the 6th day, early in the morning we went to see the Taklomakan desert, it’s about 2-3hr drive from Kashgar. In our opinion we could have skip this one, not really worth it. We walked around the lake at the entrance of Taklomakan desert ( 10km, about 2 hrs walk) and we experienced a bit of buggy driving in the desert. In the afternoon we drove back to Kashgar.
7. On the 7th day we went to visit Turpan, also about 2-3 hr drive from Kashgar. Highly recommended, so much to see, extremely interesting. There are at least 6-7 MUST SEE spots in Turpan, Visitcnvoyage knows them all, there is a lot of history too. We also walked on a sand dune for about 2-3 hrs, fantastic feeling even though it was not part of the tour. One of the highlight is also the old city carved in the mountain, splendid.
8. On the 8th day in the morning, we visited another two splendid spots in Turpan and then we headed off to Kashgar airport for taking the flight to Urumuqi, and then back to HK the next day early morning.
   Overall it was a great trip, Visitcnvoyage did a good job and were definitely part of the success of the trip. On the downside, Xinjiang is an autonomous region of China and there are a lot a disturbing and annoying checks, controls, police and army everywhere, X-Ray controls at every corner of the city, camera, speed control ( on some portions not more than 40km/hr!), eyes and ears are everywhere in the city, in the parks and even inside the car. You need to be aware of this, get used to it, then put it in the back of your mind…and focus on the scenery, local culture and great food!!