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Home → China Tours → Silk Road Tours → Dunhuang Travel Guide

Dunhuang Travel Guide

Location: Situated in an oasis, Dunhuang is in the west end of Hexi Corridor

Population: about 150,000

Area: covering an area of 312,000 sq km

Nationalities: Han, Hui, Mongolia, Tibet, Uigur, Kazakstan, Tujia, Dongxiang and Yugu nationalities

History: Dunhuang was made by a prefecture in 117BC by Emperor Han Wudi, and was a major point of interchange between ancient China and Central Asia during the Han and Tang dynasties. Its name is mentioned as part of the homeland of the Yuezhi or Rouzhi in the Shiji, Dunhuang is a safe place for traders to cross. Early Buddhist monks accessed Dunhuang and collected scriptures from the east for centuries.

Climate: Dunhuang has arid, continental climate. The annual temperature is 9.3℃, but ranges from 24.7℃ in July to -9.3℃ in January. It is fervent in summer and bitterly cold in winter.

Transportation: Dunhuang Airport is 13kms east of the downtown and operates regular flights to Lanzhou, Xian Beijing, Jiayuguan, Urumqi, etc.
Dunhuang has two railway stations Liuyuan station and Duhuang station. There are trains to Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, Lanzhou, Urumqi and so on.
There are passenger buses heading for Jiuquan, Lanzhou, Xian, Hami, Turpan, Urumqi, Geermu, etc.

Local Specialties: Crystal stone, crystal jewelry, white jade camel, Silky carpet of Dunhuang, statues, ectype of fresco, luminous cup, etc.

Local Food: Pastry Noodles. Stuffing Pie, Shish Kebab, Liguang Apricot, Mingshan Big Date, Ziyangpeach, Fragrant Pear, Limpid Grapes, and Yellow River Cantaloup

Major Attractions:
Echoing-Sand Dune – Echoing-Sand Dune is located on the southern outskirts, six kilometers from Dunhuang City. When people slide down on the sand of the mountain, it produces a ringing sound, hence its name “Echoing-Sand Dune”.



Crescent Lake – Also called Yueyaquan in Chinese, the Crescent Lake is named so due to its surface in a crescent shape. To people’s surprise, the lucid and clear water in the lake had never dried up for thousands of years. The lake and the surrounding deserts are very popular with tourists, who are offered camel and 4x4 rides.



Mogao Grottoes – As one of the three art treasuries of grottos as well as the one with the largest scale and richest content in China, it was first built in 366, the second year of Jianyuan Period of the Qianqin Dynasty and then reconstructed and expanded in later dynasties. With existing cultural relics including 492 caves, 45,000 square meter s of frescos and 2,415 painted sculptures, it is undoubtedly a rare cultural treasure for mankind.



Dunhuang Museum – It is a local museum for keeping the cultural relics that were found in Dunhuang. The Dunhuang Museum reflects the flourishing social development and cultural exchange between China and the West during the time when Dunhuang was a major center along the Silk Road. A trip to the Dunhuang Museum will provide visitors with a greater understanding of the history and culture of the Chinese people and their ancient civilization.



Yumen Pass - Yumen Pass was a strategic pass on the ancient Silk Road and was built in order to ensure the safe and smooth of Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. It is said that the jade of Hetian in what is now Xinjiang region was transported to central China through this pass, hence the name “Yumen” which just means the gate of jade in Chinese.



Yangguan Pass - Yang Pass (Yangguan), also known as the Southern Pass, sits 75 kilometers southwest of Dunhuang, and was originally built by Emperor Wu in Hang Dynasty as one of the two most important passes protecting Dunhuang from invasion from the west (the other pass is Yumen Pass (Yumen Guan). today, there are hardly any walls in sight, the only visible sections being the foundations of some of the walls. To the south of the mound is an expanse where one may find millions pieces of broken tile over an area of twenty square kilometers, some of the last evidence of civilization here.

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