Northwest China
Kashgar is where the Karakoram Highway starts and where the Sunday livestock market still sells yaks and camels. The old town was largely rebuilt after 2010, and is more stage-managed than it was — but the craft streets, the tea houses and the mountains three hours south are real.
The case for going
The largest mosque in China, and the lanes of ochre houses and copper shops behind it.
Herdsmen from the Pamirs trading sheep, cattle and camels — the most photogenic morning in Xinjiang.
A 3,600-metre lake under a 7,546-metre peak, three hours south on the Karakoram Highway.
Copper beating, atlas silk, and the hat makers of the old town.
Uyghur tea with naan and conversation, the social centre of the old town.
Practical
Arid continental. Hot summers, cold winters, dust haze in spring.
Kashgar (KHG) has direct flights from Urumqi (2 hours), Beijing and Chengdu; the rail journey from Urumqi takes 16 hours by sleeper.
Airport. Kashgar Laining International Airport (KHG)
Rail. No HSR yet — the Urumqi–Kashgar line is overnight sleeper or a 2-hour flight.
In pictures
Questions travellers ask
Two to three: the old city and the Sunday livestock market, the craft streets, and the Apak Hoja tomb. Three if you drive the Karakoram highway to the lake.
Inside the old city — the renovated courtyard hotels put you in the lanes that wake at dawn, and the walk-to-everything location is the whole point.
Fly from Urumqi, about two hours, or the long-haul train — the rail is the journey, the flight is the schedule. Most routes fly in and give it the two full days.
Yes — it is the most Central Asian city in China, and the Sunday market is one of the great living market scenes in Asia. The distance is the point: nothing else on the trip is like it.
Routes through here
North China
8days
Xinjiang is a province the size of Western Europe with a Silk Road history to match. This route takes the southern arc: the museum and the bazaar in Urumqi, the desert oasis cities of Turpan, then the old trading city of Kashgar and the mountains that start at its edge.
From US$2,750per person
Combine it with
Where to eat
Where to stay
Radisson Blu · Luxury
Kashgar’s most reliable international-standard hotel, fifteen minutes from the Id Kah Mosque and the old town lanes. Air conditioning that works in July, and a breakfast that starts before the livestock market run.
From US$180 per night
Valid to 2027-03-31
