4 Days Best of Ningxia Tour with Tengger Desert Adventure
Jeep Safari Through Tengger Desert
Ningxia in ancient China’s frontier is blessed with many nature wonders especially the Tengger Desert which might be one of the most beautiful deserts in the world with breathtaking landscape of vast desert dotted by colorful lakes and verdant oasis. When traveling in Ningxia, it’s strongly recommended to enjoy an exciting and scenic adventure in Tengger Desert. Located near to the capital Yinchuan city, one can enjoy endless desert fun in a single day escaping from Yinchuan. If you’d like more desert experiences, such as camping in the desert, trekking, or see more lakes, you can extend your trip to 2 or more days. Besides the Tengger Desert adventure, you shouldn’t miss other Ningxia’s special highlights, such as historical sites of Western Xia, Winery, museum, etc.
Our 4 Days Best of Ningxia Tour with Tengger Desert Adventure is such an incredible tour on which you will enjoy a Jeep safari through the desert to visit the most beautiful lakes, also visit the most classic cultural sites of Ningxia. It’s a private tour with comfort and flexibility. Explore Ningxia with us now!
Highlights of this tour
- Ride on a private desert SUV to cross the sand dunes to look for the hidden lakes in Tengger Desert;
- Visit two ancient ruin sites of Great Wall to learn about their special military structures;
- Unlock Ningxia’s history and culture in Western Xia Imperial Tombs, Ningxia Museum and Rock Paintings of Helan Mountain;
- Visit a local winery production base to try some of the best wines in China.
Basic Trip Information
- Price:
- from
Request
- 1. This price is for one person, based on a group of 2 adults sharing one double-bed room in a 4-star hotel and traveling in low seasons;
- 2. This price is subject to change according to your traveling season, group size, hotel class, change of activities and possible fluctuation of currency exchange rate.
- Travel Route:
- Yinchuan / Tengger Desert
- Travel Length:
- 4 Days and 3 Nights
- Tour Code:
- CD-NXDT-04
- Group Size:
- You, your family, friends or group
- Experience:
-
- Departure:
- Any day you want
Full Itinerary Day by day
- Day 1 Yinchuan Arrival
-
Welcome to Yinchuan, the capital city as well as the transportation hub of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. You will be greeted by our tour guide at Yinchuan airport/train station after your arrival, then be transferred to check in to you hotel in downtown. The rest time is free to explore this exotic northwestern city.
Free time idea: 1) go to watch the night view of Drum Tower; 2) stroll around Huaiyuan Night Market.
-
- Day 2 Yinchuan Day Tour (B, L)
-
After breakfast, meet your tour guide to start today’s exploration of Ancient Xixia Kingdom, Helan Mountain Nomadic Rock Painting and Winery Experience.
The first place to visit is the Western Xia Imperial Tombs which is located about 30km from Yinchuan downtown. Being built from the 11th century to the 13th century, it is one of the largest existing imperial cemeteries with the most complete ground sites in China. There are 9 emperors' tombs and more than 200 tombs of princes and nobles. Each imperial mausoleum is an independent building group that sits north to south and is a vertical rectangle, and its scale is comparable to that of the Ming Tombs in Beijing but with completely different style like Egyptian Pyramid.
After the Western Xia culture exploration, you will take an interesting visit to Yuanshi Chateau who produces one of the best wines in the region of Helan Mountain. Thanking to the special environment and weather, the grape growing there is high in sugar content and moderate in acidity, which ensure the high quality of wines production. During your chateau visit, you will be treated to try several kinds of wines (depending on your package). The architecture of Yuanshi Chateau is also very impressive and environment-friendly with a classic Chinese garden style. Please enjoy your time!
After the winery experience, move to next site - Rock Paintings of Helan Mountain which recorded the living scenes of ancient human beings 3,000 to 10,000 years ago in northwestern China, such as grazing, hunting, sacrificial ceremony, war, dancing, etc. It is an important treasure house for the study of the culture and history of mankind in ancient time.
After all the visits and activities, drive back to Yinchuan downtown.
-
- Day 3 Tengger Desert Day Adventure (B)
-
Today you are going to enjoy an exciting and interesting adventure in Tengger Desert. En route, make a stop to visit the ruin sites of Sanguankou Great Wall which was built in Ming Dynasty to prevent invasion from Mongol.
Different from many other deserts which are known as the “lifeless zones”, Tengger Desert not only has endless rolling sand dunes, but also boasts many “wonders of life” especially over 420 lakes, of which some lakes are as beautiful as glowing gems. To offer you the best experience, we will provide you a private desert SUV with an experienced driver to explore the most recommended route: Swan Lake - Emerald Lake - Wulan Lake – Camel Lake - Hailiuqi Lake – Guitar Lake - Desert Highway which is beautiful but also less-crowded. Swan Lake is clean, and shapes like a slice. It is surrounded by sand dunes, oasis and yurts of local Mongolian. Wild swans, ducks and many other birds migrate to Swan Lake during March~April and September~October. Emerald Lake is also known as the Lake of Dragon’s Eye. It is small but unique in shape. Wulan Lake is the most unique lake among all lakes in Tengger Desert. Looking from the air, the lake is like a human heart with many connecting red pieces. Locals call it as “the heart of the Earth”. Camel Lake looks like a walking camel with pink skin. The lake is pink because of the minerals in the water changing colors as the change of sun lights and temperatures. Unlike the Camel Lake, the color of Hailiuqi Lake is orange-yellow. Its surface looks like fish’s scales.
After visiting the Guitar Lake at the edge area of Tengger Desert, enjoy a scenic drive on the Desert Dream Highway, then transfer back to Yinchuan.
-
- Tengger Desert travel tips
-
1) The best time to visit it is spring, summer and autumn, especially from April to June and September and October;
2) What to wear and pack? You are advised to wear outdoor windproof, sandproof, and quick-drying clothes, bring sunblock items like sunglasses (goggles), sunhat, sunscreen, headscarves, masks, to reduce skin exposure, and remember to cover your neck. In the morning and evening, wear a light warm coat, or down jacket and take off at noon. Wear high-top climbing shoes or desert boots when crossing the desert on foot A pair of sandproof shoe covers is also helpful. You should also bring covers to protect your phone and camera from sands.
3) What and where to eat? There are some Chinese restaurants around the lakes, but their facilities and meals are quite basic. You’d better bring some snacks and drinks on your own.
-
- Day 4 Yinchuan Half-day Tour & Departure (B, L)
-
Today you will have a half-day tour before your departing flight/train.
You will visit Ningxia Museum first which has collected over 40,000 historical relics including 159 National First-class Cultural relics and more than 4,000 important relics of National Third-class or above. Among all the collections, The Hu Whirling Dance Stone-carved Tomb Gate, the Gilt Bronze Bull, and the Lishi Zhiwen Stone Carving are listed as National Treasures.
After the museum visit, drive about 38km (about 45mins) to next attraction - Shuidonggou Ruins (The Valley of Water Caves) which is the earliest Paleolithic cultural site excavated in China. It is known as "the birthplace of China's prehistoric archaeology" and "the historical witness of cultural exchanges between China and the West". It was found in 1923 by French paleontologists Teilhard de Chardin and E. Licent. Through excavation, a large number of stone tools and animal fossils were unearthed. From the exhibitions, you can imagine what is living of ancient humans like in 40,000 years ago. In addition to the ancient sites, in Shuidonggou, you can also see the most complete ancient military defense base in China which includes the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, beacon towers, castles, soldiers hiding caves, etc., as well as beautiful Danxia landform scenery.
After the visit, you will be transferred to catch your departing flight/train. Your Yinchuan trip ends.
-
-
Recommended or Similar Tour Packages You May Also Like
-
-
3 Days Yinchuan History and Culture Tour
Yinchuan City and around
-
5 Days Ningxia Discovery Tour from Yinchuan to Zhongwei
Yinchuan - Qingtongxia - Zhongwei
-
6 Days Ningxia Luxury Homestay Tour with Winery and Desert Camping
Yinchuan / Qingtongxia / Zhongwei
Customize your own China Tour
-
- We are here to help you design your own travel experience in China which suits your specific needs best. Tailor make now!
