Xinjiang Cities

Kuytun travel guide: the crossroads town of northern Xinjiang, with how to get there, where to stay and why it matters as a transport hub for the region.

Changji travel guide: Urumqi’s quiet neighbour holds Heavenly Lake, Jiangbulake grassland and the Duku Highway’s northern start. Plan your visit today.

Shihezi travel guide: how to visit Xinjiang’s planned ‘garden city’ — the Corps Museum, Zhou Enlai monument, cotton fields, transport, and where to eat.

Complete Hotan travel guide to the Jade City of the Silk Road: how to get there, best months, jade and Atlas silk markets, where to eat, and a 3-day plan.

Plan your Hami travel guide trip with our firsthand notes – how to get there, best time, where to stay, and what to eat. Practical, updated advice.

Karamay travel guide by a writer who drove its oil roads and walked the Urho Ghost City. Getting there, best time, where to stay, eat, and the cliffs.

Plan your Aksu travel guide trip with our firsthand notes – how to get there, best time, where to stay, and what to eat. Practical, updated advice.

Korla is Xinjiang’s pear capital and the gateway to the Taklamakan Desert. Plan your visit: Bosten Lake, fragrant pears, trains, where to stay and eat.

Qapqal, the Xibe homeland in Xinjiang’s Ili Valley, preserves a 1764 westward-migration story. Plan a visit: how to get there, best season, what to eat.

Zhaosu is Xinjiang’s heavenly horse county in the upper Ili Valley: festival timing, rapeseed season, riding tips, roads from Yining and what to skip.