甘肃省

Why this place

Gansu is the corridor: a narrow strip between mountains and desert that every traveller on the Silk Road had to cross, which is why it has the greatest concentration of Silk Road sites in China — the Mogao Caves, the Jiayuguan fortress, the Bingling Temple. Its south is Tibetan and its north is Gobi.

What to see

• The Mogao Caves at Dunhuang — the greatest Buddhist cave site in the world
• The Jiayuguan fortress, where the Great Wall ends in the desert
• The Zhangye Danxia coloured hills, and the Great Buddha Temple
• Lanzhou's provincial museum and the Yellow River waterfront
• Xiahe's Labrang Monastery, in the Tibetan south

What to eat

• Lanzhou beef noodles — the standard by which the rest of China is judged
• Northwest lamb and the Hui cooking of Linxia
• Dunhuang's 'apricot drinks' and the corridor's dried fruit

How to plan

Ten days along the corridor: Lanzhou two, Zhangye two, Jiayuguan one, Dunhuang three, plus Xiahe.

Best time

May–October

Cities 14

兰州市 Lanzhou嘉峪关市 Jiayuguan金昌市 Jinchang白银市 Baiyin天水市 Tianshui武威市 Wuwei张掖市 Zhangye平凉市 Pingliang酒泉市 Jiuquan庆阳市 Qingyang定西市 Dingxi陇南市 Longnan临夏回族自治州 Linxia甘南藏族自治州 Gannan