Luoyang Departure: Mogao Caves, 5 Days 4 Nights

We fly from Luoyang with a connection at Xian or Lanzhou and land in Dunhuang in the afternoon. The airport is close to town, so bags go down first and the evening belongs to the Shazhou night market. Apricot juice, donkey meat noodles and roast lamb are all there, and the walk back along Yangguan Road takes twenty minutes.

Attraction introduction: Dunhuang sits at the far western end of Gansu where the Hexi Corridor runs out, an oasis on the Dang River surrounded on three sides by gobi. The night market occupies the old town centre from dusk until late, and the apricot drink is boiled down from local dried fruit.

Tips: Nothing heavy on arrival day. Guests generally find that rushing to the dunes straight off the plane leaves nobody listening at the caves next morning. In practice the caves take the freshest morning and the desert takes the evening, when the light and the temperature both behave.

We reach the Mogao digital centre at the booked hour for two films, then take the shuttle into the cliff area. A guide leads us through eight caves, ten minutes or so at each, torch on the wall where the pigment still holds. Lunch and a rest in town, then the dunes after four, climbing the sand ridge to look down on Crescent Lake.

Attraction introduction: Mogao was first cut in the second year of the Jian Yuan era of the Former Qin and caves kept being added for a thousand years, leaving more than seven hundred chambers and some forty-five thousand square metres of mural. The digital centre screens two films first, one on the site and one in a dome theatre, which makes the cave layouts readable once you are inside.

Tips: Cameras stay outside and nothing lingers. Guests generally find that staying close to the guide beats wandering the cliff walkways alone. In practice entering the dunes after four means cool sand underfoot and low light raking across the water, which is when the crescent shape actually reads.

We drive west in the morning, reaching Yumen Pass in a little over two hours where the small square fortress stands alone on the gobi. A simple lunch nearby, then further northwest into the Yardang park, shuttle to the viewing platforms where wind has carved the clay into long hull shapes. We come back at dusk with the sun going down over open ground.

Attraction introduction: Yumen Pass was the northern gateway of the Han dynasty Silk Road, and what remains is the Xiaofangpan fortress with rammed earth walls still around ten metres at the highest. The Yardang is wind erosion at scale, lake deposits cut into ridges and troughs across nearly four hundred square kilometres.

Tips: The western day covers four hundred kilometres with no services. Guests generally find the midday meal is necessarily plain and that bread and fruit carried from town matter more. In practice the wind at the Yardang is constant, so hats need a chin strap and lenses should not be changed in the open.

We go back into the dunes for sunrise, since the ticket allows repeat entry within three days. The sun comes up behind the ridge line and the sand is lit on one face and dark on the other. We sleep through the late morning, then spend the afternoon at the Dunhuang museum with its Han bamboo slips and painted bricks, and walk the Lei Yin temple site.

Attraction introduction: The ridge lines photograph best at sunrise because the low light picks out each ripple. Crescent Lake holds a few mu of water in a hollow ringed by dunes that never bury it, since the prevailing wind turns a corner here. The museum holds Han dynasty documents that are primary material for the Silk Road postal system.

Tips: Climbing a dune is harder than it looks. Guests generally find the timber walkways halve the effort and that ten yuan for cloth shoe covers beats sandals. In practice we reach the foot of the dune forty minutes before sunrise, because the climb alone takes twenty.

The morning is for shopping in town, where dried apricots and local coffee are the things to take, cheaper at the morning stalls than at the airport. We check out at noon for the flight, connecting through Xian or Lanzhou, and reach Luoyang in the evening. Liquids stay out of the hand luggage, since the dry air follows you into the cabin.

Attraction introduction: The dried fruit stalls cluster along Yangguan Road and around the Shazhou market, and the apricots should be judged by colour, since the brightest are usually sulphured. Dunhuang airport is thirteen kilometres out with flights concentrated at midday and in the evening.

Tips: No sightseeing on departure day. Guests generally find security at Dunhuang is strict about liquids, so large bottles of apricot juice do not fly. In practice an afternoon flight leaves the morning free to finish the shopping without hurrying.