The far-west Silk Road city — a living Old Town, Sunday livestock bazaar and the Pamirs.
Kashgar is the great oasis city at the western end of the Silk Road, where the Tarim Basin meets the Pamir mountains. Its earthen Old Town is a living maze of courtyards, bakeries and mosques — one of the most atmospheric places in China.
Just outside town, the Sunday livestock bazaar and the road to Karakul Lake and the Pak-China border show the high, snowbound Pamirs.
Here are the highlights worth your time in Kashgar.
A maze of earth courtyards, tea houses and lanes.
Free to wanderThe region's largest mosque, busy on Friday.
Tickets ¥45A huge livestock and goods market — a spectacle.
Free (Sun)A glacial lake below Muztagh Ata in the Pamirs.
¥50A tiled mausoleum of a Qing concubine's clan.
Tickets ¥30The Karakoram Highway toward the border.
Free driveKashgar has its own kitchen — here are the dishes to try.
Oven-baked lamb buns, a Kashgar icon.
Lamb soup steamed in a ceramic mug.
Rice with lamb and raisin.
A local pigeon broth, restorative.
Steamed buns with juicy lamb.
Lanterns and tea houses.
Uygur song in the lanes.
The square before closing.
Kashgar (KHG) links Urumqi and beyond.
Overnight train from Urumqi.
To the Pamir lakes (permit needed).
Hire a car for the Pamirs.
Works in town.
Where you stay shapes the trip. Three good bases:
Stay inside the lanes.
Practical.
For the lake road.
Silk Road travellers, photographers, Pamir trekkers.
