Xinjiang · China

Things to Do in Kashgar: A Plan You Can Actually Follow

Kashgar is closer to Islamabad and Bishkek than to Beijing, and it feels like it. This was where the Silk Road's northern and southern routes met before the mountains, and the city still runs on trade, tea and crafts rather than on the coach-tour circuit. For most visitors it is the single most different place in China.

Start with the timing, not the list

Two things decide your Kashgar plan more than any sight:

• The Sunday market. The famous livestock and bazaar day falls on Sunday. If your dates are flexible, land before it, because the market is the reason many people come and it does not repeat on other days.
• The double clock. Xinjiang runs on Beijing time officially, but many locals keep a second, two-hours-behind "Xinjiang time". Restaurants, markets and tours may quote either. When someone says a time, ask which clock, or you will eat lunch at the wrong hour.

Day one: the old town on foot

The old town is the heart of Kashgar and the best thing to do here is simply to walk it — twice, because morning and evening feel like different cities.

• The old town lanes. Restored but still lived in: mud-brick houses, painted doors, workshops and courtyards. Go early for the light and the quiet, then again after dark when the food stalls open.
• Id Kah Mosque. The great mosque anchoring the old town, and a landmark on the scale of a cathedral. Dress modestly and respect prayer times.
• The handicraft street. Copper, ceramics, instruments and textiles, made in front of you. This is a working street, not a souvenir arcade.
• A tea house. Kashgar's tea houses are the local living room. Sit, order tea and naan, and watch the square.

Day two: the market and the tombs

• The Sunday market. Two parts: the sprawling dry-goods and spice bazaar, and the livestock market on the edge of town, where herders trade sheep and cattle in the open. Go in the morning; the animal market slows by noon.
• The Apak Khoja Mausoleum. Outside the centre, an ornate tiled tomb complex, known to visitors by the nickname of the "fragrant concubine". It is architecturally unlike anything else in the city.
• The riverside and the night food. Kebabs, pilaf, hand-pulled noodles and pomegranate juice. Eat where the locals queue.

The mountains: Karakul Lake, Tashkurgan and the highway south

South of Kashgar the road climbs toward the Pamirs on the Karakoram Highway, the route that eventually reaches Pakistan. The scenery is the reason to extend your trip, and the altitude is the reason not to rush it.

Do this as an overnight, not a day trip. The drive is long, the passes are high, and coming straight back the same night leaves no margin.

Permits and rules

Parts of Xinjiang, including stretches toward the borders, are controlled and some areas need a permit or a registered guide for foreign visitors. Rules change, and checkpoints on the highway are routine. Carry your passport at all times, and confirm the current requirements for Tashkurgan and any border area before you set out — do not assume last year's advice still holds.

Where to stay and how to get there

Stay in or near the old town so you can walk out into the lanes. Kashgar has an airport with direct flights from several major cities, including Urumqi, and a railway station. Flights from Urumqi take roughly an hour and a half to two hours; the train is far longer. Most travellers fly in and out and use a hired car and driver for the mountain run.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the comfortable seasons. Summer is hot and dry in the city; winter is cold and the mountain passes can be affected by snow. The Sunday market runs year-round.

What to eat

Kashgar is one of China's great food cities for meat and bread: lamb kebabs, pilaf, hand-pulled noodles, baked naan, and the melons and grapes the region is known for. Pomegranate juice is everywhere in autumn. The flavours here owe more to Central Asia than to the rest of China.

The mistakes first-timers make

• Missing the Sunday market by a day and expecting a weekday version.
• Trying to see the lake and Tashkurgan as a day trip.
• Ignoring the two-clock confusion and turning up at the wrong time.
• Assuming the old town is a staged attraction. People live there; treat it as a neighbourhood.

If you have one more day

Slow down in the tea houses, revisit the old town at dawn, or push further south into the Pamirs toward the Khunjerab area if permits allow. Kashgar rewards a slower pace more than most Chinese cities.

How Kashgar fits a Xinjiang trip

Most visitors reach Kashgar by flying from Urumqi, the regional capital, which is itself worth a day. A common loop runs Urumqi and the Tian Shan foothills, then Kashgar, then the Pamir highway south — or the reverse. Kashgar is the far end of that loop, so give it a two-to-three-day block rather than a tight connection. The old city, the market and the mountains together want at least three nights if you want the mountain run to breathe.

Altitude and health on the Pamir run

The drive south climbs quickly. Karakul Lake sits at around 3,600 metres and Tashkurgan at roughly 3,100, and some people feel the thin air on the first night. Go slowly, drink water, go easy on alcohol at altitude, and keep the first night as low as your itinerary allows. If you have heart or breathing conditions, talk to a doctor before committing to the high passes. The road itself is the attraction — snow peaks, yaks and river valleys — so do not treat the drive as dead time.

What to carry and how to behave

• Carry your passport at all times; checkpoints are normal on the roads out of the city.
• Dress modestly around mosques and in the old town out of respect, and ask before photographing people.
• Bring cash as a backup; signal can be patchy in the mountains and some small stalls still prefer it.
• Learn a few words of greeting in the local language. They go a long way in a region where visitors are still relatively few.