Best Things To Do in Kashgar: the complete travel guide

Find out what to do and what to see in Kashgar, one of the oldest and most fascinating cities in China, along the ancient Silk Road on the far Western side of the country.

Kashgar (喀什) is probably the closest you can get to what you might imagine when you think of the Silk Road. For centuries, this oasis city has been a crossroads where caravans from Central Asia met traders from China, carrying silk, spices, and stories along the route. Sitting at the far western edge of China, Kashgar is geographically and culturally closer to Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan than to Beijing.

This borderland position has shaped its identity: Uyghur traditions dominate daily life, but you’ll also notice traces of Central Asian and the Middle East. That unique blend of cultures, layered with thousands of years of history, is what gives Kashgar its atmosphere: an old city that still feels like a living piece of the Silk Road.

Best time to visit

Kashgar has a dry desert climate with big swings between day and night. Summer is hot and sunny, with July highs around 30°C and warm nights near 20°C, and heat waves can touch 40°C. Winter is cold, with January days around 0°C and nights near −10°C. This means that the best months to visit the area are during Spring and Autumn. In this way, you will avoid the extreme temperatures. The Sunday Livestock Market runs year-round, so plan your dates around that if possible.

Out on the Karakoram Highway, you climb fast, so temperatures drop sharply. Karakul Lake sits at an altitude of 3,600 meters, and even in August, nights can be close to 0°C, and the wind is strong. Tashkurgan, around 3,094 meters, is cool in summer and very cold in winter.

I think you should give yourself at least two full days to visit Kashgar, four if you want to include the Karakoram Highway.

Getting in and accommodations Issues

Since this city is so far from other major cities in China, flights can be long, and most will require a stopover, likely in Lanzhou or Xi’an. There are a few direct flights from Beijing and Shanghai, though. In any case, check on Trip, which I always recommend when traveling in China.

Even now, it’s not uncommon to be refused by hotels and guesthouses because you are a foreigner. As I explained in this article, the truth is that this practice is illegal, but unless you want to involve the police, your best option is to find something else. If you booked your stay through Trip, they’ll take care of the issue and rebook you elsewhere (usually with an upgrade).

DIY or Guide

You can visit Kashgar independently, and many people do that. But you most likely will continue your trip to another area, and while it’s possible to find local buses, that’s not the best way to explore Xinjiang. You’ll miss the most interesting points in between cities. I arranged this trip through a local company. Send me a DM on Instagram if you need the contact.

Keep in mind that to explore the Karakoram Highway, you will need to apply for a special permit at the Kashi City Immigration Service Center (喀什市移民事务服务中心), which is granted on the same day. Getting the permit is not difficult (in terms of the requirements), but no one speaks English, which might be a challenge. If you have a driver, he will take care of that paperwork for you.

Important: Regulations in Xinjiang change all the time, so before leaving, make sure that you are actually allowed to follow the route that you planned, especially if you plan to sleep at Karakul or continue to the Pakistan border at Khunjerab Pass.

Things to do and see in Kashgar

These are some of the most interesting things you can plan to do and see in Kashagar. For an overview of Xinjiang and a guide on how to organize a road trip across the region, this travel guide has you covered.

Kashgar Old City (喀什古城)

From 2009, authorities launched an extensive “modernization” of Kashgar’s Old City, citing earthquake safety, with plans to demolish and rebuild most of the mud-brick quarter, often quoted as up to about 85 percent of the area and thousands of homes. Work moved in phases through the early 2010s, and today, much of the district has been sadly reconstructed with wider streets and concrete buildings, while small pockets of original fabric survive near the river on the eastern edge.

This ancient town is quite big compared to other similar ones in China. Despite the reconstruction, it still somehow maintains a pleasant atmosphere, at least in the side alleys where you can still see some of the few remaining local people. Every morning at 10:30 am, there’s an “opening” ceremony on the main gate. Skip it: it’s not worth it.

Unfortunately, drones are not allowed, unless you ask for a special permit at the police station, and considering that I’m a foreigner and that Xinjiang is quite a sensitive area, politically, I didn’t feel like asking for it, just to be safe and avoid being questioned. There’s a TV tower just outside the Old Town (impossible to miss since it’s the tallest building in Kashgar), where you can head to have great 360° views of the city.

An interesting fact: the film “The Kite Runner” was shot in the old city of Kashgar, as the political situation in Afghanistan would have made it impossible to film there.

Gaotai Ancient Homes (高台民居)

Gaotai is a cluster of traditional mud-brick houses built on a cliffside. These centuries-old homes are stacked along narrow alleys and connected by winding stairways, creating a maze-like neighborhood that showcases Uyghur architectural style. Some of the houses are still inhabited, but many have become coffee shops or guesthouses. When I visited, a good portion of the village was being renovated while another part (the section you see in the picture above) was preserved as a sort of open-air archaeological site.

This area is a bit more authentic than the Old Town, but it’s really small. Head there only if you have some extra time in Kashgar.

Kashgar Bazaar, best on Sunday (喀什大巴扎)

Historically, Kashgar’s Sunday bazaar was the Silk Road’s great weekly meet-up, a place where you could find almost anything. The bazaar operates daily, while the livestock market opens only on Sunday. I read online that this bazaar is one of the biggest in Central Asia. Not sure if it’s true, but it’s certainly massive and quite interesting. You’ll find lots of traditional Uyghur dishes, such as the Pilaf Rice and the “Kao Baozi,” that are really delicious. Don’t arrive to early in the morning because in this part of China, to compensate for the Beijing Time Zone, activities tend to open and become active quite late during the morning.

Sunday Livestock Market (牲畜大巴扎)

The Sunday Livestock Market is noisy and dusty, with animals being inspected, bargained for, and taken away on carts or trucks. The way the animals are kept and handled might feel harsh if you are particularly sensitive, but it’s standard practice here and part of everyday life. It’s one of the best places to see the local culture up close.

This Market went viral in China because of videos showing tourists “rua” the sheep, which means touching or patting their big, fat butts. You’ll see plenty of souvenirs about this, and probably people also doing it (both locals and tourists).

The two markets are located next to each other. So it’s pretty easy to visit both.

Kashgar Cemetery

This place is a sort of bonus tip. I couldn’t find any info online about it, not even on Chinese social media. This massive area is located on the east side of the old town, and it’s Kashgar’s main cemetery. I visited it during a sand storm, and it made this place look even more surreal. It’s filled with mud-brick tombs, wooden markers, and small domed mausoleums. Some graves are decorated with colorful cloth, others are just simple mounds of earth. It’s still used today, and walking through it feels like stepping back in time. It’s not a tourist spot, but it’s a fascinating way to see another side of local life and traditions.

As you travel across the autonomous region, you’ll come across many other similar cemeteries, but this is by far the biggest one I’ve ever seen.

Enjoy the local Uyghur food

One of the best parts of Xinjiang is its local food scene. Some of the things you cannot miss include the yangrou chuan’r, cumin-dusted lamb skewers (羊肉串); Nang (馕), a round flatbread baked in a tandoor-style oven, crisp at the edges and chewy in the center, and the kao baozi from a clay oven (烤包子), small baked buns stuck to the hot walls of a clay oven, filled with minced lamb, onion, and sometimes carrot. If you are out early, find a bowl of polo or plov, locally called zhua fan (抓饭), which is rice cooked with lamb fat, carrot, and mild spices, filling and slightly sweet from the carrot.

Don’t forget the hand-pulled noodles, called lamian or laghman (拉条子), long wheat noodles stretched by hand and topped with a wok-tossed mix of tomato, peppers, onion, and sometimes beef or lamb, easy to order in a vegetarian version if you prefer (they are technically from Gansu but are also popular here).

Karakoram Highway (喀喇昆仑公路)

I wrote a detailed article about this incredible area, but in a few words, I’ll say that I highly recommend adding at least a couple of days to your itinerary to visit the Karakoram Highway, which can be easily reached from Kashgar (you’ll need to apply for the permit first).

Some of the must-visit areas include the White Sand Lake (白沙湖), Karakul Lake (喀拉库勒湖), and the Bandin Blue Lake (班迪尼蓝湖), but there is so much more to see. Be prepared for tons of checkpoints and pace yourself for the altitude; Karakul is above 3,500 meters, and Tashkurgan is over 3,000.

After you are done exploring this border area and Kashgar, another area well worth visiting is Turpan, across the Taklamakan Desert. I wrote a detailed travel guide here.

Final thoughts

Kashgar is truly a unique place, unlike anything you will see in China, that has retained some of its ancient charm. Unfortunately, most of the local culture is gone, but you can still find hints of a time when this part of Asia was extremely wealthy.

Traveling here isn’t always simple. It requires long flights or train rides, and sometimes paperwork checks on the way to nearby destinations. But that extra effort is precisely what makes a visit so rewarding. Few places capture the spirit of the Silk Road the way Kashgar does, and if you give it time, you’ll discover a city that feels very different from the rest of China.

As always, don’t forget to get a VPN before traveling to China. I recommend this one. If you prefer an eSIM, this is a great option. Finally, don’t forget to get a good travel insurance such as this one.

Here you can find an article about another area along the Ancient Silk Road: Gansu Province. Here’s my Southeast Kazakhstan Guide. Here you can find some more pictures I took during the trip.