Kashgar 3-Day Itinerary 2026: Old Town, Livestock Bazaar and Night Train

Three days in Kashgar is enough for the Old Town, Id Kah Mosque and the livestock bazaar, provided your dates include a Thursday or Sunday, when the bazaar opens. Budget CNY 80-150 a day, sleep inside the Old Town, and arrive on the Z6516 night train from Urumqi, 11 hours 30 minutes, hard sleeper from CNY 317.50.

Kashgar sits at 1,270 meters on the western edge of the Tarim Basin, closer to Bishkek than to Beijing, and it has traded in this spot for more than 2,000 years because the Kaxgar River puts an oasis here. You arrive by rail or by air, but the city still runs on its own clock: Beijing time is official, yet daily life runs about two hours later, so dinner at 21:00 is normal and a July sunset can arrive after 22:00. That gap is the trick of a three-day visit. Mark your market days first, then build everything else around them, and let the afternoons go long over tea instead of sprinting between gates.

Day one belongs to the Old Town, on foot. Start at Id Kah Mosque on its central square: completed in 1442, covering about 16,800 square meters and holding up to 20,000 worshippers, it is the largest mosque in China, and visitors pay CNY 20 for a listed window of 08:50-10:00. Fridays are for prayer, so plan around them. Then lose yourself in the Old Town, 4.25 square kilometers of adobe lanes threaded with more than 200 alleys; the hexagonal paving tiles are a local navigation code, and four-cornered tiles lead to a dead end. Around 15:00, climb to the Century-old Teahouse on Wusitangboyi Road, about 200 meters from the mosque, and share a pot of Fu brick tea at CNY 20-50 with refills while the musicians play. Eat at the night market opposite the mosque, which starts about 19:00: lamb skewers at CNY 3-6 a stick, polo at CNY 20-30, naan at CNY 2-6.

Day two is your market day, and it only works if you are in town on a Thursday or Sunday. The livestock bazaar on the northwest edge along National Highway 314, roughly 10 kilometers from the Old Town, opens every Thursday and Sunday from 10:00 to 20:00, a change that took effect on May 14, 2026, and entry is free. Traders arrive early, so aim for 08:30-09:30, when the pens are full of sheep, cattle and horses, the bargaining is loud, and the kebab smoke is thickest. A taxi takes 30-40 minutes and costs CNY 30-50 one way, so agree on a 90-minute wait for the return, because rides back are scarce. In the afternoon, take bus 20 five kilometers northeast to the Abakh Khoja Tomb, also called the Afaq Khoja Mausoleum, built around 1640 and the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang: CNY 30, a 17-meter dome, and the tombs of 72 members of one family. Wash off the dust with a bowl of thick yogurt and a plate of laghman at CNY 18-32.

Day three is for the bazaars and the slower side of the city. Kashgar's Grand Bazaar, the Central Asia International Grand Bazaar, holds more than 5,000 booths and is free to walk; go in the morning for dried fruit, carpets and knives, then follow Kumu Dahl Vazha Road for the copper shops and instrument makers, and the hat bazaar for a four-cornered doppa. If you would rather have mountains, Karakul Lake sits 191 kilometers south on the Karakoram Highway, a 3.5-to-4-hour drive each way with a CNY 10 border permit at the checkpoint, so treat it as a fourth day rather than a third. Either way, end at the teahouse or a rooftop table as the light turns amber, with a last dinner of samsa at CNY 4-8 and a slice of melon.

Four practical notes make the three days run smoother. Entry: US passport holders need a Chinese visa for Xinjiang, and the 240-hour visa-free transit does not cover the region, so apply four to six weeks before departure and carry your passport for hotel registration. Money: Alipay and WeChat Pay work at almost every stall, but the livestock bazaar's signal is patchy, so keep CNY 100-200 in small notes. Dress and etiquette: cover shoulders and knees at Id Kah, remove shoes in the prayer hall, and expect no pork and little alcohol, because the city is overwhelmingly Uyghur and Muslim. Timing: April to May and September to October bring mild days and the fruit harvest, while July and August are hot and December to February is cold and quiet.

Base yourself inside or beside the Old Town so dinner and the evening lanes are a short walk from your door, and book sleeper berths and flights several weeks ahead for July, August and the National Day week, when trains and discounted airfares fill fastest. Our Kashgar travel guide goes deeper on the city, the getting-there guide explains every airport transfer and train, and the food guide prices the stalls. Tell ChinaMira your dates and your pace, and our Xinjiang specialists will time your visit to a Thursday or Sunday market, reserve the berth, and build the far-west stretch around your trip.