Dunhuang

World Heritage: some 700 caves cut into a cliff from the fourth to the fourteenth century, holding murals and painted clay figures. Visits start with films at the digital centre, then a shuttle and a guide into just a few caves. Cameras stay off inside.

Between the sand hills south of town a crescent-shaped pool of spring water lies, never yet dried up. Sand gets in your shoes, so rent the orange overshoes at the gate. Midday sand burns; climb the ridge at dusk, watch the sun go down, then come back.

Site of the Han gate Wang Wei had in mind writing that west of Yangguan you will meet no old friends. A single ruined beacon tower on a hill is all that stands, desert beyond. About 70 km southwest of town, paired with Yumen in one day.

The pass was named for the jade that came through it from the west; the square rammed-earth fort of Xiaofangpan still stands. The gravel plain round it has no shade; a hat and more water than seems needed are the kit. Roughly 90 km northwest of town.

Stretches of 2,000-year-old wall running through the desert west of Yumen, their cross-section plainly built of reed and gravel in alternating layers. Nothing like the stone and brick wall near Beijing. The Yumen ticket covers it.

Wind has carved clay ridges into ranks of shapes like fleets or fortresses, and the noise it makes at night earned the name Devil City. Inside, only park buses run. It is far from town, so it goes with Yumen, timed for sunset.

Grottoes on both sides of a gorge in Guazhou, best for their Western Xia murals. One shows Xuanzang with a monkey-like companion, counted among the earliest pictures tied to Journey to the West. From Dunhuang, budget slightly more than two hours' driving.

Wooden slips from Han beacon towers and Silk Road trade goods, laid out by period. Admission is free with a passport. Since you see only a handful of Mogao caves, getting the outline of local history here first pays off.

A food lane in central Dunhuang that sets up every evening, a long run of lamb-skewer smoke and apricot-drink stalls. Deeper in are shops selling luminous cups and camel-bone carvings. Out here the sun sets late, so it fills only after 9 pm.

A small cluster of caves along the cliff of the Dang River, far quieter than Mogao. With fewer caves the guide lingers longer in each. Some 30 km southwest of town, on the road to Yangguan.

An earthen pagoda said to mark where the white horse that carried the monk Kumarajiva died. It stands alone in the fields inside the old Shazhou city site, open on all sides. Few come, so cycle out from town and you will likely have it to yourself.

A whole Song-era walled town built on the desert's edge for the Japanese film Dunhuang. Climb the earthen walls and sand plain begins right outside. Many costume dramas have shot here since, each adding a little to the set.

An indoor production by Wang Chaoge where the audience never takes a seat, moving room to room to follow the scenes. Silk Road travellers and the Library Cave manuscripts play out room by room. You are on your feet throughout; wear comfortable shoes.

Tang-era earthen walls in the Guazhou desert, part of the Silk Roads World Heritage site. It is named for suoyang, a desert herb, after a tale of besieged soldiers who lived on its roots. The ruins offer no shade whatsoever; at midday carry water and a hat.