5 Day Inner Mongolia Kublai Khan and Grassland Exloration Tour

Arrival at Hohhot, met by our English speaking tour guide at Hohhot Railway Station, or Hohhot Airport. You will be arranged to visit Dazhao Monastery, Inner Mongolia Museum and Jiangjun Yashu at Suiyuan City. Dazhao Monastery is the largest and best preserved lama temple in Hohhot. Inner Mongolia Museum is located in the heart of Hohhot and is the largest and best museum in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Jiangjun Yashu at Suiyuan City was originally built for the general of the Suiyuan city, covers an area of 15,000 square meters in Qin Dynasty (1644-1911). After dinner, check in at our designated hotel in Hohhot.

After breakfast, drive 550km to Zhenglan Qi and the drive takes about 6.5 hours. Lunch will be arranged on the way. Arriving at Zhenglan Qi, you will receive a welcoming ceremony - you will be warmly welcomed by the local Mongolians colorfully dressed. They will present each of you a silver cup of wine and Hada ( white or blue silk scarves which are tokens of greetings in Inner Mongolia ).

Then visit the Kublai Khan's Square built in memory of Kublai Khan in the county center. Today you will be arranged to stay in the yurt in the Grassland Resort, not far from the county of Zhenglan Qi.

Before dinner, you can enjoy many grassland activities - horseback riding and sunset. The cost for horseback riding is not included in the tour package.

The sunrise on the grassland is one of the greatest marvellous spectacle in nature. If you don't want to miss the chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery on the grassland, you are advised to get up around 4:00 in the morning.

After breakfast, drive to Duolun County, 78km southeast of Zhenglan Qi. The drive takes aboutr 1.5 hours. Duolun County is an ancient county under the administration of Xilin Gol League. It administrates 2 townships, 3 villages with a popuations of 300, 000 people with ethnic groups composed of Han Chinese, Hui, Uygur, Tibetan etc. Animal husbandry is its main business including cattle cattle, horse, ships and donkeys. Its farming includes wheat, potatos and more. It has an abundant historical sites and temples.

You will be arranged to visit Xishan Bay Scenic Area. It is located 30km southeast of Duolun County. Xishan Bay Reservoir has the water surface area of 20,000 Chinese acres with storage capacity 100,000,000 cubic meters. Its natural landscape is richly colorful with four distinctive seasons. The scenes along the banks coupled by the lake island in the reservoir and the peninsula, the sand peninsula and the mountain, the water, the sand, the grass combined constitute a three-dimensional picture scroll.

It is also the headstream of the Luanhe River and the Miyun Reservoir in Tianjin and Beijing. The Xishan bay drift at the headstream is the amusement area which forms by a natural river course. When you lie supine when the raft excursion goes heartily slowly with the blue sky and white clouds, you will feel that you have returned to the nature with pleasure ( drifting fee is on your own).

There is a man made sections of the Great Wall - so called "Mini -Badaling Great Wall" built on the site of the Great Wall resembling the Badaling Great Wall in Beijing. Ascend the wall and have a bird-eye view of the beautiful scenery with the reservoir water, grass and hills combined.

Then drive back to the Duolun County for lunch. After lunch, you will visit Huizong Temple. Huizong Temple was originally built in Duolun by the Kangxi emperor in 1711, and it was staffed by monks from the 120 banners of Mongolia. In the past Duolun (Dolonnor) was also nicknamed " Lama miao", or "Lama temple," named after the many temples located there. One of the two famous temples is Huizong Temple ( Koke Monastery ).

Before dinner, you are going to visit a local carnelian factory. Check in at your hotel in Duolun County.

After breakfast, drive to the site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital (Shangdu or Xanadu in Zhenglan Banner). The drive takes about 2.5 hours. In 1260, Yuan Shizu Emperor Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, estabished the capital at Upper Capital, about 20km east of Plain Blue Banner. When the Yuan Dadu Capital was founded at Yanjing (present Beijing City) in the year of 1264, the imperial system of inspection tour between the two capitals was formed. Upper Capital and Dadu (Grand Capital) became two alternate capitals for the Great Yuan Dynasty, spanning the 108-year reign of 11 emperors in succession. In this period the Yuan empire controlled a vast territory and thrived, becoming a great power and ushering the new era of the Chinese ancient history and the world history of nomadic nations. Marco Polo, his father and uncle arrived in Shangdu (Xanadu), in 1275 when Marco Polo was at the age of 21. Marco Polo met Kublai Khan soon after arriving in Shangdu.

Then enjoy Jinlianchuan Prairie on which the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital was built. It is a part of Xilin Gol Prairie. There are two main seasons to visit this grassland - there are yellow flowers and many other kinds of unknown flowers all over the mountains and plains Here and you also can visit the site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital. The Jinlianchuan Prairie is the most beautiful grassland in Inner Mongolia. It is rich in edible and medicinal plants such as the fern, day lily. Here is also the authentic capital site for the Yuan Dynasty and an important epitome of the nomadic civilization of the 13th and 14th Century.

Afterwards, visit Shangdu Museum - The only museum in Zhenglan Qi in Xilin Gol. It was founded by Inner Mongolia Jitai Group in 2008. The museum covers an area of 9900 square meters, construction area of 3,000 square meters. It is a two-story building, with four exhibition halls, a video room, the antiques room and arts & crafts sections. The museum is focused on the Yuan Dynasty culture, Shangdu and the Char folklore as well as Zhenglan Qi as the main body. The museum has a rich collection of valuable antiques in Yuan Dynasty in addition to the collections from local government and the Inner Mongolia Association of antiques and artifacts.

After dinner, check in at your hotel in Zhenglan Qi.

After breakfast, drive back to Hohhot. Lunch will be arranged on the way. Arriving at hohhot, you are transferred to Hohhot Railway Station, or Airport, or your hotel in Hohhot.