[2025 Shache Attraction] Travel Guide for Yarkhoto Khan Palace (Updated May)

Shache is like Kashgar from a few years ago A true hidden gem city in Southern Xinjiang Where you can see the authentic, simple life of Southern Xinjiang - 🔹Shache is perfect for citywalks and exploring alleys Tourist maps with suggested routes are available along the streets for reference 🔹Recommended route: Yarkant Palace (closed) - Amannisa Khan Memorial Tomb - Shache Mansion - Jiaman Mosque - Old Party School - Juwuqi Kule Alley - Folk Barbershop - Ordakule Alley - Red Pond Alley - Deep Canal Alley - Yisu Road - Sareyikule Maili Alley - Akegu Mosque - Kazanqi Road - New Unity Tea Shop - Old Cinema - Subi Night Market - 📍Subi Night Market A local night market that gets very lively in the evening, with people dancing freely on stage Lots of Xinjiang specialty snacks, yogurt zongzi and liangpi are worth trying! - 📍Kazanqi Street You can watch the entire process of artisans making traditional crafts, see traditional Xinjiang children's bassinets There are also fresh fruits and vegetables for sale, full of everyday local life - 📍New Unity Tea Shop A traditional teahouse that still maintains its original prices One yuan for a pot of tea and a nang bread You can stay here all afternoon, experiencing the old times - This hidden gem city is best for leisurely strolls If you love the culture of Southern Xinjiang, don't miss it! Tips💖 1. Shache isn't very big, one day is enough, but if you have extra time, you can stay overnight🏨 to experience Shache's slow-paced lifestyle 2. Taxi🚕 fare starts at 5 yuan, some drivers aren't fluent in Mandarin and may misunderstand you 3. Try to visit Yarkant Palace🕌 in the morning when it's not so hot☀️

Shache, a thousand-year-old ancient city located in the southwestern border of Xinjiang, is an important post station on the ancient Silk Road. 📍Detailed address: Shache County is located on the western edge of the Taklimakan Desert, about 200 kilometers away from Kashgar City. It is an important transportation hub in southern Xinjiang and an important birthplace of Uyghur culture. 🚉Transportation strategy: 🚂Train: Departing from Kashgar Station, there are multiple trains every day, the ticket price is 22.5-28.5 yuan, and the journey takes about 2 hours. 🚙Self-driving: The Kashgar-Shache Expressway is open, and the journey takes about 2.5 hours. You can enjoy the scenery of the Southern Xinjiang Gobi Desert along the way. 🗓One-day tour itinerary: [One] Yingjisha County Earthenware Village 🏺 Yingjisha County Earthenware Village Scenic Area), 15 kilometers away from Shache County, visit Shache intangible cultural heritage - Uyghur traditional earthenware workshop, watch potters making pottery by hand, and experience DIY pottery making. [Two] Yarkand Khan Palace 🕌Yarkand Khan Palace Shache County Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park Visit the palace buildings from the Yarkand Khanate period and experience the traditional Uyghur architectural art and court culture. [Three] Yarkand Khanate Mausoleum 🕍Amanisa Khan Memorial Mausoleum Visit the mausoleum complex where 12 Khans are buried, and listen to the legendary story of Princess Amanishahan and the Twelve Muqams. [Four] Shache Old Town⛪️Old Town Scenic Area Shache Ancient City Gate Old Town Scenic Area Kazanqi Street Stroll along Kazanqi Street, experience the urban life in southern Xinjiang, check in at the century-old teahouse, and taste the local special teas. 🌟Highlights: 1⃣It is recommended to watch the Twelve Muqam performance in the evening🎸. At the Shache Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum or the Old Town Square, you can enjoy the Twelve Muqam, known as the "Pearl of Oriental Music", and immerse yourself in the charm of Uyghur music and dance. 2⃣ Pottery making experience ⚱, shape and paint patterns by yourself, and take away a unique pottery souvenir (the experience lasts about 1 hour and costs about 50-100 yuan). [Tableware] Restaurant recommendations: Lunch recommendation: Muqam Hometown Restaurant in Shache County: Taste Shache’s special pigeon feast (roasted pigeon, pigeon soup, pigeon noodles), the meat is tender and the aftertaste is endless. In addition to the pigeon feast, you can try Shache’s special desserts (yogurt rice dumplings, almond ice cream [Taro]). Take in the thousand-year-old splendor of Shache in one day. From palaces to pottery villages, from camel bells to muqam, Shache tells the story of the ancient city of the Silk Road with its unique rhythm.

One-Day Tour of Yarkand Khan Palace and Shache, a Hidden Gem in the Western Regions Shache Palace, also known as Yarkand Khan Palace, boasts a unique architectural style. Its interwoven blue and yellow hues create a refreshing oasis in the desert, exquisite and distinctive. Every corner exudes Central Asian charm, making you feel like you've stepped into a fairytale from the Arabian Nights. 🕐【Opening Hours]: 10:30 am–8:00 pm 🎫【Ticket Price]: CNY 35/person 💥[Activities]: Twelve Muqam Folk Performance This is the birthplace of Shache. There are two performances daily inside the Yarkand Khan Palace. Don't miss it! 💃Performance Time: 12:30 pm–1:30 pm, 5:00 pm–6:00 pm 🚘【Transportation]: Train: The train from Kashgar to Shache takes about 2–3 hrs. Taxi: Taxis are available at the train station entrance and are easy to hail within the city. The only potential issue might be a slight language barrier. Car Rental: If possible, renting a car will make your trip more flexible and comfortable. 🌆【Itinerary]: Shache Railway Station → Yarkand Khan Palace → Royal Mausoleum → Shache Ancient City Gate (Opening Ceremony at 10:30 am) → Twelve Muqam Performance → Old City Wall Ruins 🎒【Preparation Before Departure]: 💠Plan your route and the time for watching the Twelve Muqam performance. Arrive early to secure a good spot. 💠Bring your ID card, student ID, and other discount certificates. 📝Tips: Shache is a small city, and one day is enough for sightseeing. If you have more time, consider staying overnight to experience the slow-paced life of Shache. The starting taxi fare in Shache is only CNY 5, but some drivers may not be fluent in Mandarin. Please be patient when communicating.

As beautiful as a fairy tale world, Shache Travel Guide 📷 Shache, the largest county in Xinjiang, The locals are not fluent in Mandarin, but they are simple and honest, Retaining the authentic Xinjiang flavor. . Route: 🔹Tashkurgan—Shache Self-driving: Wuhong Line—Tuhe Expressway 350 km, 7 hours ｜Most of the time is spent on provincial roads/country roads Self-driving is not recommended on the Tasha Ancient Road, which is not yet repaired. I experienced a section in Tashkurgan, and the road was really bad. 🔹Kashgar—Shache Self-driving: 200 km, 3 hours Public transportation: Green train 28 yuan (2 hours) . 1️⃣st stop: 📍 Shache Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park (the original site of the Yarkand Palace) This place is very photogenic, with a strong Western Region style. Don't come early, the light is good after 19:00, otherwise the colors will not be good. Next door is the Mausoleum (ticket 🎫10 yuan) and the Yarkand Palace is just across the street. ① Intangible cultural heritage performance "Twelve Muqam" every day at 12:30 and 17:30 ② "Shache Memory" Exhibition Hall introduces the history of urban development ③ City opening ceremony to welcome tourists every day at 10:30 am ④ Multiple folk exhibition halls on the first floor to learn about local culture, art, and folk customs ⑤ You can feed pigeons in the square with children ⑥ The main building of the palace is a restaurant, and it is very beautiful inside 🎫Ticket: 35 yuan (10 yuan/person for explanation; free explanation for buying a package for 10 people+) 🈺️Opening hours: 10:30-20:30 🅿️Parking: Not very convenient, parking spaces may be tight during peak season, you can park in the surrounding alleys . 2⃣️nd stop: 📍Old Town Night Market Cross the road and enter [Gulbagh Road] from [Carpet Lane] There are many streets that are night markets, very lively. The snacks here are similar to those in Kashgar, but the prices are cheaper than those in Kashgar. Lamb skewers are 10 yuan in Kashgar and 8 yuan here; Hami melons are 5 yuan in Kashgar and 1-2 yuan here; children will take the initiative to chat, they are very simple and cute, and I have not encountered the situation of asking for things or money like in Kashgar. 🌟🌟Food recommendations: [Old Barbecue Restaurant] It has many customers, and the lamb skewers are made in a naan pit, marinated before, without adding other seasonings, very fresh and tender. The baked buns have a crispy and fragrant crust, 5 yuan each. . ❤️TIPS: The locals are not very fluent in Mandarin, but it does not hinder communication. You can find children, they all speak Mandarin. . 🏨Accommodation: [Shache Jing'an Road Yunjv Hotel] The hotel is considered very good locally, the rooms are very large, and it is 2-4 km away from Shache attractions.

🏰The Yarkant Khan Palace in Shache was the place I was most looking forward to visiting on my trip to Xinjiang. When I saw this granite palace, I was amazed by its grandeur. 💭Here, it seems you can feel the accumulation of history. The Yarkant Khan regime, which lasted for 500 years, has only left this palace. I imagined the past glory here, and thought about the scenes of the kings and soldiers living and fighting here. It seems that history has been seriously experienced here, and I feel calm and happy. 🌟Features of the Yarkant Khan Palace in Shache - Long history: It was built during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty; - Huge stone pile: It is built with granite boulders, each stone is similar in size, and they are very closely arranged; - Careful design: The layout of the palace walls and houses are all from Persian and Mongolian styles, showing the cultural integration at that time and the historical process of the formation of Han-Tibetan-Islamic culture. 🚗Travel plan Day 1: From Shache to Yarkant, enjoy the beautiful scenery of "mountains and pastures"; Day 2: Visit the Yarkant Khan Palace in Shache, learn about history and culture, and enjoy the magnificent scenery; Day 3: Visit the ancient city of Shache and the surrounding ancient tombs and ancient city sites, and enjoy the exotic style; Day 4: Go to the surrounding pastoral villages, learn about local culture, and taste local specialties; Day 5: Return to Shache and end this historical journey. 🏞Finally, I summarize this trip with a sentence— The footsteps of history stay here, and the free soul flies here.

After a few days of rest and team formation in Kashgar, we finally began the first day of the G219 Xinjiang-Tibet Highway on September 6. Today, we arrived in Yecheng, the zero-kilometer starting point of the Xinjiang-Tibet Highway is here. On the way, we also passed through Shache, a small town full of exotic charm. Unlike Kashgar, it has fewer tourists and commercialization (the people eating barbecue at the stalls are all locals). Shache County is the largest almond production base in the country, known as the hometown of almonds in China, with ethnic minorities accounting for more than 95% of the population. It has a history of more than 3,000 years. It was a famous tribal kingdom in the Western Regions, successively known as the Kingdom of Shache, the Kingdom of Qusha, and the Yarkand Khanate. The Yarkand Khanate Palace is not open to the public, so we could only check in from the outside, but the Amannisa Khan Tomb is very beautiful. Yecheng also has a 'City of Sitiya Ruins.' 'Sitiya' translates to 'Immortal Cliff' in Chinese. The ruins are estimated to date back to the Tang Dynasty, but this still needs to be verified. However, it is now just an artificial landscape, seemingly a local open activity venue. We happened to catch them holding an event, and then watched the 'Baduanjin' competition between various villages and teams on site for a while. Surprisingly, this is also popular in Xinjiang.

🕌 Only by visiting Shache can one deeply feel the cultural essence of southern Xinjiang. ⭐️ It is more niche, primitive, and simple than the ancient city of Kashgar, with a stronger cultural atmosphere. It is like Kashgar 20 years ago. 🉐 With a history of 5,000 years in China, this lesser-known county, Shache, has a history of 3,000 years! Once a crucial point on the Silk Road, it still retains a strong exotic charm today! Below👇🏻 is a guide prepared for everyone after several visits to Shache. 📍 Navigation: Shache Ancient City 🚗 Transportation: ① Self-driving; ② Kashgar ~ Shache train 🚞 10:45-12:35; 28.5 yuan/person; Shache ~ Kashgar, last train, 22:00-00:10; 🚶🏻‍♀️ How to play in Shache: ▫️ One-day tour route: Kashgar ⥤ Shache ⥤ Yarkand Palace (Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park) ⥤ Shache Old City Night Market ▫️ Two-day tour route: Kashgar ⥤ Shache ⥤ Yarkand Palace (Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park) ⥤ Watch performances ⥤ Mausoleum ⥤ Kazan Historical and Cultural Block ⥤ Check-in and drink tea at a local teahouse ⥤ Shache Old City Night Market to eat snacks ‼️ Important note, Yarkand Palace will be renovated internally in 2024. Please check the specific opening time before you go to avoid a wasted trip. ⭐️ Interesting and worth visiting points in Shache: 🕌 Yarkand Palace: The original has been destroyed, and this is a later reconstruction. The overall architecture is mainly in yellow and blue, with a strong Islamic style. The onion 🧅 dome is very interesting, and wearing a plain dress for photos is very picturesque; 💃🏻 Watch intangible cultural heritage performances: There are two performances by the Twelve Muqam Art Troupe in the palace every day, from 13:00-14:00 and 18:00-19:00; 👏 Kazan Historical and Cultural Block: There is a street full of Western style right outside the palace. Wear a Western-style dress and take photos 📸; 🍵 Go to a local old teahouse to drink tea with the locals: The prices in Shache are really like 20 years ago. Tea at the Unity Teahouse costs only one yuan, and you can sit there for half a day for just two yuan! 😦 Go to the night market to eat snacks: The local naan costs only 3 yuan for a big one! Lamb skewers are also only 3-5 yuan. At these prices, I could live here for a month with just 2000 yuan! 👻 Experiences worth having in Shache: 👉🏻 Bring your camera and don't hesitate to press the shutter to capture these beautiful moments; 👉🏻 Chat with the local children. They are really enthusiastic and will say: Take a picture of me! 👉🏻 Stay for a night to feel the charm of this small county with a history of over 3,000 years. 👯‍♀️ It is said that if you haven't been to Kashgar, you haven't been to southern Xinjiang. But if you haven't been to Shache, you can't feel the most intense cultural atmosphere of southern Xinjiang. So, have you been to Shache? Do you like this small county? I would love to hear your stories in Shache!

This place, many people will take it as the cover of Shache. To be honest, it really has an exotic charm, and it's very eye-catching. As a result, many people, including myself, will have an impression of Shache as if it carries a Central Asian vibe, so when I went there, the difference was really huge. I've been thinking, can those people on the internet not throw away those hollow appearances, and just speak some big truths? . Those pictures you see online, to be honest, you can think of them as something like a Hengdian World Studios vibe. . ▪️ First of all, the palace is not very big, it's all newly built buildings, and if you seriously visit, it will take about half an hour to finish. The so-called photogenic pictures are just a bunch of people lining up in a few corridors to take photos. ▪️ When I was in Shache, I hadn't gone to Central Asia yet. But honestly, the construction of the palace is quite rough, and the details are not as good as imagined. So, if you are looking at the palace with the expectations from the internet pictures, you are likely to be disappointed. . 🌈 But there is still a place that can somewhat soothe me, and that is the performance of the Twelve Muqam in the palace. The Twelve Muqam was organized and completed by the queen Amanisha Khan, and there are a total of 16 sets of Muqam: Rak, Chabiyati, Mushawurek, Charbagh, Panjigah Uzhal, Aijem Ushak, Bayat, Navo, Sigah, Iraq, etc. Each set is divided into three parts: Jangnama, Dastan, and Maixirepu. . The number of performers in the palace is not very many, but it is still very interesting to watch. There are songs and dances, and performances like skits and magic, and in the end, they will even dance with the audience for a while. . If you are short on time and can't see the Twelve Muqam, I suggest you can go to ➡️ the Kazanqi street in the old town area, where basically, there will be locals dancing Maixirepu all day long. Actually, for Shache, my suggestion is to walk more in the old town alleys, which might be more interesting. . ➡️ Performance times: 12:30/17:30

Shache County, under the jurisdiction of Kashgar Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has been known far and wide as a tribal state in the Western Regions, known successively as the Shache Kingdom, Qusha Kingdom, and Yarkand Khanate. It is a strategic point on the ancient Silk Road and a key military stronghold. 🚉 Travel Tips: This time we chose to take the train from Kashgar to Shache, which takes about 2 hours, and half of the journey offers beautiful snow mountain scenery. The hard seat ticket costs only 28.5 yuan. However, it is recommended to take a hard sleeper because it can get quite crowded. Local buses are not very convenient and require waiting. After arriving at Shache station, just take a taxi to the Yarkand Khan Palace. The starting price for taxis is only 5 yuan. ⏳ Play Time & 🗓 Itinerary: 4 hours. We chose to make a round trip on the same day. We arrived in Shache around 12 noon and returned around 4 pm. 🌟 Highlights: The Yarkand Khan Palace is not very big, but it has a very exotic charm and is great for taking photos! 🍽 Dining Recommendations: Roasted pigeon! 🉑 Mukam Hometown Restaurant is a popular local eatery. The roasted pigeon is delicious, available whole or skewered. We ordered two skewers, a cold noodle dish, and a serving of Qamgul noodles. The ice cream shop in the picture is highly recommended!! It's both cheap and delicious, with a serving of ice cream and a serving of yogurt sorbet for only 10 yuan!! Incredibly tasty with a rich milky flavor! 🍧🍧🍧 As a short journey during our brief stay in Kashgar, making a day trip is not tiring at all, and it's a great way to pass the time, relax, and is highly recommended!