The high crossing
The passes and glacier viewpoints — snow walls into July, and the whole range's weather in one hour of road.
Destinations / Xinjiang /
Driving the Duku.
A 561-kilometre road that crosses the Tianshan north to south — open roughly June to early October, closed to night traffic always, and one of the world's great drives when it is done at the right pace.
Explore the guide ↓The Tianshan crossing · G217 · 561 km
- The road
- 561 km, G217
- The season
- ~Jun – early Oct
- The rule
- No night driving
- The traffic
- Peak weeks
The drive, and how to do it right.
The Duku highway was built in the 1970s–80s to connect the territory's north and south through the mountains, and it remains an engineering epic: glaciers at the road's shoulder, a gorge of vertical sandstone on the southern half, and passes with snow walls taller than a truck well into summer. It is also, in recent years, famous — which means the wrong time of day can cost you the road's best hour in a queue.
The correct crossing takes two days, drives the high half in the morning, and treats the viewpoints as stops rather than drive-bys. Our self-drive journey spreads it over two days with a mountain lodge between, pairs the road with the Kuqa canyon and caves at its southern end, and hands the car back before the rail line home. The season bulletin — confirmed each spring — decides everything.
Where the road earns its fame.
Six stops from Dushanzi to Kuqa.
The Tianshan mystery cliffs
The vertically-striped cliff formations that give the northern half its strangest photo stop.
The hot-spring lodge
The mountain lodge at the crossing's midpoint — a soak, an early dinner, and the road's only sensible overnight.
The big-wall gorge
The Kuqa river's vertical sandstone gorge, threaded for tens of kilometres — the road's second act.
The Mysterious Grand Canyon
The red slot canyon at the road's southern end — walk it in the first light, before the Duku's queues exist.
The Kizil caves
A short detour east of Kuqa: the earliest painted Buddhist caves in China, a century before the Mogao.
Getting it right.
Season, licences and the honest limits.
The season bulletin
Dates are set each year by snow clearance and announced in spring — the 2026 season ran 1 June to 8 October. We confirm current-season dates before any booking.
No night driving
The road closes to overnight traffic — a rule and a mercy. Every schedule ends at a hotel before dark; plan nothing after sunset on the mountain.
Self-drive licences
Foreign visitors need a Chinese licence to self-drive — we advise on the current rules and offer the driver-in-your-car fallback, which runs the identical journey.
Fuel and food
Fuel at Dushanzi and the mid-lodge; food is thin on the high half — the lodge lunch and the packed picnic are the plan.
Weather flex
The high crossing closes with weather in any month; the itinerary keeps a flex day and the lead car monitors the road in real time.
Drive it at the right pace.
Tell us your season — we will confirm the road's status and send the crossing plan.
Start my journey brief ↗