The old city east gate
The restored ancient city is inhabited — bakeries, coppersmiths, dollmakers and family courtyards — and best at opening time before the crowds, then again at dusk.
Destinations / Xinjiang /
Kashgar.
The city where the silk road ran out of land: a living old city of bread ovens and coppersmiths, the largest livestock market in Asia, and the road west climbing toward the Pamir.
Explore the guide ↓Southern Xinjiang · 1,300 m · the caravan capital
- The role
- Road's end
- The altitude
- 1,300 m
- The market
- Sundays
- The old city
- Working lanes
Two thousand years at the road's end.
Kashgar is the silk road made physical. Geography put it here — the last green place before the ranges west and south — and everything that follows from geography followed here too: traders, pilgrims, soldiers, potters, and a density of craft and food that survives in the working lanes of the old city today.
Give the city three days. One for the old city's east-gate quarter at opening time and the evening rush of the food streets; one for the Apak Hoja shrine, the workshops and the grand bazaar; and one aligned to the livestock market, which is worth rearranging a whole itinerary around. Then the Karakoram highway waits at the western edge of town, climbing toward the Pamir — and the region guide to the south takes over.
The city's anchors.
Six stops, from dawn ruins to midnight bread.
The livestock market
Sheep, goats, horses, camels and the trade that surrounds them — the largest market of its kind in Asia, photographed a million times and still genuinely local.
The Apak Hoja shrine
The 17th-century shrine of the Naqshbandi family — glazed tiles, dome and courtyard — and the region's most important pilgrimage site.
The International Grand Bazaar
One of the region's largest markets: fabrics, carpets, knives, dried fruit and the tea shops where the deals happen.
Id Kah square & the great mosque
The plaza where the old city pivots — prayer times shape the day, and the square's evening light is the city's postcard.
The food streets
Baked naan, samsa from the tandoor, lamb skewers, chicken-over-noodles — the southern style is bolder and sweeter than the north's, and the streets around the old city run it late.
Getting it right.
Market days, permits and pacing.
Market timing
The livestock market is a weekly event (traditionally Sunday) and moves with the calendar — we build any Kashgar itinerary around its day, which sometimes means reordering two days of the week.
The border permit
The Pamir highway beyond the city needs a border-area permit for Tashkurgan county — free of charge, issued in Kashgar or online, and handled by us on any Pamir journey.
How long
Three full days for the city itself, four if a rest day helps. The Pamir road is a separate, additional leg — see the Kashgar & Pamir road journey.
Eating
Southern cooking runs bolder: baked samsa, pepper-and-lamb kebabs, the thick yoghurt drinks and the famous baked fish of the riverside markets. The old-city teahouse above the lanes is the sit-down ritual.
Photography etiquette
Ask before portraits of people — families will often say yes, and the answer is warmer for the asking. The market especially is a workplace first.
Plan around the market.
Tell us your dates — we will align the itinerary to the market day and the mountain weather beyond.
Start my journey brief ↗