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Kashgar
County-level city in Xinjiang, China

Kashgar

Kashgar, also known as Kashi, is a city in the Tarim Basin region of southern Xinjiang, China.

Plan a trip to Kashgar→From Osh

It is one of the westernmost cities of China, located near the country's border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. For over 2,000 years, Kashgar has been a strategically important oasis on the Silk Road linking China with Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and has a population of 711,300 people. Kashgar's urban area covers 15 km2 (5.8 sq mi), although its administrative area extends over 555 km2 (214 sq mi).

Get in

Getting to Kashgar

Travelling in this area has several options, with a direct relationship between how much you are willing to pay and how fast you want to get to your destination. Trains are the slowest and only leave a few times a day, but are also almost always the cheapest option.

  1. 01
    Kashgar Airport
  2. 02
    Kashgar
See

Worth seeing

Mor Buddhist Pagoda (About 40 km northeast of Kashgar city). Built in 7th century during the Tang dynasty and destroyed in the 12th century. Nowadays only one pagoda is left, next to the pagoda is a platform. The pagoda is the place where the monks in the city to come and do their worship. The Mor pagoda has three square layers, each a little smaller than the one below it.

  1. 01
    Id Kah Mosque

    First built in 1442, it is distinctive for its yellow walls and Central Asian architecture.

  2. 02
    Tomb of Apak Hoja
Do

Things to do

Visit the Karakoram Highway. Various agencies around the Old Town offer day trips to Baisha Lake and Karakul Lake on the stunning Karakoram Highway, either by tour group or private car and driver. In April 2025, a private car (SUV) and driver (Chinese-speaking) cost 1,000RMB with entrance tickets to both lakes included.

Eat

Where to eat

There are plenty of good local restaurants and street food. Food stalls. For a variety of snacks and dishes, try the food stalls opposite the Id Kah mosque. The stalls start operating during the evening. Sunday Market. The Sunday market also has good things to eat.

How locals move

Getting around Kashgar the local way

  • Get inIf you want to take a shared taxi to Wuqia (25Y), go earlier to make sure you're at the immigration checkpoint when it opens at 11:00.
  • Go nextYou may need a shared taxi or help of local travel agency to get there - ask your hotel staff or locals you know.

From Wikivoyage: Kashgar, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.