Xinjiang: Majestic and Romantic

Xinjiang  is located in the North West of China, in the Mongolian Uplands

Xinjiang borders Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India

It was known as Huijiang, meaning "Muslim Frontier," during the Qing Dynasty before becoming the province of Xinjiang, which literally means "New Frontier" or "New Border", in the 1880s.

The region has a unique landscape which is called 'three mountains surrounding two basins'.

These features are, from north to south, Altai Mountains, Dzungarian Basin, Tianshan Mountains, Tarim Basin and Kunlun Mountains.

Situated far from the sea and encircled by high mountains, Xinjiang has a typical continental climate with a low annual rainfall, long sunshine duration and a large diurnal temperature variation.

In general, winters are very cold, springs are often windy, and summers are extremely hot here.

The best time to visit is early autumn, when the days are long, the sky is clear, and the temperature is more bearable.

Another excellent reason to visit at that time is the abundance of delicious melons and fruits, which are available then.

Xinjiang is hometown to 47 ethnic minorities, which together account for 60% of its total population.

It’s also woefully underappreciated by most of the tourists hopping off planes in the friendly invasion that is the modern Grand Tour of China.

But this is quickly changing, as China ramps up the region’s infrastructure and tourism PR.