Luxury & learning on the brand new Silk Road Express train

Wendy Wu’s new “super luxury” Legends of the Silk Road tour leaves on September 15, 2025, and includes three nights on the opulent and brand new Silk Road Express train.

“The biggest and most exciting thing is that for the first time we are going to do super-luxury,” Wendy says.

“We never really went into ultimate luxury before.”

Wendy Wu Tours is known for small groups, well-planned experiences and good value. Wendy herself is smart, meticulous and a careful planner, and her tours reflect this. Her touch is there.

But Legends of the Silk Road in China steps outside that.

From September 15 to September 28, 2025, the 15-day luxury tour is for a maximum of 20 travellers and from $25,880, including international airfares, and all air, train and coach travel within China, and accommodation and 29 meals. All accommodation is in “4-plus and 5-plus” star accommodation, says Wendy.

The itinerary focuses on the desert, cities, landscapes and archaeological sites along the Silk Road of China’s north-west. And a highlight will be the three nights on the opulent Silk Road Express.

There are two nights in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China’s north-west, up against the Tian Shan mountains — the “Mountains of Heaven”.

Kashgar, with its skyline punctuated by minarets, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It has 2000 years of history and was an important trading place on the Silk Road.

Then the travellers board the Silk Road Express train for three nights. The Golden Eagle Silk Road Express (to give it its full title) is operated by Train of Glamour and launches this year, ahead of schedule. It takes a total of 88 passengers, says Wendy.

Wendy says: “There are just 15 carriages, including two restaurant cars, one for entertainment and one observation car with 270 degree views and AI controlled lighting.

“The train is ultra-luxury.

“There is a western dining car and an eastern dining car — caviar, lobster, truffles … beautiful ingredients and a Michelin star chef from Hungary. Champagne and cocktails flow freely.

“Each compartment has a luxury ensuite and private butler.”

The train visits Hotan and its artisans, and Ruoqiang and the ancient city of Miran. Miran, in the southern part of the Taklimakan Desert, was an important town on the ancient Silk Road It is mentioned in the narrative of Xuan Zang’s pilgrimage to India in about 629AD (CE), in the Tang Dynasty. But Miran also has a modern story, as a 50MW wind farm was opened in the Miran Wind Area in 2022. The train arrives in Xining, where the group spends a night.

Then the group continues to Jiayuguan for a night, with a wine tasting.

There is a visit to Dunhuang Night Market, with its Uyghur vendors. Uyghurs are one of the mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang, and China. In 2022, China was accused of committing human rights crimes against them.

The trip also includes a visit to Mogao Caves — a UNESCO site. The caves are in a strategic point on the Silk Route. They reveal the threads of trade but also the religious, cultural and intellectual influences along the route. There are 492 cells and cave sanctuaries, and statues and wall paintings depict 1000 years of Buddhist art. There is about 45,000sqm of murals and more than 2000 painted sculptures.

Carved into the cliffs above the Dachuan River, the Mogao Caves are recognised by UNESCO as the world’s biggest, most richly endowed and longest-used treasure house of Buddhist art.

In Xian, the travellers visit the Terracotta Warriors with an expert.

It was only in 1974 that farmers digging a well found the Terracotta Army and the tomb of the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.

They were made under the orders of this emperor of the Quin dynasty, which lasted only about 15 years, from 221 to 206 BCE, and was China’s first unified State.

Still under excavation, thousands of terracotta soldiers and horses are in the necropolis. Each has a unique stance and face. The museum and excavation site covers several square kilometres.

Emperor Qin both feared death and was obsessed with trying to prevent it. He sent envoys out to find the elixir of life, and drank mercury, in the belief it would give him extended life. When he became Emperor, he decided that, “if he died”, he should be buried with his possessions and a full army, with artillery and horses, to protect them. Work began when he was 13, and at its peak, there were 700,000 artisans at work.

From Xian, the travellers fly home.

As Wendy says: “This is ultimate luxury — ultimate indulgence — ultimate splurge.”

She explains: “Since COVID people have started to feel they can never take travel for granted. People are taking three or four tours, where they would have booked one.

“As one woman said to me — ‘I have been working so hard for so long, this is for me’.

“The landscape is changing.”

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The first Legends of the Silk Road is from September 15 to September 28, 2025, and from $25,880.

Call 1300 727 998 or visit wendywutours.com.au and search Legends of the Silk Road.