A Kashgar Old Town Walking Tour: Mosque, Lanes and the Century Tea House

The only way to read Kashgar Old Town is on foot, one lane at a time – and a single half-day walk takes you from a 500-year-old mosque to a tea house where the conversation never stops.

Kashgar Old Town (喀什古城) is the living heart of the city and the best half-day you can spend off the highway. This self-guided walking itinerary strings together the landmarks and the quiet alleys between them, so you arrive before the tour buses, eat well, and actually understand the place instead of photographing it from the main drag.

Start at Id Kah Mosque (08:30)

Begin at the Id Kah Mosque, the largest in Xinjiang and the natural front door to the old town. Go early – the square is calm, the light is soft, and you can walk the colonnade before the crowds. Non-Muslim visitors cannot enter the prayer hall, but the square and the surrounding arcades are open and worth ten quiet minutes. From here every lane of the old town fans out, and you are already in the maze. This is where the Kashgar Old Town walking really begins: turn onto the lane opposite the square’s north side and let the brick under your feet do the navigating.

• Largest mosque in Xinjiang, open square
• Go before 09:00 for calm light
• Prayer hall closed to non-Muslim visitors
• North lane starts the real walk

Handicraft Street and the narrow alleys (09:00)

Follow the main handicraft street (吾斯塘博依路) where tinsmiths, knife-makers and hat-makers work in the open, then deliberately duck into the side alleys. These lanes are the point – mud-brick houses lean close, vines cross overhead, and a baker’s tandir vents into the lane. Walk slowly; the old town is a maze by design, and getting ‘lost’ for five minutes is the experience, not a mistake. The Kashgar Bazaar spills off this street on market days, but even off-market the alleys are full of small workshops where a nod gets you a look inside. Bring small cash; the workshops sell directly and haggle lightly, good-naturedly.

• Tinsmiths, knife-makers, hat-makers in the open
• Duck into side alleys on purpose
• Vines and tandir ovens in the lanes
• Small cash for direct workshop buys

The Century Tea House (10:30)

Climb to the rooftop tea house (the ‘hundred-year tea house’, 百年茶馆) for the pause the walk needs. Order a pot of black tea, watch the old town roofscape, and listen – this is where elders play dutar and talk politics and family. It is the most human ten minutes in Kashgar, and the reason a walking itinerary beats a drive-by. From the roof you can plot the rest: the high-platform houses (高台民居) to the east, and the East Gate where the morning ‘opening ceremony’ draws a crowd if you time a return. The tea house sits mid-loop, so you refill water here before the climb.

• Rooftop tea house, live dutar music
• Best ten minutes in the old town
• Plan the east-side climb from here
• Refill water before the afternoon heat

High-platform houses and the East Gate (11:30)

End at the restored high-platform houses (高台民居) on the ridge above the river – a warren of mud-brick rooms stacked on a clay bluff, now a craft and viewpoint circuit with a real sense of the old skyline. From there walk down to the East Gate, where a short morning ‘opening’ performance gathers visitors; if you started early you can loop back for it on the way out. Allow three to four hours total at an easy pace, more if you stop to eat. This walk pairs naturally with a night in one of the best hotels in Kashgar Old Town so you can repeat the lanes at dusk, when the light goes gold and the food stalls fire up. Build it into a wider Xinjiang itinerary as your Kashgar anchor day.

• High-platform houses: restored mud-brick ridge
• East Gate ‘opening’ show if you loop back
• 3-4 hours easy, more with eating
• Repeat at dusk if you stay inside the town