Xinjiang

Xinjiang is China's most underestimated destination — and for travelers who seek landscapes that dwarf the imagination, one of its most rewarding. The Taklamakan Desert covers an area roughly equal to France. The Karakoram Highway climbs passes higher than anything in the Alps. The Kanas Lake region, in the far north, looks more like Norwegian fjord country than anything you would expect to find in Central Asia.

The Duku Highway — officially the National Highway 217 — is arguably the most spectacular road in China. It crosses the Tianshan mountains through high alpine meadows, past glacial lakes and sheer cliff faces, entirely blocked by snow for half the year. Driving it in summer in a private 4WD is one of the great overland experiences in Asia.

Kashgar's Sunday livestock market is the oldest functioning market on the Silk Road. The old city's mud-brick labyrinth remains inhabited, and the craft workshops — coppersmiths, silk weavers, knife makers — are still operating as they have for centuries. This is living heritage, not a museum.