A Five-day Tour in Datong

Your guide and driver will pick you up from Datong Yungang Airport and transfer you to your hotel. Relax for the rest of the day and prepare for the upcoming trip.

Take it easy in the afternoon and explore the area around the hotel. Enjoy the local atmosphere and perhaps find a shop to buy some snacks or essentials.

Visit the Datong Museum, which houses a collection of more than 170,000 cultural relics, among which there are over 3,000 precious cultural relics. The collections are renowned for highlighting the cultural characteristics of northern ethnic minorities, the culture of border-town strongholds, and religious cultures. They centrally demonstrate the integration genes of the Datong region. In particular, the fine cultural relics from the Northern Wei, Liao, and Jin dynasties enjoy a high reputation.

Datong Museum

Your guide and driver will take you to Yungang Grottoes, which is one of the top 4 most famous grottoes in China, and is17 kilometers away to the west of Datong City. Built in North Wei Dynasty (AD.460), it took more than 60 years to finish this huge project. There are more than 51,000 Buddha statues and statuettes of all sizes in the 252 grottoes. Please take your time to explore – not just the carvings, but also the story behind them. Yungang Grottoes became a part of the UNESCO World Heritage in 2001.

The Buddha Statue Sculptures in Yungang Grottoes

Begin your exploration at Huayan Temple. Be sure not to miss the opportunity to climb the Huayan Pagoda for a panoramic view of the old city. Then, pay a visit to the Chunyang Palace (Chunyang Gong), which is a well-preserved Taoist temple dating back to the late Jin and early Yuan dynasties.

Huayan Temple

Then, move on to Shanhua Temple. It is the most completely-laid-out and largest-scale temple building from the Liao and Jin dynasties that still exists in China. Among them, the Mahavira Hall of the Liao Dynasty, as well as the Sansheng Hall, Tianwang Hall, and Samantabhadra Pavilion of the Jin Dynasty. Three hip-roof buildings and four architectures from the Liao and Jin dynasties are preserved within one temple, which is unique to Shanhua Temple in China.

Shanhua Temple

Go to the Ancient City Wall to see a special and unique protective design. The ancient rampart was built in 1372 CE, and was based on the Yuan Rampart. The wall is tall, majestic and sturdy. It can be tightly guarded and well-equipped. It is a famous city in the history of ancient military architecture in China. A major feature of the Datong Ancient City Wall is that the outer profile is like a gear with extruding piers.

Ancient City Wall

Next, the tour guide will take you to see the Datong Nine Dragon Wall, which has extremely high artistic value and is another typical representative of ancient glazed architecture. It faces south and is 45.5 meters long, 8 meters high and 2.02 meters thick. It is made entirely of yellow, green, blue, purple, black and white glazed components. The wall is divided into two layers. On the first layer are a unicorn, a lion, a tiger, a deer, a flying horse, etc.On the second layer are nine dragon.

Nine Dragon Wall

Take a trip to Yingxian Wooden Pagoda in Shuozhou City. This is the tallest and oldest existing wooden-structured pavilion-style building in the world, and it is one of the "Three Great Wonders of the World" along with the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower.

Yingxian Wooden Pagoda

Continue on foot to the Hanging Monastery, one of the first and best-preserved high-altitude wooden cliff buildings in China. It is the first of the 18 scenic spots of Hengshan Mountain and was built on a cliff face, where physical principles, beauty, and religion are seamlessly blended together.

Hanging Monastery

Follow the guide to visit the Datong Volcano Group. The Datong Volcano Group has a gorgeous volcanic natural relic landscape, which not only has important scientific research value, but also breeds unique resources such as geothermal energy and fertile soil. It is a rare geological relic science tourism landscape in Shanxi.

After having breakfast at the hotel, you can take some time to relax or do some last-minute shopping if you wish. Check out of the hotel and our driver will pick you up on time and transfer you to the airport or high-speed railway station for your departure.

Board your flight or train, and take away wonderful memories of your Datong trip.