Culture & Nature of Datong
It goes without saying that Datong is a charming old city attractive with numerous cultural treasures. In fact, it boasts great natural landscape as well. This 3 days Datong tour takes you to appreciate the highlights of Datong, both cultural and natural, in one go. All the cultural essences – Yungang Grottoes, Hanging Temple, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, etc. are covered in this itinerary. Moreover, you will spend a half day feasting beautiful scenery of Hengshan Mountain.
Highlights of this tour
Welcome to Datong! You will be greeted by local tour guide at Datong Yungang Airport or Datong South Railway Station and then escort you to your hotel. The rest time for rest or sightseeing freely.
Optional Activity: It is available to take a leisurely walk or ride a bike on restored City Wall of Datong. Both new and old city of Datong can be viewed on the wall, showing a drastic difference. The night view seen from the City Wall is more amazing.
After breakfast, you will drive about 50 minutes (23 kilometers) to Yungang Grottoes, a World Heritage site dating back to 5th century. Containing 254 Buddhist caves, Yungang Grottoes stretches about 1 km long. It is filled with about 5,100 precious sculptures - the height of the largest Buddha statue reaches 17 meters and the smallest is only 2 centimeters tall. Most of the sculptures are Buddhas, from which you can be awestruck at their life-like features and blissful smiles. You won't miss Cave No.5 and Cave No. 6 - the highlights of Yungang Grottoes with the entire interiors carved and colored. Facing these jaw-dropping celestial beings in different shapes, you can imagine the painstaking effort taken to produce them.
In the afternoon, drive back to Datong city to visit Nine Dragon Screen Wall, made of colorful glazed tiles and depicting nine dragons. It once served as a temple's spirit wall placed in an entrance to inhibit the evil spirit's coming. Now it is the biggest and oldest glazed dragon wall in China. Next, you will visit Huayan Temple - the largest and best preserved monastery built by Khitan during Liao Dynasty. Unlike most traditional Chinese buildings, it interestingly faces east not south, because the Khitan were also sun worshipers. Indulge yourself in the palatial buildings, exquisite frescoes, valued inscriptions in the temple.
Next, drive about 40 minutes (30 kilometers) to Datong Earth Forest to see the unique landscape made by hundreds of earth columns and earth walls. When the sun sets down, the glow will color the earth into golden and Earth Forest will present its most beautiful appearance.
Turn back to Datong for accommodation.
After breakfast, you will move to Hanging Temple, after 1.5 hours' driving (80 km). Built in 491 during Northern Wei Dynasty, it enjoys a history of over 1,500 years. Miraculously carved into the sheer cliff of Hengshan Mountain, Hanging Temple is one of the most incredible sights in China. Its 40 perilous halls and pavilions lean straight over the canyon. Seeing it from the ground, travelers can't help admiring at the ancient people's wisdom. Moreover, Hanging Temple is featured as the only existing temple with the combination of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. So various sculptures are enshrined in the temple. You have enough time to unlock the mystery of why this unusual temple could stand in the precarious position and explore China's religious culture.
After Hanging Temple visit, you will go on driving to the hillside of Hengshan Mountain – one of China’s Five Sacred Mountains boasting 108 peaks and spanning 150 kilometers. The whole climb to the summit of Hengshan Mountain takes about 1.5 hours usually. There are many pavilions, temples, caves, etc. to explore along your way. The natural scenery is splendid as well, including steep ridges, soaring peaks, gushing spring as well as forests covered with old trees. It is also available to take advantage of cable car (optional) to go up or down the mountain to save your energy and time.
After the sightseeing, you will be transferred to the airport or train station to catch your flight or train to your next destination. Service ends.
Situated in the middle of Shanxi Province, Mount Wutai (or Wutaishan) is one of the World's Five Sacred Buddhist Sites, UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of Four Greatest Buddhist Mountains in China and China’s National Geography Park. It is only about 3 hours' driving from Datong and 3.5 hours' driving from Pingyao.
Generally you only need 1 or 2 days for Mount Wutai exploration. You can spend one day visiting the sacred temples in Taihuai Town, then departing to other destination. If you are Buddhist or hikers, you can spend 1 or 2 more day exploring the Five Terraces which are 5 beautiful peaks with both natural wonders and Buddhist magnificence.
Wondering what is the ancient Chinese city like, how the ancient Chinese lived? Pingyao is the best place to find the answer. With a history over 2,700 years, Pingyao is reputed for the lineal ancient Chinese culture especially best-preserved old architectures. You can easily get to Pingyao by high speed trains from Beijing, Xian, Datong, etc. Classic itinerary is to spend a full day explore Pingyao Ancient City and nearby Shuangling Temple, then a half day for Wang’s Family Compound and Zhangbi Ancient Castle.
Datong / Pingyao
Beijing / Datong
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