Datong City is one of the most famous historic and cultural cities of China. It was the start of the overland Silk Road route, has many preserved Buddhist sites, and the World Heritage site the Yungang Grottoes is the most popular one for tourists to visit. The temple of the Hanging Monastery is considered to bea beauty,as well as a marvel of engineering.
Taking this one-day private tour with no other participants to learn the rich ancient history and religious culture about the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery in Datong from our knowledgable tour guide!
Tour Highlights
- Visit the Yungang Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage site of cliff caves filled with Buddha statues.
- Discover the 1500-year-old Hanging Monastery suspended from a cliff face.
- Private tour with your dedicated English-speaking local guide who has full knowledge of Datong..
- Enjoy a lunch of popular regional dishes at a local restaurant.
The Design of the Day Trip
- Guide: better than a normal licensed tour guide; friendly and helpful with fluent English.
- Driver: reliable licensed local driver with at least 5 years’ driving experience.
- Vehicle: Air-conditioned business car with GPS facilities, big windows, and ample space.
- Professional product team analysis on every part of the trip to ensure a smooth and enjoyable travel experience.
Detailed Itinerary
You’ll receive a welcome call from your guide via hotel at the night before your tour day, he/she will double confirm the pick-up time for the next day’s trip with you. If you are not available at that moment, the tour guide will leave a message for you.
Just in case that if you don’t receive our emails or phone calls, please call our 24-hour hotline at +86-18807734970 or add WeChat ID: trippest666 and we will put things right.
Your guide will be waiting for you in your hotel lobby which is centrally located in Datong City at 8:30AM holding a sign with your name on it. Then brings you to our first stop--the Yungang Grottoes. On the way, hearing intriguing facts about this historical wonder from your guide.
The driver helps you get into the car
Good to Know:
- The hotel pick-up and drop-off area should be within Datong city center. For further distance there might be an extra cost for the transfer which you'll be notified by your travel advisor.
- Datong is about 150miles due west of Beijing, takes 2.5 hours by high-speed railway. Or after visiting Pingyao Ancient Town, Datong is a best place to go, about 3-hour high-speed railway to get there.
On arrival, tour the grottoes that spread just over half a mile (1 kilometer) from east to west. It's construction spanned 40 years in the 5th century.
Entrance of Yungang Grottoes
45 grottoes remained out of the original 53, and overall they contain 250 niches and 51,000 Buddhist statues with murals and frescoes which are all masterpiece of ancient Chinese carving art and embodiment of ancient people’s religious faith.
Huge Buddhist statue
Many niches on the Wall
Caves 5 and 6 in the middle part of the Yungang Grottoes are the most impressive. There is a 17-meter-tall Buddhist statue which is the largest in the Yungang Grottoes, and many precious sculptures telling the story of Sakyamuni.
The largest statue
Buddhist sculptures
Buddha statues and murals
Absorbing Indian Gandhara Buddhist art, the sculptures here developed traditional Chinese art melded with social features of the time. The style of the architecture highlights the features of Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534).
Buddhist architecture
Architecture style of Northern Wei Dynasty
Good to Know:
- The Yungang Caves area is very large. Although you can take a battery car from the entrance to the site, you also need to walk a lot. Wearing a pair of comfortable shoes is recommended.
- Please be prepared to climb steps. All the steps are fenced safely and you can ascend them easily. Your experienced guide will take good care of you.
Admire the lush scenery around the caves, and afterward, head to a local restaurant for a lunch of popular regional dishes.
Please let us know your food preferences, such as a vegetarian diet, gluten-free food, etc. so that we can make preparations in advance.
Great lunch time
Duly refreshed, we will transfer 1.5 hour to the south of Datong to the Hanging Monastery which was built 1,500 years ago. This unique monastery hangs 50 meters above the ground on the cliff side of Mount Heng (Heng Shan), one of China’s Five Sacred Taoist Mountains.
Temple hanging on the cliff
Topped by ornate upswept roofs, this monastery is supported by crossbeams driven into the cliff, and consists of 40 rooms connected by corridors and bridges, and filled with about 80 bronze, iron, and clay statues. Drink in the stunning views from the cliff face, and see the rock overhang above that shelters the temples from the worst of the elements.
Watch out on the passage
Customer in the monastery
Good to Know:
- The Hanging Monastery is occasionally closed for renovation or repairs. If this is the case on your tour, you will not be able to climb up to the rooms, and your visit will involve viewing the buildings from the ground.
After admiring the monastery, drive back Datong city where your tour ends with a hotel drop-off.
Yungang Grottoes
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Price Include:
- Admission to attractions listed on the itinerary.
- Private transport, including pickup and return to your hotel (within Datong city center).
- Private English-speaking local guide.
Price Exclude:
- Lunch.
- Personal expenses.
- Gratuities to the tour guide & driver (usually CNY 50 - 100 per person per day for each of them, please tip them separately.). It is not compulsory but would be a great encouragement for them.
FAQs About This Tour
The hotel pick-up and drop-off area should be within Datong city center. For further distance there might be an extra cost for the transfer which you'll be notified by your travel advisor.
- If we are not able to implement the contract due to war, flood, typhoon, fire, strikes, storm, earthquake, or any other condition we are not able to foresee and avoid, we will inform customers at the first possible opportunity and offer the best possible solutions, and the final bill shall be settled based on the service we actually provide.
- Up to 7 days before departure: 100% refund of all money paid, excluding penalties charged by hotels, railways, airlines, and PayPal, if applicable. All penalties will be itemized.
- From 3 to 7 days before departure: 90% refund, excluding penalties charged by hotels, railways, airlines, and PayPal, if applicable. All penalties will be itemized.
- Within 3 days before departure: no refund.
- After the trip has commenced, we are unable to refund any amount for cancelled services due to non-participation, early departure, late arrival, or missed days on tours.
- For groups of more than 10 people: The terms for cancellation may vary from case to case. Please ask your travel advisor regarding the cancellation policy for your group.
In order to making sure we have enough time to arrange your trip and make sure the availability we usually require customer make their booking at least 24 hours in advance and that’s why you can not book directly on-line for a 24-hour last-minute booking.
But that does not mean you have no chance to book a last-minute trip within 24 hours. For urgent booking, please make a phone call to us at: +86-18807734970 to check the availability or send an email (not recommended as you may not get the response immediately) at: inquiry@trippest.com
Due to state control of internet security in China, many popular websites and APPs are blocked, such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, WhatsApp etc. It is very possible that you may not be able to receive your emails and other important information. For this reason, we highly recommend you to sign up for a VPN service(for example, ExpressVPN) before your trip, to make sure you can connect to the global internet.
Good to know: Wechat is widely use in China, we suggest you to use Wechat for further communication if possible.
Mobile: +86 18807734970
WeChat: trippest666
Email: niko@trippest.com