4 Days Datong Highlight Tour

Day 1

Arrival Datong
Arrive in Datong, you will be greeted at the train station by your tour guide and transferred to hotel.
Meals: No meal
Accommodation: In Datong

Datong is situated in the northern part of Shanxi Province near the Great Wall Pass to Inner Mongolia. In ancient China, Datong was a place of strategic importance and a place where the Han people frequently conducted trade with the Mongol tribes to the North of China. Therefore this city is popular for its harmonious coexistence of religions, together with its strategic importance geographically and the beauty of its rugged terrain.

Day 2

Datong
Today, enjoy your city tour famous Buddhist sites including Yungang Grottoes, Huayan Monastery and Nine Dragon Wall. After the tour, you will be transferred back to your hotel.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Datong

Yungang Grottoes is one of the best preserved sites in China with 53 caves containing over 51,000 stone carvings of Buddha and Buddhist. The grottoes were built between 460 AD and 494 AD in the Northern Wei just before the capital city of that dynasty was moved to Luoyang to build another set of grottoes (Longmen Grottoes) afterwards. These statues range from the tallest of 17 meters to the shortest of a few centimeters high with some of them still retaining their original color. The lines of the statue face are very graceful, with a pair of bright piercing eyes. In 2001, Yungang Grottoes was included on UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List.

The complex of Huayan Monastery is located on the southwestern side of Datong City. Built during the Liao Dynasty (907 - 1125), the Huayan Monastery is the largest and best preserved monastery of the Liao Dynasty in existence in China. In the middle period of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), the temple was divided into two parts, the Upper Huayan Monastery and the Lower Huayan Monastery. The upper one referred to as the Grand Hall housing five large Ming Dynasty Buddhas, and the lower section referred to as the Sutra Temple containing a library of some 18,000 volumes of Buddhist writings.

Datong Nine Dragon Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty. With 426 glazed tiles fired specially in five different colors, the exquisite design of green wave at the bottom like the sea, blue background as sky and white as clouds, the glazed nine dragons on the wall vividly express their movements, rising out of the sea and chasing the mythical suns to gain the supernatural ability to control the forces of nature. The oldest and largest glazed screen in China, though it has been standing over 600 years, it is still in a perfect condition today owing to its architectural design and refined craftsmanship.

Day 3

Datong
Today, you will take a driving to Yingxian County first to visit the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, and then continue your tour to the famous Hanging Temple.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodation: In Datong

The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda (Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple) is regarded as one of the "Three Pagodas in the World", together with the Eiffel Tower in France and Pisa Leaning Tower of in Italy. Built in 1056, this wooden pagoda has a history of over 1000 years. It is built on a four-meter-high groundwork with a total height of 67.31 meters, and a diameter of 30.27 meters at the bottom. It is recorded that it has survived seven earthquakes in the history, especially a great earthquake happened in the Yuan Dynasty (1328 A.D.) that lasted for seven days, which testifies its rational use of components and fine construction.

All buildings in the Hanging Temple were constructed below the crags on a steep cliff-face of Hengshan Mountain (75m above the ground). Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is unique not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it includes Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian elements.

Day 4

Departure Datong
Enjoy your free time then be transferred to the train station for your train to next destination.
Meals: Breakfast

Service Ends

Full price of this tour (per person in US$):

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