{"id":4778,"date":"2022-01-22T18:10:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T10:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/?p=4778"},"modified":"2022-01-23T07:18:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T23:18:09","slug":"how-to-visit-datong-in-one-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/shanxi-travel\/datong-travel\/how-to-visit-datong-in-one-day","title":{"rendered":"How to visit Datong in one day (Tips, Photos & Map)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Planning your Datong Tour<\/a>? Datong is a magnificent city invested with much history, legend and intrigue. It has also has retained a rich collection of ancient relics and architecture. All this will keep you busy for a quite a few days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you, for various reasons, only have a full day or two half days for your trip to Datong, and still long for seeing, feeling and touching the highlights of the splendid past of Datong, you may raise the question on how to visit Datong in one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I can say, based on my own experience, it is still possible to visit the highlights in Datong in just one day if you arrange your own city transport ( public buses are too time-consuming). So you need either to rental a private car with driver in Datong<\/a>, or negotiate with a local cab driver for a day trip in Datong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now follow me to have a virtual one day tour of Datong. Let’s go!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drive to Hanging Temple from my hotel Datong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hanging Temple (\u60ac\u7a7a\u5bfa) is about 4 km south of Hunyuan County (\u6d51\u6e90\u53bf), 70km southeast of Datong City. The taxi drive takes about one hour and 50 minutes to get to the Jinlong Valley of Hengshan Mountain where the Hanging Temple is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get up early and start out at 7:00 am and meet your taxi driver as scheduled and go on with the trip to Hanging Temple, Yingxian Wooden Pagoda and Yungang Caves, then back to the city of Datong, a whole day loop trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Datong and Hanging Temple (\u60ac\u7a7a\u5bfa) Road Trip ( Google Map)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The way to the Hanging Temple is not a national-level road, but its road condition is fairly ok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We are approaching Mt. Hengshan.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hanging Monastery, located at the foot of the Mt. Hengshan, is the only existed temple hosting worship for the Taoists, Confucians and Buddhists. Built in 491, Hanging Monastery is an architectural wonder because it hangs on the west cliff of Jinxia Gorge more than 50 meters above the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hanging on the west cliff of Jinxia Gorge over 50 meters above the ground<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Opposite to the Mt. Hengshan, the hanging monastery consisted of over 40 buildings, are evenly distributed and well-balanced in height. On the base of the natural hollows and outcrops along the contour of the cliff, many halls and pavilions were built ,which are connected each other by corridors, bridges, boardwalks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Climb up to the Hanging Temple<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The hanging Monastery has established its unique position among the various temples and monastery with its characteristics of \u201cperil, workmanship and miracle\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The hanging monastery consisted of over 40 building.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Drive from Hanging Temple to Yingxian Wooden Pagoda<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After visiting the awe-inspiring Hanging Temple, continue your day trip to the next destination – Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, another UNECO World Heritage site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, also called Sakyamuni Pagoda of Fogong Temple ( also the name recognized by Goole Map), is located in the northwest corner of Yingxian County, about 60 km to the west of Hanging Temple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hanging Temple (\u60ac\u7a7a\u5bfa\uff09to Yingxian Wooden Pagoda Road Trip \uff08Google\uff09<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Finished in the 2nd Year of the reign of Qingning in Liao Dynasty (year of 1056), the Wooden Pagoda of Yingxian County is considered the first wooden pagoda of this kind in the world. It plays an important role in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wooden Pagoda behind the Fogong Temple <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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 its bottom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ascending the YIngxian Wooden Pagoda<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The wooden tower was completely made of wood without a single nail. On each story of the tower is displayed calligraphy. The tower offers valuable information for the research of calligraphic arts and the construction of the wooden tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A bird’s-eye view of the temple and the town from the Wooden Pagoda<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The tower adopts the structure of secluded chambers in design, presenting a distinctive national characteristic inherited from the Han and Tang Dynasties while leveraging the traditional architectural techniques to the fullest extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drive from Yingxian Wooden Pagoda to Yungang Grottoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After grabbing a simple lunch at a local restaurant in the downtown of Yingxian County, you go on with the day trip to the next most important sight in Datong – the mind-boggling Yungang Grottoes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drive from Yingxan Wooden Pagoda to Yungang Grottoes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Basically it takes one and half an hour’s drive from Yingxian Wooden Pagoda to Yungang Caves, using the National Expressway No.55. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three main sites in China that are famous for their stone sculpture are Gansu Province Dunhuang, Luoyang Longmen and Datong Yungang. Among these, the Yungang grottoes are considered the first among equals, for their tremendous size, their ancient history and their relatively complete state of preservation and in 2001 the site was listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Totally 252 caves and 51,000 status in the Yungang Grottoes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

With their 252 caves and 51,000 status, the Yungang cave art represent the successful fusion of Buddhist religious symbolic art from south and central Asian with Chinese cultural traditions, starting in the 5th century CE under Imperial auspices. The power and endurance of Buddhist belief in China are vividly illustrated by the Yungang grottoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The sitting statue of Sakyamuni,13.7 meters high <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The caves can be divided into 3 phases: cave 20 is one of the five earliest caves of monk Tan Yao, house of the sitting statue of Sakyamuni, which is 13.7 meters high, with a full and round face, majestic smile, slim up and a high nose, ears that extend almost to the shoulders, radiant eyes, and broad shoulders. It is the representative of the Buddha sculptures of the Yungang Grottoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drive back to Datong and the Nine-Dragon Wall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After viewing the jaw-dropping Buddhist caves and ancient architecture, you drive back to the downtown of Datong for the last destination of your day trip in Datong – See the Nine-Dragon Wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yungang Grottoes Back to the downtown of Datong<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Nine-Dragon Wall is just out there with no entrance fee, so you still need well plan your trip since the sight is closed at 6:00pm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My lens is not big enough to catch the whole wall.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Datong nine-dragon wall is the biggest and oldest of its kinds in China. Built in 1392 during the reign of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty, the Nine-Dragon Wall in Datong was built as a screen wall to go in front of the mansion of the 13rd son of the first Emperor of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang with 45.5 meters long, 8 meters high and 2.02 meters wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A close-up view of one of the dragons<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The wall was constructed of glazed tiles and still remains intact today and was engraved with nine dragons. The dragons were painted in different colors and fly swiftly upward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clearance among the dragons was filled with stones and float grasses. The bottom of the wall carved 41 groups of pictures of two dragons playing with the pearl. The waist of the wall was compounded with 75 pieces of relieves made up of coloured glaze brick, collecting lifelike cattle, horse, sheep, dog, deer, rabbit and so on .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tip:  Hassle-free Datong and Shanxi Guided Tours<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t want to do a self-guided tour and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for organized tours to Datong and Shanxi Province:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Datong Tour<\/a>
Datong Great Wall Tour<\/a>
Datong Car Rental with Driver<\/a>
Beijing Datong Tour<\/a>
Xian Datong Tour<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pingyao Tour<\/a>
Taiyuan Tour<\/a>
Shanxi Tour<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Readings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Best Time to Visit Datong<\/a>
Top 10 Attractions in Datong<\/a>
How to visit Datong in one Day<\/a>
Where to stay in Datong<\/a>
How to Get to Datong from Beijing<\/a>
Datong Xian High Speed Train<\/a>
Tourist Traps & Scams in Datong<\/a>
Datong Taxi<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Datong Yungang Grottoes<\/a>
Hanging Monastery in Datong<\/a>
Yingxian Wooden Tower<\/a>
Datong Ancient City Wall<\/a>
Nine-dragon Wall in Datong<\/a>
Datong Huayan Temple<\/a>
Shanhua Temple in Datong<\/a>
Datong Drum Tower<\/a>
Mt. Hengshan in Datong<\/a>
Mount Wutai (Tips, Photos & Map)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Datong Great Wall<\/a>
Datong Great Wall at Shoukoubu Fortress<\/a>
Datong Great Wall at Zhenbianbu Fortress<\/a>
Datong Great Wall at Zhenchuankou<\/a>
Datong Great Wall at Deshengbu Fortress<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any questions, just drop a line<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Planning your Datong Tour? Datong is a magnificent city invested with much history, legend and intrigue. It has also has retained a rich collection of ancient relics and architecture. All this will keep you busy for a quite a few days. If you, for various reasons, only have a full day or two half days…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[1187,1188,1186],"class_list":["post-4778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-datong-travel","tag-datong-in-one-day","tag-one-day-tour-of-datong","tag-travel-datong-in-one-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4778"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30118,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4778\/revisions\/30118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}