Datong's Two Great Sites Both Have a Rule That Strands People
Datong's two great sites each have a rule that strands people at the gate, and neither is the kind of thing you can fix once you are standing there.
Yungang stopped selling tickets on site altogether. The Hanging Temple sells you two tickets and only tells you about the second one when you reach the stairs.
Yungang: there is no ticket window
Since 1 January 2025 the Yungang Grottoes have been online real-name booking only. The on-site manned ticket counters were abolished — not reduced, removed. Turning up without a booking means turning around.
Book up to seven days ahead through the Yungang WeChat official account or mini-programme, or the Alipay mini-programme. A passport works as the real-name document.
Price | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
April–October | ¥120 | 08:30–16:30 |
November–March | ¥100 | Shorter; check on booking |
What you are looking at is 252 caves and more than 51,000 statues cut into sandstone in the fifth and sixth centuries, when Datong was the Northern Wei capital. The early caves are the ones where Indian and Central Asian forms had not yet been absorbed into anything recognisably Chinese, and the difference between those and the later caves is visible from three metres away. Three hours is right; two is a rush.
The Hanging Temple charges twice
The Hanging Temple (悬空寺) is built into a cliff face 75 km southeast of the city, and the price you will have read is not the price.
Entry to the site: ¥115. This gets you to the bottom, looking up.
The climbing ticket (登临票): ¥100 more. This is the one that lets you onto the walkways bolted to the cliff, which is the entire reason to come.
¥215 in total, and the second ticket is capped by how many people can safely be on the structure at once, so on a busy day it sells out while the ¥115 entry does not. Open 08:00 to 17:00, with May to September adjusted on the day according to crowds.
Decide in advance whether you are paying the ¥215. Paying ¥115 to photograph a building from below is a defensible choice — it is the most photogenic angle anyway — but it is a choice, not a default.
Getting between them
A direct shuttle runs from Yungang to the Hanging Temple at ¥39 per person each way, which is the straightforward answer for a day that covers both. The two are on opposite sides of the city, so doing them in one day means starting at Yungang on opening and accepting a compressed afternoon.
In town, Huayan Temple is ¥50 in peak season, open 08:30–18:00 from 1 April. It holds the largest surviving Liao dynasty timber hall in China and a set of Liao clay figures that are the reason art historians come to Datong at all. It takes an hour and almost nobody schedules it.
Why this city and not Luoyang
Yungang and Longmen are the two great northern grotto complexes and people ask which to choose. They are not substitutes. Yungang is earlier — Northern Wei, fifth century, carved when Buddhist sculpture in China was still visibly foreign. Longmen is largely Tang, two centuries later, by which time the style had become Chinese. Seeing one does not tell you what the other looks like.
If you have to pick on logistics: Datong is about two hours from Beijing by high-speed rail and works as an overnight trip from there. Booking on 12306 with a passport is straightforward, and cancelling more than eight days out is free, so an early booking costs nothing.
A two-day shape
Day 1. Arrive from Beijing, Huayan Temple in the afternoon, the old town walls at dusk.
Day 2. Yungang at opening, shuttle to the Hanging Temple, back for an evening train.
Both bookings — Yungang and the Hanging Temple climbing ticket — want doing the week before, not the night before. The Beijing guide covers the other end of the line, and Xi'an is the natural next stop if Buddhist and imperial China is what you came for.
FAQ
Can I buy Yungang Grottoes tickets at the gate?
No. On-site ticket windows were abolished on 1 January 2025 and the grottoes are online real-name booking only, up to seven days ahead through the Yungang WeChat or Alipay mini-programmes. A passport is accepted as the ID.
How much is the Hanging Temple?
¥115 for entry to the site and a further ¥100 for the climbing ticket that lets you walk on the temple itself — ¥215 in total. The climbing ticket is capacity-limited and sells out on busy days when the entry ticket does not.
Is Yungang or Longmen better?
They are different rather than ranked. Yungang is fifth-century Northern Wei, carved while the sculptural style was still visibly Indian and Central Asian. Longmen at Luoyang is mostly two centuries later and thoroughly Chinese. Seeing one is not a substitute for the other.
How long do I need in Datong?
Two days: one for Yungang and the Hanging Temple together, one for the city itself. It works as an overnight trip from Beijing, which is about two hours away by high-speed rail.
If you are doing both grotto complexes, Luoyang is the Tang half of the story and has its own scheduling quirk: tickets release at ten past midnight, and the peony window that doubles hotel prices is only nine days long.
