VariArts Travel

Itinerary

 

Meals as per itinerary (B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=dinner)

Note: The start and end times will vary depending on traffic and road conditions

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Our staff will send the train ticket to your hotel one day before

 

Day 1: Beijing -- Datong Train K615 1533/2211 or similar

 

You will go on your own to the Beijing West Train Station to take the train to Datong. Your ticket category is called "Hard sleepers" which means 6 padded bunks compartments with no door. After arriving in Datong, you will go on your own to the Hongqi Hotel and check-in. The hotel is next to the station and is very easy to find.

 

Day 2: Datong (B,L)

 

After pick up from your hotel you will go to the Hanging Temple, around 1.5 hours driving from the hotel, and one of China's most unique and remarkable feats of wooden architecture. The monastery is also the only one built in honor of Sakyamuni, Laozi, and Confucius, who are founders of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism respectively. The monastery was founded during the Northern Wei period (386-584), boasting a history of over 1,400 years.

 

We will stop over at a local restaurant for a traditional Chinese cuisine lunch. Then we will head over to Yinxian County to visit the famous Wooden Pagoda. A Liao dynasty structure, the Wooden Pagoda was built in 1056 and it is one of the planet's oldest wooden buildings. Not a single nail was used in the construction of the nine-story, 67m-high structure, which has thus far survived seven major earthquakes. After this, we will bring you back to your to the hotel, where you will have dinner on your own.

 

Day 3: Datong -- Beijing (B,L)Train K4696 1638/2235 or similar

 

On your third day, after pick-up from your hotel we will bring you to the Yungang grottoes, listed in 2001 as a World Cultural Heritage Site. There are 45 major caves, and more than 51,000 stone status. This makes the site one of China's largest ancient grottoes, alongside three others: the Dunhuang Mogao grottoes, the Longmen Grottoes and Tianshui Maiji Mountain Grottoes. These four are called China's four big grottoes.

 

Afterwards, we will bring you back to the station to take the train back to Beijing. Arrive in Beijing with arrangements back to your hotel on your own.