Zhangye · Visitor Guide
Mati Temple (马蹄寺, Mǎtí Sì)
Mati Temple (Mǎtí Sì) is a sprawling cliff-side Buddhist cave complex in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu, founded during the Northern Liang dynasty in the 5th century CE. Its centrepiece is the Thirty-Three Heavens (三十三天), a seven-storey honeycomb of caves tunnelled into a 40-metre cliff face. It ranks among the three major grotto sites of the Hexi Corridor alongside Mogao and Maijishan, and it remains an active Tibetan Buddhist site.
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Quick Answer
Is Mati Temple worth visiting?
A 1,600-year-old cliff-carved Buddhist grotto complex 65 km south of Zhangye, best experienced in a long day that includes the vertiginous Thirty-Three Heavens climb and a Jinta Temple side trip.
Quick facts
| Ticket | CN¥74 (combined scenic-area ticket, as of 2024) (verify current 2026 price). Jinta Temple (金塔寺) sub-site requires a separate ticket (CN¥60, verify) plus a 4WD shuttle booked at the visitor centre. Students with ID pay roughly half. |
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| Hours | Daily 08:00–18:00 (last entry 17:00, winter closes around 17:30) (verify). The Thirty-Three Heavens cave climb itself is closed on some Mondays for safety inspections — confirm at the gate. |
| Recommended duration | Allow 4–5 hours for the main Mati Temple area (Thirty-Three Heavens, Thousand-Buddha Cave, horse-hoof print hall, lower temples). Add another 2–3 hours if you push on to Jinta Temple. |
| Best time to visit | Late May to early October. The Qilian Mountain grasslands around the site are greenest in July–August, but July and August also bring afternoon thunderstorms and the biggest tour-bus crowds; late September gives clean air, smaller crowds, and warm daytime temps around 18–22 °C. Winter (December–February) sees the site half-snowed-in and the Thirty-Three Heavens cave tunnels dangerously slick — skip it then. |
| How to get there | There is no metro. From Zhangye city centre, Mati Temple is 60–65 km south into the Qilian foothills, roughly 1 hour 15 minutes by car. A regular DiDi (滴滴) one-way costs about CN¥120–150 (verify), but most cars refuse the return trip — agree a round-trip or a wait-and-return fare of CN¥250–300 before departure. A tourist shuttle bus (sometimes labelled 张掖—马蹄寺 or 张掖至马蹄寺旅游直通车) runs from Zhangye West Bus Station (张掖汽车西站) several times a day in peak season; the ride is about CN¥25–35 each way and takes around 90 minutes (verify current schedule). The cheapest option is a taxi day-charter for CN¥300–450 covering both Mati Temple and Pingshanhu Grand Canyon or the Danxia in one loop. |
| English signage | partial |
| Wheelchair accessible | no |
| First carved | Northern Liang dynasty, 5th century CE (ca. 397–439 CE) |
| Caves on site | Around 70 grottoes with several hundred surviving statues across the Mati scenic area |
| Headliner cave | Thirty-Three Heavens (三十三天) — a 7-storey, 21-cave honeycomb carved into a ~40 m cliff face |
| Elevation | About 2,500 m above sea level in the northern Qilian Mountains |
| Distance from Zhangye | 60–65 km south, 1 h 15 min by car |
| UNESCO status | Not a UNESCO site in its own right; the neighbouring Silk-Roads UNESCO serial nomination (2014) does not include Mati Temple |
What to expect
What to expect: The Mati scenic area is a long string of separate temple and cave clusters strung along a single mountain road — not a single site. The walking is segmented: you park, walk up to a cave cluster, come back down, and drive to the next. The Thirty-Three Heavens is the one that gets every camera out: a 40-metre cliff with 21 caves stacked seven storeys high, connected by a maze of narrow stone tunnels and timber ladders you climb from the inside. The Thousand-Buddha Cave (千佛洞) is a more conventional painted grotto with standing Buddha statues still wearing their original 500-year-old clay robes. Outside the caves, there are Tibetan and Han prayer halls, yak butter for sale, and a small grass-roofed visitor village selling noodles and fried bread. The horse-hoof print itself is in a plain brick hall near the main gate — a small dark rock with a shallow impression, kept under a glass case; the myth is more interesting than the relic.
History & significance: Carving started under the Northern Liang, one of the Sixteen Kingdoms that controlled the Hexi Corridor in the late 4th and 5th centuries, making Mati Temple roughly contemporary with the earliest construction phases at Mogao and Maijishan. Through the Northern Wei, Tang, and Song the site kept pace with Silk Road patronage; the surviving painted clay sculptures span about 1,500 years of reworkings, with strong Western Xia and Yuan influences on the lower caves. Tibetan Buddhism became dominant from the Yuan dynasty onward, which is why today the hilltop temples are staffed by Tibetan and Yugur lamas rather than Han monks. The Jinta Temple sub-site, about 15 km deeper into the mountain, holds the most important art historically: high-relief flying-apsara panels dated to the Northern Wei that are among the earliest three-dimensional sculpted apsaras in China, pre-dating the famous Mogao wall paintings by several centuries.
Practical reality: This is a working Tibetan-Buddhist monastery and a regional Chinese-A-road tourist attraction at the same time, and the two crowds do not always mix politely. The Thirty-Three Heavens climb is genuinely strenuous — narrow stone tunnels, dim lighting, vertical ladder sections, and a single-file bottleneck near the top — so anyone with claustrophobia, a bad knee, or small children should skip it. There is no English signage inside the caves; you'll want the official audio guide (CN¥20 at the gate) or a local guide. Jinta Temple closes earlier than the main area (often 16:00) and the road in requires a 4WD or the official shuttle — the last return shuttle leaves around 15:30. Bring water, a windproof layer even in July, and cash; the signal drops in and out as you drive into the Qilian foothills.
How to get there
From Zhangye Danxia Hotel / Zhangye city centre, head south on G227 (S213) toward Sunan. Drive time 1 h 15 min without stops. By DiDi: expect CN¥120–150 one-way, but most drivers will not accept a single drop — negotiate a round-trip with a 2-hour on-site wait for CN¥250–300, or a full day-charter (Mati + Pingshanhu or + Danxia) for CN¥300–450. Public bus: from Zhangye West Bus Station (张掖汽车西站), a tourist shuttle labelled 张掖—马蹄寺 departs roughly 8:00, 9:30, and 13:30 in peak season (verify exact times), returns around 16:00, fare about CN¥25–35. There is no metro, no train station at the site, and the nearest airport (Zhangye Ganzhou, 张掖甘州机场) is 35 km north of the city — you still need a taxi or charter from there. If you only have half a day, skip the Jinta Temple shuttle and spend the time on the main Thirty-Three Heavens climb instead.
Best photo spots
- From the bottom of the access path, framing all seven storeys of the Thirty-Three Heavens cliff face in one vertical shot — go early morning for flat light on the sandstone
- Standing inside the highest cave of the Thirty-Three Heavens looking back down the timber-ladder tunnel, flashlight on the red walls (tripod not needed; just brace the camera)
- The Painted Buddha Hall in the Thousand-Buddha Cave (千佛洞) side chamber, where the standing clay Buddhas still hold traces of original mineral-pigment paint — no flash allowed
- Looking south from the upper temple terrace toward the Qilian snow line, best in clear weather after rain when the snow peaks reflect in the lower grassland pools
Tips
- Buy the official audio guide at the gate (CN¥20) — there is essentially zero English inside the caves, and the guide explains which statues are Northern Wei originals versus later restorations.
- Wear shoes with grippy rubber soles; the Thirty-Three Heavens tunnels are uneven, damp, and at one point a near-vertical wooden ladder with a single handrail. Sandals are genuinely dangerous here.
- Do Jinta Temple as a separate trip, not a same-day add-on — the 4WD shuttle only runs a few times a day, Jinta closes earlier than the main site, and the apsara reliefs are the single most important art piece in the whole Hexi Corridor.
- Eat before you arrive. The only food on site is a row of Yugur-run tent restaurants at the lower parking lot selling hand-pulled noodles and tsampa bread for CN¥25–40. It is fine, but it is not a destination.
- Time the climb for late morning — the sun hits the cliff face straight on by 11:00 and the caves trap afternoon heat, so an 8:30 arrival means you photograph the cliff in flat light and finish the climb before the tour buses arrive at noon.
Scams to avoid
- "Discounted" entrance tickets sold by touts at the bus station in Zhangye — they are either photocopies that get you turned away at the gate, or full-price tickets with a CN¥50 "service fee" attached. Buy at the official ticket window.
- Unmarked DiDi / private cars offering the ride for CN¥80 — they will almost always refuse at the gate to take you back up, and the replacement fare on-site is CN¥200+. Agree the return before the car moves.
- Self-appointed "guides" at the car park offering CN¥100 cave tours; the only legitimate guides are the badge-wearing staff at the official visitor centre, and the caves do not actually require a guide to enter.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the entrance ticket to Mati Temple?
The standard combined ticket for the main Mati scenic area (including the Thirty-Three Heavens climb) is around CN¥74. Jinta Temple is a separate ticket of roughly CN¥60 plus a mandatory 4WD shuttle. Prices have crept up over the last few years, so verify the current 2026 rate at the gate.
How long does a visit to Mati Temple take?
Plan 4–5 hours for the main Mati scenic area including the Thirty-Three Heavens climb, the Thousand-Buddha Cave, and a slow walk through the upper temple terraces. Adding Jinta Temple brings it to 6–8 hours total.
How do you get to Mati Temple from Zhangye city?
The fastest option is a chartered taxi or DiDi, 60–65 km south, taking about 1 hour 15 minutes and costing CN¥120–150 one-way. Cheaper is the tourist shuttle from Zhangye West Bus Station (张掖汽车西站), about CN¥25–35 each way, three to four departures a day in peak season. There is no metro and no train service to the site.
Is Mati Temple a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
No, Mati Temple is not on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The nearby Mogao Caves in Dunhuang have been a UNESCO site since 1987, and the 2014 Silk Roads serial nomination passes through Gansu, but Mati Temple itself is not a listed component.
Is the Thirty-Three Heavens climb suitable for children or older visitors?
Honestly, no for most. The 21 caves are connected by narrow stone tunnels and timber ladders, several near-vertical, with low ceilings and dim lighting. A reasonable 10-year-old can do it with adult help; anyone with knee, back, claustrophobia, or vertigo issues should stay on the lower terraces. There is no alternative wheelchair-accessible route.
When was Mati Temple built?
Carving started under the Northern Liang dynasty, roughly the late 4th to 5th century CE, making it contemporary with the earliest phases of the Mogao Caves. Work continued under the Northern Wei, Tang, Song, Western Xia, and Yuan dynasties, and the surviving painted clay statues span about 1,500 years of restoration layers.
What is the horse hoof print at Mati Temple?
A small dark stone in a brick hall near the main gate, with a shallow depression said to be the hoof print of a heavenly horse (天马) — the legend that gives the temple its name, 马蹄, "horse hoof." The myth is more interesting than the relic; the rock is unremarkable on its own.
Can you visit Jinta Temple on the same day?
Technically yes, but it is a stretch. Jinta Temple is 15 km deeper into the mountain, the 4WD shuttle only runs a few times a day, and Jinta closes around 16:00. Most visitors either spend a full day at the main Mati scenic area or stay overnight in Sunan and do Jinta early the next morning.
What should I wear to Mati Temple?
Sturdy rubber-soled shoes with grip (not sandals), a windproof layer even in July, and a hat. The caves stay cool year-round but the climb generates real body heat, so dress in light removable layers. Bring a small torch if you have one — the tunnel lighting is uneven.
Is there English signage at Mati Temple?
Partial. The main scenic area has English on the major temple name boards and on the visitor-centre panels, but inside the caves themselves almost nothing is translated. The CN¥20 official audio guide covers the main sites in English.
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