7 Days in Datong

Settle in, then the 1038 sutra hall and the 1,559-square-metre hall rebuilt in 1140, the 1392 dragon screen, and the Drum Tower streets for dinner.

1. datong huayan temple
2. datong nine dragon screen

45 major caves and 51,000-plus figures carved from 460, with the 13.7-metre Buddha of Cave 20; the museum's Northern Wei lacquer and stone round the day out.

1. datong yungang grottoes
2. datong museum

Morning on the restored 7.2-km Ming circuit begun in 1372, Shanhua's Liao-Jin halls after lunch, and a knife-shaved-noodle supper in the old town.

1. datong city walls
2. datong shanhua temple
3. datong city markets

East to Yunzhou for more than 30 dormant cones of a Quaternary field, then the wind-carved earth columns at Duzhuang on the Sanggan terraces. Back to Datong.

1. datong volcano cluster
2. datong earth forest

The temple raised around 491 on stilts some 50 metres up the gorge, then the 2,016-metre Tianfeng ridge; Hunyuan liangfen for supper. Overnight in Hunyuan.

1. datong hanging temple
2. datong hengshan

An honest Shuozhou morning — the 1056 pagoda, 67.31 m and nail-free — then back into Datong's Lingqiu County for the pass where the September 25, 1937 engagement unfolded.

1. shuozhou yingxian wooden pagoda
2. datong pingxingguan

A market breakfast, a last walk of the Drum Tower quarter, then the HSR south or the two-hour ride to Beijing.

1. datong city markets
2. datong city walls