7 Days in Tianshui

The whole day on the 142-metre hill — 221 caves, 10,000-plus clay sculptures begun around 384-417, spiralling walkways and the 15-metre eastern Buddha. Timed entry, booked ahead; UNESCO Silk Roads listing 2014.

1. tianshui maijishan grottoes

Fifteen kilometres back toward town, temples ride the ledges and natural bridges of the Xianren cliffs, with the Jingtu temple grounds in the same green hills.

1. tianshui xianren ya
2. tianshui jingtu temple

The Fuxi Temple of 1483-1484 with the city museum galleries beside it, then the Hu family compounds of the late 1500s, the south house a folk museum of rooms, tools and wedding sets.

1. Fuxing Temple (Fuxi Temple)
2. tianshui hushi residences

The 13th-century Taoist guan on the north slope, Nanguo temple's hill with Du Fu's 759 poems and the about-2,500-year cypress, and the West Gate lanes for dinner.

1. tianshui yuquan guan
2. tianshui nanguo temple
3. tianshui xiguan old town

Honestly labelled county day — Wushan sits west along the rail line, about 40 minutes out. The Shuiliandou gorge keeps the Lashao temple relief, a cliff-cut Buddha group carved in 559 with its main figure around 40 metres tall.

1. tianshui shuiliandong

Also labelled — Gangu, half an hour by rail, climbs the Daxiang slope to the 23-metre Tang cliff Buddha, with temple terraces and town roofs stepping down below.

1. tianshui daxiang mountain

North into Qin'an county — labelled — where the Dadiwan site keeps village remains near 8,000 years old and a site museum explains the floors and pottery. Trains leave from Qin'an station toward Lanzhou or Xi'an.

1. tianshui dadiwan site