Dunhuang

Dunhuang (敦煌; Dūnhuáng) is a city on the old Silk Road. It is in Gansu Province in northwest China. It is best known for a large group of Buddhist cave temples nearby, with much historic artwork.

Understand
The city was founded by Emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty in 111 BC at the crossroads of two trading routes on the Silk Road, and the name 'Dunhuang', meaning to 'to flourish and prosper,' gives some indication of the town's prominence in ancient China. It is much less important today.

Buddhism reached China via the Silk Road and this is one of the more important Buddhist sites on that route. The Tangut or Western Xia ruled a substantial kingdom in the area, with its capital at Yinchuan, for centuries until the Mongol conquest in the 1200s. They were the main sponsors of Buddhist construction at Dunhuang.

By train


Some active departures from Dunhuang:
 * Guazhou - #D2759 (46 minutes), #D2739 (55 minutes), #K42, #K9669 and #K9677 (1 hour and 16 minutes), #7537 (1 hour and 37 minutes)
 * Jiayuguan - #D8933 (2 hours and 23 minutes), #D2759 (2 hours and 30 minutes), #Y669 (3 hours and 7 minutes), #K369 and #K9669 (5 hours and 12 minutes, #7537 (6 hours and 15 minutes)
 * Lanzhou - #D2759 (8 hours and 18 minutes), #Y669 (10 hours and 35 minutes), #K369 (14 hours and 54 minutes), #K9669 (15 hours and 2 minutes)
 * Zhangye - #D2759 (4 hours and 4 minutes), #Y669 (5 hours and 9 minutes), #K9669 (7 hours and 40 minutes), #K369 (7 hours and 48 minutes)
 * Xining - #D2759 (6 hours)
 * Xi'an - #K369 (24 hours and 59 minutes) [It would be quicker to catch a train to Lanzhou and then catch a Xi'an-bound train from there]

Some active departures from Liuyuan:
 * Urumqi - 10 trains daily, including 3 high-speed trains (taking around 4.5 hours and 7 regular-speed trains (taking between 7 and 13 hours). The high-speed trains depart from Liuyuan South Station.
 * Xi'an - 7 to 11 trains daily (taking between 19 hours and 26½ hours)

Liuyuan can be reached by catching a bus from Dunhuang Bus Station. Liuyuan Bus Station is just outside the Liuyuan Train Station and about 3 km from Liuyuan South Train Station. Alternatively, you could catch a high-speed train to Jiayuguan South and transfer to another train from there.

By bus
Dunhuang has two bus stations diagonally across from each other. Most frequent buses leave from the main bus station and not the long-distance bus station.


 * Golmud - takes about 15 hours
 * Guazhou - takes about 1½ hours
 * Hami (3 weekly) - takes about 8 hours
 * Jiayuguan - takes about 4–8 hours
 * Lanzhou - takes about 17–24 hours
 * Liuyuan - takes about 3 hours
 * Xining - takes about 20 hours
 * Zhangye - takes about 13 hours

Get around
A public bus service operates in Dunhuang's urban area, which is useful for getting to a small number of sights such as the Dunhuang Museum and the Singing Sand Dunes & Crescent Lake Park, but most of the major attractions in Dunhuang are quite far from the urban area. Fortunately, a special tourist shuttle bus service is also available.

The shuttle bus has two major routes: the western route and the eastern route. The eastern route takes passengers to the Mogao Caves and the Singing Sand Dunes & Crescent Lake Park. The western route on the other hand, normally stops at the Ancient City of Dunhuang Movie Set, Yang Pass, Yumen Pass and Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark. As of January 2021, however, the Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark is temporarily closed, so the bus is stopping at the Western Thousand Buddha Caves instead.

Shuttle buses on the eastern route can usually pick you up from any hotel in the city whereas the shuttle buses on the western route may only pick you up at select locations. You can confirm the pickup location when you purchase the tickets.

Tickets for the shuttle bus can be purchased at the following locations:


 * The Dunhuang Tourist Transportation Center (敦煌旅游集散中心), which is on the west side of the Mogao Caves Digital Display Center (莫高窟数字展示中心)
 * The tourist reception hall at Singing Sand Dunes & Crescent Lake Park
 * The tourist information booth on the west side of Dunhuang Train Station (敦煌站)
 * The tourist information booth on the west side of the Dunhuang Hotel (敦煌宾馆)
 * The tourist information booth at Dunhuang Night Market (敦煌夜市), inside the Dahong Gate (大红门)
 * The tourist information booth on Shazhou North Road (沙州北路), on the north side of the Health & Family Planning Office (卫计局)
 * The tourist information booth on Mingshan Road (鸣山路), on the south side of the sports school
 * The tourist information booth at the Jinshuiwan Housing Estate (金水湾小区), which is opposite Little Dunhuang Town (敦煌小镇)

The standard fare for both routes is ¥78. This fare does not include anything other than the bus ride. Entry tickets for the various attractions must be purchased separately.

Eat
There's a normal-priced supermarket opposite the long-distance bus station (beside Feitian Binguan) to stock up on water, snacks and other groceries.



Go next
Silk Road - The route between Dunhuang and Cherchen (Qiemo) is probably the hardest to do in all of the Silk Road travels since public transit is complicated between the two points.

One leg of the trip is often closed due to washouts in the river canyon or landslides in the mountains, and is closed to most traffic in the winter. Be sure to ask, before you leave Dunhuang, whether the road between Shimiankuang and Charklik (Ruoqiang) is open.

Regular buses run daily each morning from Dunhuang, Gansu Province, 731 km to Huatugou (花土沟), a small oil drilling town in northwest Qinghai Province, and daily each morning the other direction. This road, a paved highway the entire way, crosses the Altun Mountains over Dangjin Pass (当金山口, 3680 m, 39º19'14"N, 94º16'11"E) at the provincial border between Qinghai and Gansu which runs along the crest of the Altun Mountains. One source says that the road rises from 1,000 m to the 3,680 m pass in just 20 km. This road is subject to delays or closure in winter due to icy conditions.

The bus station in Dunhuang will not sell you a ticket to Huatugou unless you have an ATP. You cannot get this permit in Dunhuang because it's in Gansu province. so you have to go to the PSB in golmud, and from there to take the bus to Huatugou.

Twice daily minibuses run the 65 km in 1½-2 hours for ¥15 between Huatugou and Shimiankuang (石绵矿 literally: asbestos mine), a tiny worker hamlet north of a large surface-level asbestos mine. It's better to stay overnight in Huatugou than in the very basic lodging at the asbestos mine. Ask the Huatugou taxi driver for the Petroleum Guesthouse—石油 shí yóu 宾馆 bīn guǎn. There's also very basic lodging across from the Huatugou bus station—ask the bus driver to point you in the right direction.

Some maps do not show Huatugou (38°08'60"N, 90°52'00"E, 2,859 m) and instead show Youshashan, about 5–10 km southwest. If neither town is shown, Huatugou is just northeast of Gaz Hure Hu lake. Some maps do not show Shimiankuang (38°15'00"N, 90°52'00"E, 3,200 m) and instead show the small oil refinery village of Mangnai Zhen, about 10 km southeast. If neither town is shown, Shimiankuang is right where Highway 315 crosses the provincial border. Older maps show Shimiankuang and Mangnai Zhen in Xinjiang Province, but the area was moved administratively some years ago into Qinghai Province.

The 241 km road from Shimiankuang, at the border of Qinghai and Xinjiang, to Charklik (Ruoqiang), Xinjiang, is a rough road, over a 4,000 m pass and through a narrow river valley as well as across the desert. This is the rough leg mentioned above. The road is now paved all the way. A minibus leaves from Shimiankuangs "bus station" to Charklik at 11:00, costs ¥80.

The minibus leaves from in front of the bus station in Charklik (Ruoqiang) at 08:00 Beijing time (06:00 unofficial local time) and arrives in Shimiankuang about 6 hours later, and generally in time to catch the afternoon minibus from Shimiankuang to Huatugou. The 09:00 minibus from Huatugou meets the minibus leaving from Shimiankuang about 11:00.

From Charklik (Ruoqiang) to Cherchen (Qiemo), the bus leaves at 10:00, takes 5 hours to cover the 351 km and costs ¥58. In the other direction, a daily bus leaves Cherchen (Qiemo) for Charklik (Ruoqiang) at 10:00.

There as buses to Delingha, but be careful, the city is not open to tourists.

Stay safe
Dunhuang is a major tourist destination. Expect to be ripped off if you don't have your wits about you. Bargain hard and remember what you originally bargained for as the bill you receive at the end of the meal may not reflect the negotiated price.