Mogao Caves

Tickets are reserved for foreigners so you don't need to reserve tickets like locals, but I'm not sure how many tickets are reserved per day so come early to avoid disappointment and crowds. Each ticket comes with 2 state of the art videos introducing the Mogao Caves. Followed by a guided tour to 8 caves. The tour guide will randomly select those 8 caves. No photos allowed in the cave to preserve the paintings/mural. Impressive place to visit.

Mixed feelings about this. The site is amazing, the history is incredible, the efforts to preserve it are highly admirable. However the preservation does make the visiting experience a bit uninspiring. We got to visit 10 out of the hundreds of caves, with 10 minutes in each, and no photos allowed. Everything else was locked up behind steel doors. So it all felt a bit rushed and impersonal. The caves we saw were beautiful and so rich in history, so it was nice. But if you’re travelling the country just for this experience, it’s maybe a bit of a let down.

The whole complex is big, it starts from the visitor center which provides all the necessary information and services. After buying the tickets, a local English speaking guide attired in uniform led us into a 3 D Theatre with audio visual presentation to give a better understanding on the Caves before the start of the tour . After the movie, it was a long walk to the Mogao Caves. Alot of tourists , thus a long queue to the Caves. We noticed that there are hundreds of caves carved into the side of a mountain and were distributed, row after row, low & high up to 5 stories. The Lady Guide told us there are approx. 735 Caves only 492 Caves with Buddhist murals & statues. We were shown 6 caves namely 329/332/334/16-17/328/ 428 . As the entrance aluminium door is locked, She needs to unlock for us to enter, so it is relatively restricted. Although the caves are small, inside contain the magnifiicient Buddhist Murals & statues , great to have the lady guide whom is very detailed in her explanation to interprete the meaning of each paintings and statues in the cave. The whole complex is very well maintained and is large with lots of photography opportunities. It took us about 4 hours to walk through. A treasure of Buddhism and history, indeed a must see !!!

We start off our visit with 2 movie presentation at the visitors centre Later we took a shuttle bus to the actual caves site The facade was reconstructed to protect the caves The paintings and statues inside the caves are impressive and well preserved

If going at a busy time, be sure to arrive at the time you booked because they were VERY inflexible about us showing up earlier than we booked. We got unlucky with a very rude front gate guard, I think if it was someone not on a power trip it wouldn't have been a problem as I've heard most people don't have issues arriving earlier than their booked time. You have to watch 2 boring movies then you take a bus to the actual caves. The English tour was very small but the Chinese tour was packed. The caves are very impressive with paintings from the 7th century and statues from the 19th century. The 7-story pagoda containing the 3rd largest ancient Buddha in the world are both very impressive. And the museum next to the caves is interesting as well. But the art gallery nearby is trash.

A great eye-opener with the well-preserved Buddha statues in the 400+ caves that are open for viewing. The state-of-the-art movie before the actual tour to the caves was particularly impressively immersive.

If u holding passports just go to the counter buy the ticket. Dun have to buy tickets advance one month before like local There are thousands of cave but they randomly take u to 8caves in one time visit U can buy 200yuan/ 1person/ per cave for special cave per visit Ps: cant take photo inside these photos is from replica

One of the 4 famous Grottoes in China (Silk Road). A must visit if you are at Dunhuang or to the Silk Road.