Day trip to Luoyang Longmeng Grottoes and Shaolin Temple

Generally, a day trip to Luoyang Longmen Grottoes and Shaolin Temple is a quite urgent trip. But I have no enough time to stay there. After I finished my urgent trip and now would like to write it down for your reference.

For a day trip, the first attraction should be the farther one. So between Longmen Grottoes and Shaolin Temple, I needed to go to Shaolin Temple firstly.

A transportation tips for you:
From Luoyang to Shaolin Temple: firstly take a shuttle bus from Luoyang bus station to Dengfeng, about 1.5 hrs, 22 Yuan per person. You can tell the driver that you want to go to Shaolin Temple. And the driver will drive to the Dengfeng No. 8 bus station. And you can take No.8 bus station to Shaolin Temple, about 15min, 2.5 Yuan per person.

Now it was my Shaolin Temple visiting time.

Shaolin Temple is located on the foot of Dengfeng Songshan Mountain in Henan Province. Because it is hidden in the Shaoshi Hill and inside the forest, thus it is called Shaolin (means the forest on Shaoshi hill) Temple. Built in A.D.495 in Northern Wei Dynasty. Shaolin Temple is famous for its “Zon” culture and “Kungfu” culture. And it is the birthplace of Shaolin Kungfu, a representative of Chinese Kong Fu.

Pagoda Forest in Shaolin Temple was opened to the public 10 years ago. But now, in order to protect it, visitors are not allowed to enter in and only can take photo outside.

And there are so many Shaolin Kungfu schools around Shaolin Temple. But for me, it is a little confused about why there are so many kids come to learn Kungfu rather than go to school.

The visiting time of Shaolin Temple is about 1-1.5 hours generally. After the visiting, get back to Luoyang in the same way: take No. 8 bus back to Dengfeng Coach Station, and then take the shuttle bus from Dengfeng to Luoyang, every hour one bus, 25 Yuan per person. I want to visit Longmeng Grottoes,  so there is no need to get off on Luoyang Coach Station. The driver will stop at the bus station of Guanyu Mausoleum area. There are No. 81 and No. 55 which can take me to Longmen Grottoes directly, about 20 min. And also, if you prefer to take a taxi, it is also very convenient, just 5mins. One more thing should be paid attention that Longmen Grottoes will stop to sell ticket after 4pm.

Longmen Grottoes, as one of the top four grottoes in China, is the Buddhism grottes as well as Chinese calligraphy value. It is a place worthy to visit.

Vairocana Buddha looks more elaborate than the Leshan Giant Buddha. The eyesight of Vairocana Buddha can make me feel relaxed and comfortable. And when I stood on the feet of the Buddha, it seems that i have been taken back to the ancient times and forgetten all the things at present.

If your time permits, you can go across the bridge to the opposite bank to see the panorama view of the grottoes which is very spectacular.

It is convenient to get back to Luoyang from Longmen Grottoes. The No. 81 bus station is just on the entrance of east gate, 1 hour back to Luoyang. Although it was an urgent trip in Luoyang. But I was also enjoy it very much.