Trip Summary
The cradle of Chinese civilisation at full pace: the Longmen Grottoes' 100,000 river-cliff Buddhas, a cable-car day on Mount Laojun's Taoist peaks, kungfu monks at Shaolin's pagoda forest and Kaifeng's painted Qingming street — strung together by 30-minute HSR hops.
Trip Highlights
- Longmen's Fengxian Temple — the 17-m Vairocana at river level
- Mount Laojun's golden Taoist shrine at 2,200 m
- Shaolin's dawn kungfu class and the 250-pagoda forest
- Kaifeng's Millennium City Park living inside the Qingming scroll
- Night market dinners from Luoyang's water banquet to Kaifeng's soup dumplings
Day by Day
Day 1 — Arrive Zhengzhou
Fly into Xinzheng (CGO) or HSR in. Direct train to Luoyang (40 min); evening at Luoyi's ancient-city lanes.
Flight in · Zhengzhouinternational flights, destination pre-filledBook → Zhengzhou → Luoyang trainHSR ~40 min to the old capitalBook → Stay · Longmen Grottoesriver-Buddha side of the cityBook → 
Day 2 — Longmen Grottoes
Full morning along both cliff galleries and Fengxian's colossus, afternoon at the White Horse Temple gates, night banquet of Luoyang's water courses.
Stay · Longmen Grottoessame Longmen baseBook → Tickets · Longmen Grottoesskip-the-line entryBook → 
Day 3 — Mount Laojun
Ropeway up the Taoist mountain: the golden shrine, cloud-walk planks and hillside monasteries; return by evening train.
Stay · Longmen Grottoesthird water-banquet nightBook → Tickets · Mount Laojunskip-the-line entryBook → 
Day 4 — Shaolin
Bus to Dengfeng for the kungfu show and pagoda forest, optional training-hall session, sunset drive toward Kaifeng.
Stay · Shaolin Templekungfu-town stay near the pagoda forestBook → Tickets · Shaolin Temple & Mount Songskip-the-line entryBook → 
Day 5 — Kaifeng scroll
The Millennium City Park's costumed Song streets and night-light lake show.
Dengfeng → Kaifeng trainroad/HSR hop to the Song capitalBook → Stay · Millennium City Parkold-town lanes by the night lakeBook → Tickets · Millennium City Parkskip-the-line entryBook → 
Day 6 — Baiyun Mountain
Day into the Baiyun peaks' waterfall trails before the return HSR to Zhengzhou.
Stay · Millennium City Parksecond scroll-town nightBook → Tickets · Baiyun Mountainskip-the-line entryBook → Day 7 — Departure
Morning at the Shang-dynasty ruins wall, then CGO or the HSR out.
Travel in China