Yugu

The Mati Temple Grottoes are located in Linsong Mountain, more than 80 kilometers southeast of Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, Gansu Province. It includes the North Temple, South Temple, Thousand Buddha Caves, Golden Pagoda Temple, and the Upper, Middle and Lower Guanyin Caves. The distance between each place ranges from a few kilometers to more than 10 kilometers. Because the cliff stone is coarse red sandstone, which is difficult to carve, most of them are clay sculptures. In 1996, the State Council announced the Mati Temple Grottoes as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. The Jinta Temple Grottoes have a history of more than 1,600 years. They preserve more than 200 sculptures from past dynasties and more than 600 square meters of murals. They are an important national cultural relic protection unit. Tickets for scenic spots are divided into: 1. Thousand Buddha Caves￥35 (must be purchased at the scenic spot) 2. Thousand Buddha Caves + Thirty-three Heavens Grottoes￥74 3. Thousand Buddha Caves + Thirty-three Heavens Grottoes + Four Special Caves (Special Caves are 200 meters away from Thousand Buddha Caves) RMB 115. You can park your car in the parking lot at the entrance of Thousand Buddha Caves. 4. Thousand Buddha Caves + Thirty-three Heavens Grottoes + Golden Pagoda Temple￥335 5. Thousand Buddha Caves + Thirty-three Heavens Grottoes + Four Special Grottoes + Golden Pagoda Temple￥415 Transportation: We drove ourselves. There is a bus from Zhangye to Mati Temple at 8:30 in the morning on weekends and holidays. You can call the scenic spot for consultation (Figure 18). It is 24 kilometers from Mati Temple to Jinta Temple. There is no bus but you can charter a car. Our tour route: Thousand Buddha Caves (with vertical cave stairs P15~P17)→→Four Special Kilns→→Sansantian Grottoes (many people, need to queue, narrow stairs)→→Jinta Temple Grottoes (opens at 1:30 pm, a few kilometers of difficult road, SUVs are available) The scenery along the way from Horse-Shoe Temple to Golden Pagoda Temple is extremely beautiful. In early June, the mountains are full of amaranth and pink bean flowers, and there are herds of cattle and sheep. From time to time, you can see marmots and pheasants. You can drive this section by just buying the basic ticket.