White Horse Pagoda of Dunhuang, Gansu, China

3KarenTraveling 5:00 PM Oct 13, 2015

Great place for a quiet picnic.
A taxi should only cost 20 Kuai, but it really isn't that far out of town for a walk. The street is marked with an English sign, and you can see some of the rural aspects of life in Dunhuang, like mountains of corncobs drying in the sun. It's 15 Kuai to get in, and it's very peaceful. We enjoyed the sun and ate on one of the many benches around. One tourist arrived while we were there. Nice picnic location.

3ariellek_bj 5:00 PM Mar 1, 2012

Old 1,600-year site, new 170-year pagoda
The White Horse Pagoda requires a RMB 15 ticket. There is nothing in there except for the pagoda, which has 9 levels, 12-metre tall, and a 7-metre diameter. The pagoda you see was built about 170 years ago during the Qing dynasty. The original White Horse Pagoda was built about 1600 years ago, after a then-famous Buddhist monk returned from the west and his horse, which took him all the way across the harsh desert, died as he entered Dunhuang. There are only 2 reasons you would come to this site: 1) You're determined to hit all the possible sightseeing places in Dunhuang, perhaps because it's your 3rd or 4th trip here. Or 2) you're returning to the city after a day visiting the sites to the far west of Dunhuang (eg. Yadan geological park, Yumen Pass, etc.) The pagoda is located just 2km west of Dunhuang city, so if you're passing through anyway you might wish to stop by and take a look. Either way, you can decide for yourself whether it's worthwhile according to your travel purposes.