Hengshan Hanging Temple (Xuankong si), Shanxi, China

4KW M 5:00 PM Jul 21, 2021

Cool History
This place is about 1.5 hours from Datong. Very touristy outside with all the vendors. We went on a Wednesday in July, got there about 11:00, tickets cost 230RMB for 2 of us, plus the ride there and back again. We bought our tickets at 11:18am, we then waited in line for 1.5 hours to go up and have a walk around the Temples. They only allow 50-110 people up at once, (so I’ve read, not sure which number is accurate). Go much earlier in the day, or later in the day if you want to avoid the long queues. We went back to our car just over 2 hours after we bought the ticket and the line was smaller, but still an easy 1 hour wait. The Temples themselves while very interesting from an architectural/historical perspective, were somewhat disappointing as Temples go. They are all very small. I expected them to be similar to the Yungang caves and was disappointed in that regard. Obviously if you have an issue with heights, don’t go. If you have little kids, don’t go. If you don’t trust yourself with heights, don’t go. There is a railing around the temple, but it is not even waist high. It is also very small and cramped in many places, careful if you are a larger person. Once you’ve checked this place off your list, you never need to go back. No issue recommending this place.

5Melbourne, Australia 5:00 PM Jan 10, 2020

Amazing place
After hearing a lot about the Hanging Temple from friends (who travelled with us) we were very much looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. We arrived by private car hire on a freezing windy morning, walked up a narrow path where a few of the locals had stalls, some were selling hot, delicious homemade fruit and nut bars as well as other items to view the temple and admission gates only to find that everything was closed and we had no option but to view the Temples from a lookout point. There was a lot of path and road construction above and below us and what looked like another newer Temple being built further up from the old Hanging Temple which looked neglected. Having said that and our disappointment with not being able to walk around the Temples we were still very glad that we saw, even from a distance this amazing and awe inspiring place!