Visiting the Dazu Buddhist Caves from Chongqing Why Dazu? Along with the Longmen Grottoes (龙门石窟) in Luoyang, the Yungang Grottoes (云冈石窟) in Datong and the Mogao Grottoes (莫高石窟) in Dunhuang the Dazu rock carvings (大足石刻) outside of Chongqing make up China’s four most prominent sites of buddhist art. Of the 4, Dazu is probably the least visited, in part due to the fact that Chongqing itself is quite isolated from other popular travel areas in China. Also it is a long journey from the city itself. The vast majority of visitors will take a private tour. However it is quite easy to take use a combination of public transport and taxis to visit the site for a fraction of the cost. The carvings are about 160km west of Chongqing, one of China’s most impressive metropolises. They surround the town of Dazu (大足) across 5 sites. The biggest and most popular…
