Silk Road Angel Tours · Dunhuang
Silk Road Angel Tours picks you up at your hotel, drives you to the Mogao Caves and back, with a guide and headsets in between. Pick it if the caves are the only thing you need help with and you want the rest of the day free.
This is the short version: the Mogao Caves and nothing else. A minivan collects you from your hotel, a guide comes along with headsets so you can hear in a crowd, and the itinerary gives about 4 hours at Mogao with admission marked as included. You give every traveller's passport name, number, expiry and country at booking, because each Mogao ticket is issued in a name, and you carry that passport on the day.
It is not a private tour. The listing allows up to 15 travellers, and the $209 from-price is the per-person rate for the largest group size; fewer people pay more each. That makes it dearer than the private Mogao and Crescent Lake day on its cheapest option, which is worth a look if you want the dunes as well.
One guest's 4-star review is the best warning here. He saw 5 or 6 of the 8 caves proposed, in a rush, and lost time to a souvenir shop selling hand-painted Buddhist pictures and to a lunch stop. The caves shown are the Academy's choice for the day, not the guide's (see the official Mogao visitor page). The shop stop is something you can turn down before you go.
The minivan collects you in Dunhuang. Start times vary by date: pick yours at checkout.
Every Mogao visit starts here on the edge of town. On a regular ticket you watch two films, then ride the official shuttle about 15 km to the cliff.
A site guide opens 8 caves on the peak regular ticket (10 in winter, 4 on the emergency ticket). No photos inside.
The minivan drops you where it picked you up.
Read next:
The itinerary marks Mogao admission as included, and you supply passport details at booking for it. The listing does not say which ticket class; ask, because the regular and emergency tickets differ (8 caves and the films against 4 caves).
No. The listing caps it at 15 travellers and does not mark it private. For your own guide, look at the private Mogao day, and also at the private day with entry.
The tour runs 3 to 4 hours in all, and the guided cave visit takes about 2 hours, with the films and the shuttle around it. One reviewer felt rushed and saw 5 or 6 caves; how many are open is the Academy's call.
Yes. The adult rate starts at 9, children 3 to 8 pay a child rate, and infants sit on laps. Children must be with an adult.
Ready to book
The Mogao Caves in half a day: hotel pickup, the films and the guided cave visit, in 3 to 4 hours.
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