洛阳
Luoyang
Luoyang was capital to thirteen dynasties and keeps the best of it on the edge of town: the Longmen Grottoes along a river cliff, the White Horse Temple, and a museum of what was dug up in between. Ninety minutes from Xi'an by train.
At a glance
- Stay
- 2–2 days
- Best seasons
- Apr, Sep–Oct
- Airports
- Rail or road access
- Region
- Central China
China Unhurried editorial team · Owner-authored
Places to begin
Make the city tangible.
少林寺
Shaolin Temple
The kung fu monastery on Mount Song, ninety minutes east. Big, commercial, still worth it for the Pagoda Forest.
老城·丽景门
Old town and Lijing Gate
A rebuilt gate, a real night market, and the restaurants that serve the water banquet.
白马寺
White Horse Temple
The first Buddhist temple in China, founded in AD 68, with Indian, Thai and Burmese halls next door.
应天门·隋唐洛阳城
Yingtianmen and the Sui-Tang palace site
The reconstructed gate and hall of the Tang palace, lit at night, over the excavated foundations.
龙门石窟
Longmen Grottoes
A kilometre of caves along the Yi River, with the 17-metre Vairocana Buddha at the centre. Half a day.
洛阳博物馆
Luoyang Museum
Thirteen dynasties in one building: Xia bronzes, Tang tri-colour pottery, tomb murals. Free.
二里头夏都遗址博物馆
Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital
The museum presents the Erlitou archaeological culture and a large planned settlement dating to the early second millennium BCE. Turquoise work, bronze production, elite compounds, roads and rammed-earth foundations support discussion of craft specialisation and early state formation. The association with the historically recorded Xia dynasty remains an interpretive question, so visitors should separate excavated evidence from later textual identification.
隋唐洛阳城国家遗址公园
Sui–Tang Luoyang City Archaeological Park
The park interprets core remains of the Sui–Tang eastern capital, including palace-axis archaeology associated with Mingtang, Tiantang and Yingtian Gate. Large modern reconstructions make the vanished capital scale visible, while protected foundations and excavation evidence carry the archaeological authority. Visitors gain most by distinguishing original ground remains, scholarly interpretation and new performance architecture instead of treating every tower as Tang fabric.
Local snacks
Taste the city, one dish at a time.
These cards describe dishes, not restaurants. Images are added only after their license and attribution are verified.
Soupy, sour, peppery and varied
Luoyang Water Banquet
洛阳水席
A sequence of soup-rich and sauced dishes, often including the peppery-sour 'peony swallow dish', reflects banquet tradition rather than one fixed recipe.
Designed for groups and multiple courses. Ask about pork, seafood and banquet size before ordering; do not expect every restaurant to serve the same sequence.
Beefy, aromatic, peppery and warming
Luoyang Beef Soup
洛阳牛肉汤
Slow-cooked beef broth is served with sliced beef, herbs and crisp flatbread pieces or bread on the side, especially as an early breakfast.
Order early while broth is fresh and choose meat and bread portions. It contains beef and bread contains gluten; salt level can be high.
Sour, spicy, savoury and soft
Bufan Soup
不翻汤
Thin mung-bean pancakes are folded into a hot sour-spicy broth with vermicelli, seaweed, dried shrimp and aromatics, softening as they absorb the soup.
Ask about shrimp, broth meat and chilli. The dish can contain shellfish and gluten depending on pancake flour and condiments.
Floral, sweet and pastry-rich
Peony Cake
牡丹饼
A flaky or soft pastry filled with sweetened bean, nut or fruit paste scented with peony-derived flavouring, sold as a modern local gift snack.
Check the ingredient label: 'peony' products vary and may contain nuts, dairy or only flavouring. Compare production dates rather than decorative packaging.
City essentials
The practical details, when you need them.
Places and local food come first. Open these notes for context, arrival and neighbourhood advice.
Overview+
SHANXIJIANGSUANHUISHANDONGHUBEISHAANXILuoyang
For much of the first millennium Luoyang was the eastern capital, and the Tang empress Wu Zetian ruled from here. The city she knew is under the modern one, but the Buddhas she paid for are still in the cliffs at Longmen, twelve kilometres south, where the Yi River cuts through limestone and a hundred thousand figures look out over the water.
The old walled town in the east has a night market, a rebuilt gate and the restaurants that serve the water banquet, a Tang-era procession of soups. The Sui and Tang palace site has been excavated and partly rebuilt in the centre, with the Yingtianmen gate lit at night.
April is peony month. The city has grown them for fifteen hundred years and every park is full of them and of visitors. Autumn is the quiet alternative.
Getting there+
**Luoyang Longmen** station is on the high-speed line, south of the centre and a short ride from the grottoes: Xi'an in about an hour and a half, Zhengzhou 40 minutes, Beijing three and a half to four hours. The older **Luoyang** station in the north serves slower trains. **Beijiao (LYA)** airport, ten kilometres north, has a few domestic flights; most people come by train.
**Rail tip.** Your passport is your ticket. Book on 12306 or [Trip.com](/go/trip?to=trains&from=city-rail), then go straight to the gate. See [Getting around](/guides/getting-around). The Trip.com link earns us a small commission at no cost to you ([how that works](/about#affiliate)).
**Stay online.** Google, WhatsApp and Instagram are blocked on Chinese networks; a travel eSIM that roams gets around it. Install one before you fly — [Saily](/go/saily?from=city-esim) takes US$5 off a first plan with the code **CHINA**. See [Staying online](/guides/staying-online). The code earns us the same amount in Saily credits, at no cost to you ([how that works](/about#affiliate)).
Where to stay+
Old town
老城
Inside the old east walls: the night market, Lijing Gate, water banquet restaurants.
Guesthouses in the lanes off Shizi Street. Metro line 1 reaches the centre; taxis to Longmen take half an hour.
first visitfoodatmosphere
Luolong and the south
洛龙
The new district between the high-speed station and the grottoes. Efficient.
Modern hotels near Luoyang Longmen station and the Luoyang Museum, ten minutes from the caves.
transitconvenience
**Booking.** Compare hotels in Luoyang on [Trip.com](/go/trip?to=hotels&city=luoyang&from=city-stay), filtered to its China travel essentials list: English-speaking staff, foreign cards, guest rating 8 or higher. See [Where to stay](/guides/where-to-stay). Booking through this link earns us a small commission at no cost to you ([how that works](/about#affiliate)).
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