Wuwei

Wuwei (武威; Wǔwēi) is a city in Gansu Province.

Understand

Gansu's most celebrated relic, the Flying Horse, was found in Wuwei on the grounds of Leitai Temple. The original relic is in the Gansu Provincial Museum in Lanzhou.

Get in

By plane

Wuwei does not have a commercial airport. The nearest airport with regular scheduled flights is the one in Jinchang, which is about an hour’s drive from Wuwei.

If you arrive at Lanzhou’s Zhongchuan International Airport, you can take a bus direct from there to Wuwei. The journey time is about 3 to 3½ hours.

By train

There are two main railway stations in Wuwei:

• 1 Wuwei Railway Station (武威站), Yingbin Road, Liangzhou District (凉州区迎宾路) (bus nos. 1, 2, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 27, 28, 605 West, Night Bus 1 and Night Bus 2). This is the most centrally located of the two railway stations. (updated Mar 2024)
• 2 Wuwei South Railway Station (武威南站), Wunan Street, Liangzhou District (凉州区武南街) (bus no. 17). (updated Mar 2024)

By bus

• 3 Wuwei Central Bus Station (武威客运中心站), Southeast side of Intersection of Erhuan South Road and Yingbin Road, Liangzhou District (凉州区二环南路与迎宾路交叉口东南) (about 500 meters northeast of Wuwei Railway Station; local bus nos. 1, 2, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 27, 28, 605 West, Night Bus 1 and Night Bus 2), ☏ +86 935 6338283. (updated Mar 2024)

See

• 1 Wuwei Municipal Museum (武威市博物馆), 25 Guzang Road, Liangzhou District (凉州区宣武街姑臧路25号) (bus no. 9 stops outside the museum; bus nos. 5, 27 and 30 stop at the nearby municipal government building), ☏ +86 935 2228884 (enquiries), +86 935 2216530, wwsbwg@163.com. 09:00-17:00, no entry after 16:30, closed on Monday (except when Monday is a public holiday). Wuwei’s main museum. Visitor numbers are limited to 1200 people in the morning and 800 people in the afternoon. All visitors are required to show their ID before entering the museum. Free. (updated Mar 2024)
• 2 Wuwei Xixia Museum (武威西夏博物馆, Xixia Museum of Wuwei), 181 Chongwen Street, Liangzhou District (凉州区崇文街181号) (bus nos. 15, 16 and 32), ☏ +86 935 2368131. 08:00-18:00 (summer), 08:30-18:00 (winter), no entry after 17:30, closed on Monday (except when Monday is a public holiday). One of only two museums in China dedicated to displaying artifacts from the empire of the Western Xia (the other one being the one at Xixia Wangling National Park). Free. (updated Mar 2024)
• 3 Wuwei Confucius Temple (武威文庙), 172 Chongwen Street, Liangzhou District (凉州区崇文街172号) (bus no. 15, 16 and 32), ☏ +86 86 935 2213836. 08:00-18:00 (summer), 08:30-18:00 (winter), no entry after 17:30, closed on Monday (except when Monday is a public hoiliday). Said to be the largest Confucius temple in Northwest China. It was originally built in the 15th century and rebuilt and expanded several times. The temple is now administered as a branch of the nearby Wuwei Xixia Museum. Free. (updated Mar 2024)
• 4 Tiantishan Grottoes (天梯山石窟), Dengshan Village, Zhangyi Town (张义镇灯山村) (get a long-distance bus to the town of Haxi (哈溪) and tell the driver you want to go to the Tiantishan Grottoes - the bus should drop you off at the entrance to the road leading to the grottoes; the grottoes are about 2.3 km from the drop-off site), ☏ +86 935 2980219. 09:00-17:30. A series of Buddhist cave temples that were carved out of the cliffs of the Huangyang River around 1600 years ago. These days only the largest and most impressive cave temple can still be seen in its original form. The paintings and sculptures in the smaller cave temples were relocated to the Gansu Provincial Museum during the construction of the nearby reservoir in the second half of the 20th century. ¥30. (updated Mar 2024)
• 5 Leitai Han Culture Museum (雷台汉文化博物馆, 雷台公园 Leitai Park), 192 Beiguan Middle Road, Liangzhou District (凉州区北关中路192号) (take bus no. 15, 21, 30, 31 or 32 to reach the south entrance; take bus no. 1, 27 or 32 to reach the north entrance; take bus no. 1, 6, 16, 21, 30 or 31 to reach the west entrance), ☏ +86 935 2215852. 08:30-18:00. Includes the Leitai Han Tombs and the Leitai Taoist Temple. ¥45. (updated Mar 2024)

Sleep

Budget

• Huafeng Hotel (Huafeng Fandian), Buxing Shengyi Street, ☏ +86 935 6978008. 
• Tianyuan Hotel (Tianyuan Zhaodaisuo), Buxing Shangyi Street, ☏ +86 935 6978342. 

Mid-range

• Tianma Hotel Wuwei, Xixiaoshizi, ☏ +86 935 2215170, fax: +86 935 2212356. 
• Liangzhou Hotel Wuwei, 68 East Street, ☏ +86 935 2212450, fax: +86 935 2213008. 

Go next

• Minqin - oasis town three hours by bus where fortified mansions of local warlords who were charged with protecting the Great Wall of China still exist.