Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark

The local name is fair warning: Mogui Cheng, "Devil City", for the shriek the wind makes as it funnels through the rock corridors after dark. What it funnels through is one of the largest yardang landforms in China, a strip of wind-carved clay and sandstone ridges about 25 kilometres long and covering roughly 400 square kilometres of dry lakebed, now part of the Dunhuang UNESCO Global Geopark. It sits deep in the Gobi, around 180 kilometres northwest of Dunhuang and well past Yumen Pass, which is exactly why it feels like the end of the world.

What you see

Private cars stay outside the core zone; the standard visit is a sightseeing-bus circuit of the northern line, about 1.5 to 2 hours with stops at four named formations: the Golden Lion Welcoming Guests, the Sphinx, the Peacock, and the Western Sea Fleet, a squadron of ship-shaped ridges sailing across the flat desert. The scale only registers when another bus crawls past a ridge the size of a city block. Photographers who want emptier frames can arrange an off-road "deep route" into the southern section at extra cost, booked inside the park at the Western Sea Fleet stop.

Sunset and stars

This is a sunset destination. As the sun drops, the ochre ridges turn red-gold, the shadows between them deepen, and the wind picks up its famous moan. Stargazers linger after dark: there is no town for a hundred kilometres in any direction, and the Gobi sky shows it.

Hours and tickets

Hours are seasonal: roughly 06:30 to 19:30 from May to October, opening later and closing earlier in winter; check current times before the long drive out. As of 2026, admission bundles the entrance fee with the compulsory shuttle for the northern circuit, and the deep route is charged separately. There is little shelter, food or phone signal inside, so arrive supplied.

Getting there

The drive from Dunhuang takes around three hours each way, so this is a full-day outing. Most travellers join a chartered "west line" day tour that strings together the Western Thousand Buddha Caves or Yangguan, Yumen Pass, the Han-dynasty Great Wall and the geopark, timed to end here at sunset. A limited tourist bus also runs from central Dunhuang in season, but with only a few departures a day it leaves no room for error; there is no regular city bus.

When to go

April to October, planned around sunset. Bring water, windproof layers and a headlamp: the site is exposed, the temperature drops fast once the sun is gone, and the walk back to the bus is unlit.