Datong Weather & Seasons - Best Time to Visit Datong

In spring, the temperature begins to rise up but there are still some chilly days to spend in early spring, especially at night. Late April and May enjoy the most comfortable temperature, neither cold nor hot. The trees start to turn green and the flowers start to bloom. It is a great time to travel Datong. Just in Datong Ancient City, you could appreciate many peach blossom.

What to Wear: In the early spring (March), it is still cold and you need to prepare windbreakers, jackets, thin sweaters, etc. In the April and May, it is much warm and you can wear shirt, long skirts, light jeans,

★ Recommended Datong Tour: 2 Days Datong Yungang Grottoes Tour

Compared some other cities of China, Datong's summer is not too hot but humid. So many travelers choose to travel Datong on their summer vacation. The average temperature is between 19°C to 22 °C and the hottest month is July with an average of 28 °C. Most rainfall of Datong happens in summer, but there is no need to worry much about it because it doesn't rain much in Datong.

What to Wear: Though summer in Datong is not hot, the sunlight is strong as well. You are suggested to wear sun block shirt, sunhat, sunglasses. As for clothes, linen shirts, thin skirts, thin T-shirts and other breathable clothes are enough for the day time. In case of the weather changes in night, taking a light coat and long pant is advisable. It is also recommended to bring raincoat and umbrella.

▶ Special Experience in Summer

Datong Culture and Art Tourism Festival is usually taking place in August to show Chinese traditional religious culture and beautiful northern-frontier scenery. There are wonderful shows, attractions presentations and cultural exhibitions. Visiting Datong in August, you get opportunity to learn Datong better.

★ Recommended Datong Tour: 3 Days Datong Culture Tour with Hanging Temple

Autumn is a great season visit Datong as well. There is a cool temperature between 5°C to 8°C in average and some sunshine. Travelers get more opportunities to enjoy clear blue sky with less frost in autumn. It is rather suitable to take some beautiful pictures as well.

What to Wear: During the daytime, wearing thin sweater or long-sleeve shirts is suitable. You'd better prepare an extra coat to keep you warm at night. If you want to take nice pictures with Datong's old structures, bright colors (like red, blue, white, etc.) are recommended to wear because they can make strong contrast with Datong's antique flavor.

★ Recommended Datong Tour: 4 Days Essence of Datong & Pingyao Tour

Winter, lasting from December to January is rather cold to visit. It has an average temperature of -12.8 °C to 6.3 °C. Along with dry weather and strong wind, Datong has much fewer tourists in cold winter. So you may enjoy quieter environment if you visit. If you travel during China's Spring Festival, you are able to enjoy some interesting activities.

What to Wear: To against cold weather, winter coats, leather jackets, down coats, woolen hats, scarfs, gloves, sweaters and snow boot are recommended to take.

▶ Special Experience in Winter

Datong Lantern Festival is always held in spring festival after boisterous Chinese New Year and lasts for 10 ~15 days. There are various ice lanterns exhibited in different display areas. It is also available to watch several shows like dragon dance and lion dance.

Datong Spring Festival Temple Fair, taking place in 8th ~ 14th day of January of Chinese calendar, is also interesting. There are many folk art shows to admire and many local specialties to purchase. You can also enjoys some exhibitions of calligraphy, jade, antiques, etc.

★ Recommended Datong Tour: 6 Days Essence of Shanxi Tour

It usually needs 2 days to cover the highlights in Datong. Without any doubt, Yungang Grottoes are a must. It consists of 53 grottoes with 51,000 statues and is a real treasure of traditional Chinese art. After that, you can go to Shanhua Monastery to appreciate a set of well-preserved buildings of Liao Dynasty (905-1125). Then, continue to have a look at Nine Dragon Screen, the oldest and largest glazed screen in China and later head to Huayan Temple, which keeps the largest wooden structure of Buddhist temple hall with elegant mural and scriptures. The next day is for the attractions a little far from downtown such as Hanging Temple, an unusual temple standing on the precarious cliff built over 1500 years ago, and Yingxian Wooden Pagoda, the highest wooden pagoda in the world.

☛ 2 Days Datong Yungang Grottoes Tour
☛ 3 Days Datong Culture Tour with Hanging Temple

In addition, the convenient transportation of Datong provides opportunities to discover more of Shanxi to Taiyuan, sacred Buddhist mountain Mount Wutai, world heritage site Pingyao Ancient City, magnificent Hukou Waterfall, etc.

☛ 5 Days Datong & Wutaishan Discovery Tour
☛ 6 Day Datong Pingyao Tour Plus Wutaishan Visit

If you have more days and want to travel outside Shanxi, it is highly recommended to extend your tour to capital Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City), time-honored Xi'an (Terracotta Warriors), and modern metropolis Shanghai (the Bund).

☛ 9 Days Ancient Treasures of China Tour
☛ 11 Days Golden Triangle Tour with Shanxi Highlights