Ming Tombs Tour Route Recommendation (Jan 31, 2025)

The Ming Tombs are the tombs of 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. The open attractions are the Sacred Way, Changling, Dingling, and Zhaoling. The Sacred Way is the path to the tombs. There are 24 pairs of sacred animals and 6 pairs of civil and military officials guarding the Sacred Way. Changling is the tomb of Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di. Zhu Di moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing to resist the Mongol invasion and created a powerful Ming Empire. He was the first emperor to be buried in the Ming Tombs. The structure of each tomb is similar, consisting of the Square City (with the Shengong Shengde Stele inside), Ling'en Gate, Ling'en Hall, Ming Tower, and Treasure Mound. The difference is that the entire tomb of Changling is complete, especially the columns of Ling'en Hall, which are made of golden nanmu wood about 1 meter in diameter, which is extremely rare. The Ling'en Gate and Ling'en Hall of Dingling have been destroyed, and the tomb has been excavated. The underground palace is open to visitors. Tour route: Sacred Way > Changling > Dingling > Zhaoling Take a taxi to the south gate of the Sacred Way, walk through the Sacred Way, and exit the north gate. Turn right and cross the road. There is a bus to Changling, Dingling, and Zhaoling in the parking lot. There are many buses, about one every 5 minutes. The tombs are not far from each other, and it takes 5 minutes by bus. Note: You need to apply for a bus code in advance. Some buses require you to search for "bus card" in the WeChat mini program, click "Beijing Municipal Transportation Card" to get the bus code. Some buses require you to get the bus code in the "Travel" section of Alipay. The bus codes in Beijing are not interoperable on WeChat and Alipay, which is inconvenient.