Discover Sanmenxia

When searching for a holiday rental in Sanmenxia, it is worth first deciding what you want to focus on during your trip. In the broader travel destination of Henan, impressive historic sites, landscapes, and regional cuisine sit side by side. These examples highlight different interests you can make room for when planning your holiday.

Stone reliefs and early history

The Longmen Grottoes lie on both banks of the Yi River, south of Luoyang. They stretch along steep limestone cliffs for more than one kilometre. Nearly 110,000 Buddhist stone statues, more than 60 stupas, and 2,800 inscriptions carved into steles make this site an exceptionally extensive record of religious sculpture. Visitors interested in art and history will find a wealth of varied details here, rather than just one central structure.

Yin Xu, on both banks of the Huanhe River northwest of Anyang, offers a different way to explore the past. It is considered the first capital site in Chinese history to be confirmed by historical documents, oracle-bone inscriptions, and archaeological excavations. The palace and ancestral shrine area includes a garden museum and a museum exhibition hall. Check current access to these facilities before your visit.

Landscapes with different features

Henan’s landscapes also have different features. Yuntai Mountain has gorges of various shapes and waterfalls of different sizes. Its main peak, Zhuyu Peak, reaches 1,297.6 metres. Forest covers 98 percent of Jigong Mountain. It is also known for seas of clouds, hoarfrost, ice glaze, dawn and sunset skies, plants, rocks, and waterfalls. This makes it possible to compare different landscape motifs: gorges and waterfalls on the one hand, and forest, rock, and changing weather scenes on the other.

The Red Flag Canal, in the far north of Henan northwest of Anyang, offers another combination of nature and architectural history. The irrigation canal winds along a cliff, passes through 42 tunnels, and runs along the Taihang Mountains. In the 1960s, it was regarded as a major achievement of Chinese workers. Here, the focus is not only on the landscape, but also on the interplay between infrastructure and mountains.

Temples, mausoleums, and historic architecture

The Shaolin Temple was founded in 495 AD on the western foothills of Songshan, northwest of Dengfeng. It is considered the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of kung fu. The Pagoda Forest lies west of the temple: covering more than 14,000 square metres, it is considered China’s largest group of pagodas in terms of both size and number of structures. The combination of religious history and an extensive group of pagodas gives this site a different character from the Longmen rock grottoes.

In Gongyi, the Song Mausoleums include the tombs of seven emperors of the Northern Song dynasty, as well as 1,027 surviving above-ground stone sculptures. They are among China’s two best-preserved imperial mausoleum complexes and are known as an “open-air museum of stone sculpture.” Also in Gongyi, the Kang Baiwan Manor spans the Ming, Qing, and Republican periods. More than 3,000 historical objects, including steles, plaques, antiques, furniture, and calligraphy, illustrate its long architectural and collecting history.

Museums and regional cuisine

For a culinary focus, the Luoyang Water Banquet is a regional specialty from Luoyang with a history spanning more than 1,000 years. The Luoyang Museum is known for its extensive collection of tri-colored glazed ceramics. In Zhengzhou, the Henan Museum holds designated collections of more than 170,000 artifacts for 2026; collection holdings may change. These examples bring together different interests: a long-standing food culture, a distinctive ceramics collection, and a wide-ranging museum.

When choosing a holiday rental in Sanmenxia, tailor your search to the destinations that truly matter for your stay. Consider whether you want to focus on landscapes, historic sites, museums, or regional cuisine.

Discover more destinations: Xinyang, Jiaozuo, Xuchang, Nanyang, Luoyang, Puyang, Zhengzhou, Luohe.

View the broader travel overview: Henan.