Tianshui Maijishan Airport

机About this airport

Tianshui Maijishan Airport serves Tianshui, the second largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. The airport takes its name from the site it primarily enables: the Maiji Mountain (Maijishan) Buddhist grottoes — one of the four great Buddhist cave complexes of China alongside Mogao (Dunhuang), Yungang (Datong) and Longmen (Luoyang). The Maiji Mountain complex has 194 surviving caves with over 7,200 clay and stone Buddhist sculptures and 1,000 square metres of murals, carved into the conglomerate cliffs of a dramatically isolated rocky hill in the Qinling Mountains over a period from the 5th century (Northern Wei) through the Tang, Song and Ming dynasties.

The Maiji Mountain is accessible via cliff-face stairs, ladders, and walkways fixed to the rock face — a somewhat vertiginous route that forms part of the visit experience. The caves are arranged in tiers across the cliff face, with some sealed and viewable only through grilles. The clay sculptures — which survived better than stone equivalents at some sites because they were protected by cave overhangs — are considered to include some of the finest Tang-dynasty religious sculpture in China, notable for their expressiveness and technical quality. The site is a national key cultural relic protection unit and covered by a UNESCO tentative list nomination.

Routes from THQ connect to a limited number of domestic destinations including Xi'an, Lanzhou, and others [VERIFY: current routes — May 2026]. The Baoji-Lanzhou high-speed railway stops at Tianshui South, and the journey from Xi'an takes approximately 1.5 hours — making rail the preferred approach for visitors coming from Xi'an, which is the most logical base for a multi-site Silk Road itinerary.

Tianshui city itself has the Fuxi Temple complex — associated with Fuxi, one of China's mythological founding figures credited with inventing the eight trigrams, fishing, and the domestication of animals — and a surviving section of historic commercial street in the old district (Tianshui Laoqu), with Qing-dynasty shopfronts and local food stalls. The surrounding Longnan and Qinling areas provide forest hiking and canyon landscape; the Wushan Shui Lian Dong (Water Curtain Cave) grottoes are a further Buddhist cave site approximately 80 km south with painted cliff faces and carved niches.

The airport is a single-terminal facility with very limited food and no Priority Pass lounge. Shuttle buses and taxis to the city are the primary ground transport. Visiting the Maiji Mountain grottoes requires a full-day commitment from the city: the scenic area entrance is approximately 45 km east by road, with walking and boardwalk sections within the site adding several hours. Entry tickets are required [VERIFY: current pricing — May 2026]; photography inside the sealed cave grilles is restricted but the exterior walkway circuit along the cliff face is fully viewable. Arriving before the mid-morning tour groups is advisable for a less crowded experience on the narrow cliff paths.

Tianshui is accessible via the Baoji-Lanzhou high-speed railway, making Xi'an the natural western anchor of a circuit that combines Tianshui's Buddhist grottoes with the broader Gansu Silk Road heritage. The round trip from Xi'an to Tianshui for a Maiji Mountain day trip (1.5 hours each way by HSR) is feasible, which reduces the need for a dedicated overnight unless the slower rural landscape of the Qinling foothills is also on the itinerary.