China · Shaanxi
Where to Stay in Yan’an, Shaanxi
Yan'an is a city on the loess plateau of Shaanxi in northern China, famous as the revolutionary base where the Long March ended.
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Where to stay in Yan’an
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Yan'an turns on the town centre. The streets by the Yan River keep the revolutionary sites, the shops, and the pagoda hill within reach, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the historic city. The pagoda lights up at night.
Rooms sit near the river and the sites. Out toward the hills and the cave villages, the town gives way to loess ridges. A room in the hills trades the centre for the old cave homes, the terraces, and the quiet of the plateau.
The bare ridges rise past the edge. If you want the sites and the pagoda, stay in the centre; if you want the hills, take a room outside. Both choices keep the old streets of Yan'an within reach.
About Yan’an
What is Yan’an known for?
Yan'an is the holy city of the Chinese revolution. On this loess plateau the Communists made their base after the Long March, and Mao and the party lived for years in caves dug into the yellow hillsides, so the town is dotted with old headquarters and halls, crowned by a slender ancient pagoda on the hill. Cave dwellings line the ridges.
Caves and pagoda mark the city.
What are the main landmarks in Yan’an?
The Baota Pagoda crowns the hill above Yan'an. The slender ancient tower, a symbol of the revolution, rises over the loess valley, the emblem of the city, by the Yan River. Revolutionary caves fill the valley.
The old headquarters and cave dwellings of the leaders spread through the town, while the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor and the Zhongshan Grottoes lie in the hills nearby.
What is the history of Yan’an?
Yan'an was the cradle of the Chinese revolution. After the Long March across China, the Communists made this remote loess town their base in the nineteen-thirties, and for over ten years Mao and the party led their movement from caves dug into the yellow hills. A whole capital grew in the caves.
Headquarters, schools, and printing shops filled the cave dwellings of the valley, and from here the party planned the war against Japan and the fight for China. The town holds the memory of those years. Its revolutionary sites and halls draw pilgrims from across the country, who come to see the caves where the leaders lived and worked.
The land itself is very old. Not far off lies the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, the legendary ancestor of the Chinese, and the Baota Pagoda has crowned the hill above the town for a thousand years. The red banners still fly on the sites.
Yan'an guards its caves and its pagoda on the loess.
Where is Yan’an?
Yan'an lies on the loess plateau of northern Shaanxi in China. The city fills a narrow valley where the Yan River cuts through hills of soft yellow earth, carved into terraces and cave homes, in the dry hill country north of Xi'an. Loess ridges rise around the town.
The bare hills roll away for miles.
What is the climate of Yan’an?
Yan'an has a dry continental climate. Hot, dusty summers and cold, harsh winters cross the plateau, and the wind blows the yellow loess dust across the hills, with little rain but a summer spell. Dust storms sweep the bare land in spring.
The dry hills stay brown much of the year.
How do you get to Yan’an?
Yan'an lies in the hills north of Xi'an in Shaanxi. Trains, an airport, and the expressway link the city to Xi'an and the wider country across the plateau, and roads wind through the loess hills. Buses head out to the loess villages.
Most arrive by rail or air over the hills.
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Updated August 2026