Tours Visiting Reed Flute Caves, China

A grand, natural architecture formed by millennia of water eroding its soft limestone, the Reed Flute Caves are a veritable underground palace of weird and wonderful formations. Ink inscriptions on the walls of the cave suggest the grotto had been a tourist attraction 1,200 years ago during the Tang Dynasty, but it wasn’t discovered in the modern era until the 1940s by a group of refugees fleeing Japanese forces during World War II.

The cave is named for the type of reed that grows around its entrance, which is harvested to make small wind instruments. The colossal stalagmites, stalactites and rock formations within are today illuminated by multi-coloured lights, giving the whole cave a magical feel. In the Chinese-style the formations have been given incredibly poetic names which have whimsical fairy tales behind them – keep an eye out for the Virgin Forest, Flower and Fruit Mountain and Crystal Palace.