Songshan Shaolin Temple: Visitor and Training Guide

Every road in this story leads to the same small mountain. Songshan, in Dengfeng, Henan Province, is where the Shaolin Temple has stood for over 1,500 years, and where the schools that teach its martial art today are still clustered in and around Dengfeng, within easy reach of the gate. If you are trying to work out what the temple actually is, whether you can visit it without training, or which of the schools nearby is the right fit, this is the overview we wish every student had before they booked a flight.

What is Songshan, and why is the temple here

Songshan (Mount Song) is one of China's Five Great Mountains, rising above the city of Dengfeng in Henan Province, roughly in the geographic centre of the country. The original Shaolin Temple was built into its southern slopes, and the surrounding valley (often referred to as the Greater Songshan scenic area) has been a centre of Buddhist and martial practice for over a millennium. It is not a single building: the area includes the temple compound itself, the Pagoda Forest (a cemetery of stone stupas marking generations of monks), the Dharma Cave, and older academies such as Songyang Academy and Zhongyue Temple scattered through the same valley.

This is also, not coincidentally, where nearly all serious Shaolin Kung Fu instruction for foreign students happens. Schools set up here for the same reason pilgrims and monks have come here for centuries: proximity to the source. When people talk about "training at Shaolin," they usually mean training at one of the academies built into this same mountain valley, not inside the temple itself, which functions as a monastery and heritage site rather than a training school for outside students.

One distinction worth making early: Songshan is not the only mountain associated with Chinese martial arts. Wudang Mountain, home to Shaolin Worldwide's Wudang Jingwu school, is a separate range in Hubei Province tied to Taoist internal arts rather than the Buddhist Shaolin tradition. If your goal is specifically the Shaolin Temple and Songshan, Dengfeng in Henan is where you want to be.

Visiting the Shaolin Temple: what is actually there

A temple visit, whether it is your one day as a tourist or the cultural day built into a training program, typically covers the same core sites: the temple complex itself, warrior monk demonstrations, the Pagoda Forest, and the Dharma Cave where Bodhidharma is said to have meditated. Our own retreat and camp itineraries build a full day around exactly this: our 12-day retreat includes a complete day at the Shaolin Temple with monk demonstrations, and the Shaolin Zhong Wu 7-day cultural camp schedules its temple immersion (temple grounds, Pagoda Forest, Dharma Cave, and the nearby Shaolin Pharmacy) on day two of the program.

What you will not find, at the temple itself, is a foreign-student training program. The monks who live and train there are part of the monastic community; the schools that teach international students, however closely tied to Shaolin lineage, operate as separate academies nearby. That is an important expectation to set before you arrive: the temple is where you go to see and understand Shaolin's history, the schools are where you go to train it.

Three schools, three ways to train near the temple

All three schools we work with are within easy reach of the Shaolin Temple, but they differ significantly in scale, lineage, location and how they structure a stay. One point worth clearing up first, because a lot of outdated pages online still get it wrong: Shaolin Tagou's original campus sat inside the Songshan Shaolin Temple Scenic Area, but that is no longer where international students train. Tagou opened a large modern campus in Dengfeng itself in 2023, and that new campus is where classes are now held.

Shaolin Tagou is the school to choose if scale and competition pedigree matter to you: it holds 131 individual world championship titles, has trained over 20,800 international students from 50-plus countries, and offers hotel-standard shared rooms renovated to 3-star quality. International classes are held at Tagou's new Dengfeng campus, opened in 2023 and built to hold around ten thousand students, so you get modern facilities and a short transfer to the temple rather than a campus gate inside the scenic area. Its size also means a genuinely international community and a broad curriculum that extends past Shaolin forms into Sanda, Tai Chi, Xing Yi, Ba Gua, and Ba Ji.

Shaolin Yongzhi is the more intimate, traditional option, and it is the academy that hosts our own 12-day retreat. Training runs Monday to Friday under Grandmaster Shi Yongzhi and his senior disciples, with weekends free to rest or explore the temple area on foot, since it is about thirty minutes away.

Shaolin Zhong Wu is the newest and most flexible of the three, with day rates for people who want to try training before committing, and a purpose-built 7-day Shaolin Cultural and Kung Fu Camp for groups (families, clubs, school trips) that cannot be booked by individual travellers. For a deeper look at Zhong Wu specifically, including its lineage and daily rhythm, see our interview with the headmaster.

All three welcome complete beginners and scale training intensity to the student in front of them. None require prior martial arts experience.

Getting to Dengfeng from the airport

Every route into the Songshan area runs through the same airport: Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport (CGO) in Henan Province. From there it is roughly an 80 km transfer to Dengfeng. Shaolin Tagou students arrange their own taxi from the airport to the Dengfeng campus; Shaolin Zhong Wu includes airport pickup as part of its $100 application fee; Shaolin Yongzhi students typically travel on by train or car and receive a full travel guide after enrolling. If you are coming for the 12-day retreat, group airport transfers between Zhengzhou, the academy, and the hotel are included in the all-inclusive price.

Retreat, short stay, or long-term: choosing your path

• Want two weeks with everything arranged for you? The 12-day China retreat runs 21 April to 2 May 2027 at Shaolin Yongzhi, $2,500 all-inclusive, with a full day at the Shaolin Temple built in.
• Want scale, competition pedigree, and long-term flexibility? Shaolin Tagou trains by the day from $60, or by the month from $1,150, with no enforced minimum stay.
• Want traditional lineage and a smaller, quieter academy? Shaolin Yongzhi requires a minimum 2-week stay and trains Monday to Friday, with the temple a short walk away on weekends.
• Bringing a family, club, or group? Shaolin Zhong Wu's 7-day Shaolin Cultural and Kung Fu Camp is built specifically for groups, with training, temple immersion, and scenic sites bundled into one itinerary.
• Just want to test the waters before committing to weeks? Both Tagou and Zhong Wu offer day rates ($60 and $100 respectively) so you can extend once you know it suits you.

Not sure yet whether a fixed retreat or a longer independent stay fits you better? Our guide to the best Shaolin schools for foreigners and our full cost breakdown go deeper on both questions.

Frequently asked questions

Plan your visit

Whether you have two weeks for a fully organised retreat or you are ready to commit to a longer stay at one of the academies training near the Shaolin Temple, the mountain and the schools around it are the same starting point.

Not sure which school or program fits you? Get in touch and we will help you work it out.