Kingfisher caves 燕子洞

The Swifts Cave is located around 30km east of Jianshui and is one of the largest caves in China. Water has sculpted the immense karst cavities into surreal shapes where the imagination can conjure up all sorts of things.

In this cave is the Pillar of Jade holding up the sky, a 40-metre-high column, and the Dream World, whose reliefs are lit up with colours to give it a fairytale air. An underground river, the Lu Jiang, flows beneath its vaults.

In early spring, several thousand swifts take up residence in this cave to build their nests. When the swifts leave in summer, the Bird’s Nest Festival takes place on 8 August. This is the only day when people from all over the region are allowed to climb into the cave to collect these highly coveted nests, partly because of their nutritional value.