Huangshan may be China’s most iconic and most famously painted mountain range. It is said to be enough to visit this mountain in China (a statement I certainly disagree with as there are many beautiful areas in China). Huangshan is sometimes called the “mountain of people” (“people mountain, people sea”). Why that is becomes visible after we exit the cable car. Streams of people move along the walkways. Sometimes we even have to wait in line to move. But we are rewarded with the most stunning views, esp. as we caught one of the rare sunny days in the mountains.
Bucket list
- Hike Huangshan
- Visit a traditional Anhui village
Do better next time
– Sleep one night on the mountain (Beihi hotel) to watch sunset and sunrise.
We took a special CTrip / That’s Shanghai promotion tour for a total of 1.299RMB incl. bus and hotel. However, there.is a good highspeed train connection between Shanghai and Huanshan. We stayed two nights a Crown Placa Huangshan.
Here is the full story
Day 1 Arrival
Its a 6h drive by bus from Shanghai to Huangshan Town. We have to wait for one of the tour guides, who went to a wrong meeting place. We drive past Hangzhou to Huangshan, where we arrive in the evening, in time for the welcome dinner. The group has about 60 people, about half are expats. We stay at Crown Plaza, which is large but comfortable.
Day 2 Huanshan
Early in the morning we depart by bus to Huangshan Park. Its about 1h drive from the town. We take the cabel car from the south side to the Jade Screen Station. The weather is beautiful, bright and sunny. We walk as a group from the cable car to the Xi Hai hotel (our lunch stop) with many photo stops along the way. The trails are fully developed; largely steps and stairs, but very easy to walk in light shoes. After lunch, we walk individually up and down the Grand Canyon, maybe the most spectacular part of our hike. Walkways are attached to vertical cliffs, high above the ground. The views are spectacular. In the afternoon, we take the cable car down to Pine Valley Station (where we aee a monkey kn the way down) and drive back to the hotel. As there is no planned dinner, Michi and I try the hotel buffet.
Day 3 Hongcun Village
We pack in the morning, as this is already the last day of the trip. We drive for ca. 1h to Hongcun village, a historic town west of Huangshan, a World Heritage site and a fil set for the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. We spend the morning exploring this beautiful town and its old houses and courtyards.
In the afternoon we drive back to Shanghai. Fog comes up at dusk and we see five accidents within 10km. We make it home safely.