Huangshan – The Yellow Mountain

Huangshan, or the Yellow Mountain, is a hiker’s and a photographer’s dream. This mountain, located about 40-50km north of the city of the same name, is a must visit if you’re in China and enjoy hiking.

Due to the distance from the city and the time it takes to hike, I recommend staying somewhere closer to the mountain. I stayed in Tangkoucun, or Tangkou Town, at the southern foot of the mountain. This small town has some great restaurants and also a bus service that will take you to the beginning of the hike.

As with anywhere in China, I would avoid travelling on a national holiday (known locally as a ‘Red Day’). The mountain becomes packed with people, as you’ll see in a later photo. It’s not as fun and you’ll be fighting for photo spots, as well as making the hike longer as you’ll have to queue more. If you can, visit the mountain on a day outside of local holidays.

Besides hiking, there are a few other places to enjoy around Huangshan, particularly if you’re a fan of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Some of the movie was filmed nearby and you can explore these areas.

The Yellow Mountain

Hiking the Yellow Mountain is a full day endeavour, especially if you skip the cable cars and intend to see as much as possible, though there is enough to see that you can split it into a two or even a three day hike. There are hotels dotted across the mountain range to break up your hike. Though challenging, the hike is worth it for the incredible views and stunning scenery.

I left my hotel in Tangkoucun at 6:30am to begin my journey up Huangshan. The bus to Yungu Temple Station runs from the town. I queued for about an hour for the bus (though remember it was a national holiday). The bus takes around 10-15 minutes to reach the entrance to the mountain and you’re required to show your passport before boarding, so don’t forget it!

At Yungu Temple Station you have a choice – 6.5km of stairs which the map states takes 3 hours, or a 12 minute cable car ride. The queue for the cable car looked even longer than the bus queue, and not wanting to back down from a challenge I opted for the stairs. This is definitely the most physically demanding part of the mountain, but doable. I managed it in 1 and a half hours, so it’s not as bad as the map claims. You also get to see some great scenery on the way up.

On the stairs you might also pass people carrying heavy loads of supplies on their backs. These are people who work for the hotels at the top, carrying the necessary supplies or luggage as there are no roads. Something to bear in mind if you do opt for a hotel at the top. Pack lightly for their sake.

At the top you’ll come to White Goose Ridge. Here you can catch your breath and enjoy the views. From here you’re pretty free to go anywhere you like and explore different parts of the mountain. One of the longest parts of the hike is over, though there are still more stairs to come.

I headed to Beginning to Believe Peak. This is a good spot to watch the sunset, and if you come on a cloudy day you should be above the clouds at this point. From here the clouds look like a rolling sea of waves. On the day I visited though it was blue skies all around.

From the Beginning to Believe Peak I walked past some of the hotels up there and over to the West Sea Grand Canyon. Luckily a lot of this section is downhill heading in that direction. The views and rock formations are incredible here and need to be seen in person to be believed.

At the bottom of this section is a rail cable car that brings you back up to some of the tallest peaks in the mountain range.

One of these peaks is Bright Top at 1860m, where you get great views across the mountain range. It’s not the tallest peak though. For that, you’ll need to head to Lotus Peak.

On the path from Bright Top to Lotus Peak is where I began to regret visiting Huangshan on a national holiday. I got stuck in a one-way queue of people that snaked along the edge of the mountain and took over an hour to get through. This was during China’s Covid closed borders period as well, so on a national holiday now with international tourists it could be even worse. Again, I recommend travelling here on a random day outside of holidays if you can.

Eventually the path split, with the way up to Lotus Peak much quieter. At this point it became more like climbing than hiking. The way up is steep, but relatively short.

The peak is at 1864.8m and offers out-of-this-world views. 360 degrees of mountainy goodness.

On a clear day you’ll be able to see all the way down to Tangkou Town.

If the 6.5km of stairs at the beginning of the hike was physically demanding, the way down from Lotus Peak is mentally challenging. The stairs are steep, with only a low wall or fence on either side keeping you from plummeting down the sheer drop. Don’t come this way if you’re scared of heights. If you’ve read any other pages on this site, you’ll know I’m fine with hiking to the highest points, walking over glass bridges, or standing at the top of the tallest buildings, but even my heart was pounding as I came down the stairs from Lotus Peak. One wrong move, one slip, and I would be jam on the valley floor.

At the bottom of these stairs the path joined up with the queue for the cable car off the mountain. By this point I had been in the mountains for around 9 hours. It’s not a great idea to try to come down in the dark, so getting the cable car down is a sensible idea. The queue was long but moved fairly quickly, and outside of national holidays it shouldn’t be nearly as bad. This cable car station is called the Yu Pin Station and at the bottom there will be buses that can take you back to Tangkou Town.

The whole day was about 12 hours, from queueing for the morning bus to returning to Tangkou Town. Again, this was a national holiday where queues were extremely long, so your time on the mountain could be drastically different. Other factors include taking the cable car up versus the stairs, heading to Lotus Peak or not, staying at a hotel on the mountain, tackling the mountain over a few days instead of one, and your fitness level. Whatever you choose to do, take plenty of water and snacks, and enjoy the views!

Hongcun

To the west of Huangshan is Hongcun, a village where the architecture of a feudal Chinese village has been preserved throughout the years. For movie fans, you might recognise the narrow bridge over the still waters by the entrance. A scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was shot here.

Inside the village you can wander through the streets and have a look inside some of the buildings, old residences and town halls. The village has become quite touristy, so you’ll also see a lot of shops selling the usual tourist things.

Still, Hongcun is nice to wander around for a half day or so, and it will give your legs a rest after hiking Huangshan.

Mukeng Bamboo Forest

Between Huangshan and Hongcun is the Mukeng Bamboo Forest. This is another location where scenes from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were filmed.

The forest is quite large and takes you over some hills towards Mukeng Village.

Along the way you have the option of crossing a glass bridge. Though not nearly as big as the one in Zhangjiajie, it’s still exciting to walk across. This was the first glass bridge I crossed in China.

The bamboo trees in the forest were the tallest I’ve ever seen, and the village at the end was a nice reward for taking the stairs instead of the (rather unsafe looking) rope zipline.

The Mukeng Bamboo Forest can be seen in an afternoon, so may be worth doing on the same day as Hongcun as they’re both out in the same direction.