City guide · Shaanxi
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
The first few kilometres of the night climb are actually easy going, just stone flags with a bit of a slope, and there are streetlights. I was smiling. But either way, rest when you need to and pace yourself — the mountain will still be there.
xiedaquan, 'Sixteen Hours Walking Mount Hua'
I'd wanted to come for years. Partly because it's close to home, partly because Mount Hua is properly famous. I read a lot of wuxia novels as a kid and the Huashan Sect was a name I'd heard a thousand times. I used to imagine myself like Linghu Chong, practising sword forms alone on the summit.
浮浮飞生, 'Two Days at Mount Hua: One Road Up Since Ancient Times'
You start walking at eleven at night with a torch strapped to your head, and for the first two hours it feels almost easy — wide stone steps, a gentle gradient, streetlights every fifty metres, other climbers chatting in the dark. Then you hit the Thousand-Feet Precipice: a crack in the cliff 370 steps deep, wide enough for one person, where you haul yourself up a chain hand over hand while the rock presses in on both shoulders. Above that comes the Hundred-Feet Gorge, then the Lao Jun Furrow, and by the time you reach North Peak your legs have stopped asking questions.
The mountain is one piece of granite, which is why it looks the way it does — no soft shoulders, no gradual ridges, just five peaks standing up out of the Wei River plain like knuckles. The South Peak is the highest at 2,160.8 m and on a clear day you can see the Yellow River, the Wei and the Jing rivers braided below you across the plain. The West Peak is a single slab with a sheer face on its north-west side, and the East Peak is where everyone stands at dawn with a rented army coat over their shoulders, waiting for the sun to come up behind a pine branch.
What makes Hua Shan different from other Chinese mountains is that the danger is the attraction. The Changkong Plank Road is a few planks bolted to the south cliff face with a drop of a thousand metres below; the Yaozi Fanshen is a bulge of rock you have to shuffle around backwards, gripping a chain, your heels over nothing. Both have harnesses and both have queues. Come on a weekday, come out of the Golden Week holidays, and come ready to say no to your own legs at least once.
Mount Hua
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
At 2,082 m the West Peak is one enormous block of rock with a sheer 1,000 m cliff on its northwest face, cut so clean it looks like someone took a knife to it. This is the peak the whole mountain is named for — 'Hua' is an old word for flower, and from a distance the five summits open like a lotus. Come up late afternoon and stay for the sunset over the Wei River plain; it is the single best view on the mountain.
The East Peak (2,090 m) is where everyone watches the sun come up — the summit tilts east and the view runs clear over a hundred knife-edge ridges. To catch it you start walking from the foot of the mountain around 23:00, climb four to six hours in the dark, and arrive just before first light. It is brutal and it is the whole point of Mount Hua. Bring a headlamp, and rent a padded army coat at the top for the wait.
The Changkong Zhandao is a 100 m walkway of stone planks pegged into the waist of the South Peak, with a drop of hundreds of metres on both sides and nothing but a dangling chain to hold. The old local warning goes: 'be careful, be very careful — if you fall, your body ends up in Shangzhou.' You clip into a harness (rented on the spot) and edge along facing the rock. It is the most photographed few metres in Shaanxi, and yes, it is genuinely exposed.
Yaozi Fanshen is a three-sided overhanging boulder with a single chain down its face. You grip the chain, find the carved footholds, shuffle face-to-the-rock to the edge — and then the path simply stops, with a wooden bar wedged into a crack. You have to turn your body like a sparrowhawk and swing across to the far cliff. Below the turn sits the Chess Pavilion, a white stone pavilion on a rock spur that is one of the strangest sights on the mountain.
The North Peak (1,614 m) is the lowest of the five and the first one most visitors reach, because the cable car lands ten minutes' walk away. Its flat 100 sq m summit platform is the best place on the mountain to watch cloud seas roll between the ridges — and it is the crossroads where the cable car, the classic footpath and the routes to the other four peaks all meet. If you have one afternoon and no legs left, this is still a real Mount Hua experience.
Itineraries
The full 'one road up Mount Hua' route on foot — the same stone steps people have climbed since the Tang dynasty — with a night on the mountain for sunrise. This is the trip for anyone who wants to say they actually climbed it. Expect 8–10 hours of walking on day one.
Start at Yuquan Temple, the Taoist gateway at the foot of the mountain, then follow the old Huashan Valley path: Wuli Pass, Sha Luo Flat, Mao Nu Cave, Qing Ke Flat.
The names get serious from here — Hui Xin Stone ('the stone that turns you back'), the Thousand-Foot Niche with 370 steps barely wide enough for one person, the Hundred-Foot Gorge with 91 steps in 46 m, and Lao Jun's Plough Ditch, where you climb on all fours.
Push past the North Peak and over Canglong Ridge, a 100 m blade of rock less than a metre wide with drops on both sides, to Jin Suo Pass. Sleep at a summit guesthouse or at Zhen Yue Palace.
Stops: Yuquan TempleHui Xin StoneThousand-Foot NicheHundred-Foot GorgeNorth PeakCanglong RidgeJin Suo Pass
Set an alarm for well before dawn and walk to the East Peak viewing terrace. The wind up there is freezing even in summer — rent a coat the night before.
After sunrise, work the loop: Middle Peak (Jade Maiden Peak), South Peak at 2,160.8 m for the panorama over the Yellow River and Wei River plains, then the West Peak for the axe-cleaved boulder and the sunset.
If you want the two famous thrill walks, do them today: the Plank Road in the Sky hangs off the South Peak, the Sparrowhawk Turn sits below the East Peak. Both need a harness and both have queues.
Stops: East Peak sunriseMiddle PeakSouth PeakPlank Road in the SkyWest Peak
Walk down via the Golden Lock Pass and the North Peak, retracing the old path — the descent is harder on the knees than the climb.
Alternatively, if your legs have had enough, take the cable car from the North Peak down to Wa Miao Gou and the shuttle bus to the visitor centre.
Back in Huayin town, eat. Order a bowl of Hanyin da dao mian (hand-cut wide noodles) or xue mian, the local buckwheat 'instant noodle' that predates the instant noodle by about a thousand years.
Stops: Golden Lock PassNorth PeakWa Miao GouHuayin old town
A much gentler three days that still gets you sunrise and all five peaks, using the cable car and sleeping one night on the mountain. Do this if you are travelling with parents, short on time, or just not interested in proving anything.
Take the high-speed train from Xi'an to Huashan Station — about 123 km, roughly 1.5–2 hours, tickets CNY 18–30. From the station it is 7 km to the mountain gate; a local bus costs CNY 3, a taxi CNY 15–20.
At the visitor centre, buy the mountain ticket (CNY 180 peak season 1 March–end November, CNY 100 low season, valid 48 hours and including Xi Yue Temple, Xian Yu Valley and the internal shuttle) plus the shuttle bus to Wa Miao Gou (CNY 30 one way / 50 return in peak season, CNY 20 / 30 in low season).
Ride the cable car to the North Peak — 7–8 minutes, CNY 90 one way in peak season (CNY 65 low season), CNY 150 return (CNY 120 low season). Walk ten minutes to the North Peak hotels and sleep high.
Stops: Xi'an North StationHuashan StationVisitor CentreWa Miao GouNorth Peak
Walk from the North Peak through Canglong Ridge to Jin Suo Pass and on to the East Peak for sunrise — around 1.5–2.5 hours at an easy pace.
Spend the day crossing the summits: South Peak for the highest point and the Plank Road in the Sky, West Peak for the cliff and the sunset.
Sleep at the West Peak hotel or the East Peak hotel if you want a second sunrise. Beds start around CNY 95–120 and you should book ahead — they sell out constantly.
Stops: East Peak sunriseSouth PeakPlank Road in the SkyWest Peak
Descend by the West Peak cable car or walk down the old path if you have the legs, then take the shuttle back to the visitor centre.
On the way out, stop at Xi Yue Temple, included in your mountain ticket and the place where emperors performed the sacrifices to the western peak for two thousand years.
Catch an afternoon train or bus back to Xi'an — the last tourist bus back leaves around 17:00, and the last long-distance bus from Huashan runs at 19:30.
Stops: West Peak cable carXi Yue TempleHuashan Station
Sights
Peak · 2,082 m
A single intact block of granite with a 1,000 m cliff on its northwest side, so sheer it looks machined. This is the peak of the legend of the Lotus Lantern, where the goddess San Sheng Mu was said to be buried under the mountain until her son split it open — the Axe-Cleaving Stone on the summit is the supposed evidence. It is also where most people watch the sunset, and the West Peak cable car makes it the easiest high summit to reach.
Tip If you are only doing one peak, do this one. The West Peak cable car takes you most of the way and the summit is a 20-minute walk — and the view down the cliff edge at golden hour is the shot everyone comes for.
Peak · 2,160.8 m
The highest point on Mount Hua and the highest of all the Five Great Peaks. The summit has two tops — the eastern one is covered in pines and cypresses that give the peak its old name, 'Falling Goose'. From up here you look down on the Loess Plateau and the Wei River plain, and on a clear day you can pick out the Yellow River and the Jing River. It is also the launch point for the Plank Road in the Sky.
Tip This is the peak where you understand how high you actually are. Give yourself at least an hour up here; the walk between the two summits is short but the panoramas keep pulling you back.
Peak · 2,090 m
The sunrise peak. It leans east with a sheer drop on three sides and a viewing terrace at the very top, which is why every night climber on the mountain ends up here at 5am. The peak is also covered in ancient pines and holds the Yang Gong Pagoda, built by General Yang Hucheng to mark his own visit, with his calligraphy carved on all four faces. The Sparrowhawk Turn and the Chess Pavilion are both just below.
Tip The wind at the East Peak terrace at dawn is savage — rent a padded military coat at the summit hotels the night before, or you will spend the best ten minutes of your trip shivering instead of watching.
Thrill walk · South Peak
A walkway of stone planks driven into the vertical waist of the South Peak, just outside the South Heaven Gate. Above and below you is nothing but cliff; the path is about a foot wide, held by iron chains and supported by pegs hammered into the rock. It is the number one 'dangerous path' on Mount Hua and the reason half the people who come here come at all.
Tip Go early. The plank road takes one person at a time in each direction and the queue can run an hour by mid-morning. If you genuinely cannot face it, the platform at Hui Shen Tai above still gives you the full view of the plank road and the East Peak.
Historic path · below the North Peak
Two of the oldest and steepest sections of the ancient 'one road up Mount Hua'. The Thousand-Foot Niche is a crack in the cliff with 370 steps cut into it, wide enough for one person, chains on both sides — look up and you see a strip of sky, look down and it is a well shaft. The Hundred-Foot Gorge follows, only 46 m long with 91 steps, and there is a boulder wedged overhead that has been threatening to fall for several centuries.
Tip Do these on the way up, not the way down — descending a one-person-wide stairwell that a thousand other people are climbing is genuinely unpleasant, and the 1985 twin-lane path only covers part of the route.
Food
The mountain's signature noodle, named with the same swagger as the peak itself. A heavy blade shaves the dough into ribbons, served with chili oil and vinegar. Around 12–18 yuan a bowl in the town below.
A coarse-grain noodle unique to Heyang County and the Weinan area, and arguably China's oldest instant noodle — cooked, cooled and reheated to order. Locals are fiercely loyal to it; you'll find it for 8–12 yuan.
Huayin's answer to Xi'an's lamb paomo: a bowl swimming in a slick of chili oil and rendered fat, with jade-green tofu, golden vermicelli, white scallion and yellow garlic poking through, and chunks of guokui bread buried at the bottom. One bowl is a meal.
The reliable cheap eats — slippery, garlicky, chili-laced, and the fastest thing to grab before a night climb. Expect 6–10 yuan from any street stall.
Braised in a clay pot with soy and scallion, this is the local special-occasion dish from the river that runs below the mountain. Look for it in the sit-down restaurants in Huayin city rather than on the mountain.
Where to eat
Street food · best before a night climb
The eating street at the foot of the mountain, northeast corner of the Yuquan Road crossroads. It runs until about 2am, which makes it the obvious last stop before you start walking. Eat at 20:00–21:00, rest a little, then head up.
Local snack district
The town sits 120km east of Xi'an and has a long snack culture of its own. The best bowls often come from shops that barely look like shops, or from a single rolling cart. Don't judge by the frontage.
Rental and supplies
The row of small shops at the walking trailhead sells snacks, water and gear, and also rents what you might have forgotten. Anything you rent has to go back to the same shop, so if you descend by cable car you'll need to return to Yuquan yuan.
Convenience, not cuisine
There is food on the mountain and it is expensive for what it is. The honest advice is to carry your own: high-calorie, low-weight, low-volume — chocolate, compressed biscuits, sausage. That said, a bowl of hot noodles at 2,000m in the cold is worth more than it costs.
Sleeping
Cheapest · foot of the mountain
A cluster of star-rated hotels and family-run farmstays at the base, mostly run by local households. Ten minutes' walk to Yuquan yuan, which means ten minutes to the start of the classic trail. In low season rates drop as far as 40% off — and you should haggle regardless of the posted price. The earlier you arrive, the better your bargaining position.
On the mountain · best for the classic route
Sitting on the north peak where the cable car, the historic trail and the path to the three outer peaks all meet. Rooms are basic and there is no hot water for showers, but the position saves you a brutal pre-dawn climb. Staff will walk you through the nearby sights — the Zhiqiu Huashan trail, the cable car, Canglong Ridge, and the full mountain panorama.
On the mountain · sunrise address
If your whole reason for coming is the sunrise, sleep as close to it as possible. The East Peak hotel sits among thirty-odd sights — Xianzhang Cliff, Chaoyang Terrace, the Sparrowhawk Turn, Yinfeng Pavilion, the long-air plank walk — and offers rooms in three grades so you can pick your comfort level. Beds from 120 yuan.
Getting there & around
The fastest, cheapest and least stressful way in. Trains run all day from Xi'an North to Huashan North station, about 30–40 minutes, and a second-class seat costs roughly CNY 55–70. From Huashan North, a shuttle bus (CNY 3) or a taxi (CNY 15–20) covers the last 7 km to the visitor centre or to Yuquan Yuan. Book on the 12306 app or at the station; morning departures sell out on weekends and holidays, so reserve a day ahead.
Two options. The tourist line 1 leaves Xi'an Railway Station east square at 08:00 and returns from Huashan at 17:00, CNY 28. Regular buses from the Chengdong (Tangdu) coach station run every ten minutes to Huayin, CNY 33, and you ask the driver to drop you at the Huashan gate; the last one back leaves at 19:30. There are also private minibuses to the Huashan reception centre (Yuquan Hotel) at CNY 30 one way, CNY 50 return, last departure from Xi'an at 17:00.
Fly into Xi'an Xianyang International Airport, 138 km away. An airport shuttle to the railway station costs CNY 25, then switch to a train; a taxi from the airport to Xianyang station is about CNY 28 for 12 km, and trains on to Huashan run CNY 20–23. Driving from Xi'an is 118 km on the Xitong expressway, about 2 hours with roughly CNY 90 in tolls. A taxi all the way from Xi'an runs CNY 300–400 one way.
The Huangfu Valley road runs 7.6 km from east of Yuquan Yuan to Wamiao Gou, where the cable car lifts you to North Peak in seven or eight minutes. The shuttle bus is CNY 30 one way / CNY 50 return in peak season (5 March–25 November) and CNY 20 / CNY 30 off season (26 November–4 March). The cable car itself is CNY 90 one way, CNY 150 return in peak season, and CNY 65 / CNY 120 off season, running 07:00–19:00 in peak season and 09:00–17:00 in winter. Note the mountain ticket does not include this shuttle.
Shopping
Cut from top-grade ox hide and put through tanning, tracing, carving, painting, pressing and assembly, these are proper folk art rather than airport tat. Subjects come from traditional opera and the Huashan legends, and they pack flat — the best-value souvenir on the mountain. Buy from stalls on the trail or in Huayin town, and bargain politely rather than picking a fight over a few yuan.
Sold at the stalls along the trail and in town, cut for windows, door curtains, ceilings and kang surrounds, and also used on ceramics, embroidery and printed cloth. Styles vary from delicate and bright to blunt and bold depending on the village they come from — a light, flat, unbreakable thing to slip into a suitcase.
Practical and decorative at once: curtains, door hangings, insoles and saddle blankets worked with flowers, birds, fish and opera figures. The local style leans coarse, free and loud in colour, which is exactly why it looks good on a wall at home. Look for it in Huayin town rather than at the summit, where prices climb with the altitude.
Villagers set up stalls the length of the climbing route selling straw-woven goods and small handicrafts with a strong Shaanxi flavour. They are cheap, light and make decent gifts, but check the price before you pick anything up and keep the haggling friendly — this is someone's living, not a game.
Practical info
Huashan is a genuine mountain, not a theme park: weather changes fast, the chains are cold, and the staircases are narrow enough that two people cannot pass. Read the hours and fares above, pack for one season colder than the valley, and give yourself a buffer day if the forecast turns.
| Mountain ticket | CNY 180 peak season (1 March–end November), CNY 100 off season (1 December–end February). Valid 48 hours and covers the Xiyue Temple, Xianyu scenic area and the visitor-centre transport, but not the Huangfu or Wengyu shuttle buses. |
|---|---|
| Opening hours | West gate open 24 hours. East gate 07:00–19:00 in peak season, 09:00–17:00 in winter. The cable car follows the same seasonal pattern. |
| Best months | April to October is the main season. Autumn brings moderate temperatures and red leaves across the ridges; spring is misty and full of wild flowers; summer is clear, cool up top and good for waterfalls and cloud seas. The temple fair falls on the fifteenth day of the third lunar month and fills the mountain with pilgrims. |
| What to pack | Soft-soled trainers or rubber-soled cloth shoes — never new boots. Gloves for gripping chains, a head torch for night climbs, a light rain shell, and warm layers even in summer because the summit wind is cold. Bring 2–3 bottles of water per person; refills on the mountain cost CNY 5–8. A stick helps lower down but you will want both hands free on the exposed sections. |
| Money and shelter | Village guesthouses at the foot of the mountain run CNY 50–200, about ten minutes' walk from Yuquan Yuan. On the mountain, beds start around CNY 95–120 at North Peak and East Peak hotels; West Peak Hotel beds start at CNY 100, tel 0913-4360508. Peak-season rooms sell out, so book ahead, and in the low season you can sometimes negotiate down to 60 percent. Ignore posted rates and haggle — the earlier you arrive, the better your chances. |
| Safety and emergencies | Do not attempt Changkong Plank Road or Yaozi Fanshen if you are unsure of your grip or the weather has turned. Winter snow is safer when untrodden and slicker once packed down; crampons help. In an emergency, Huashan Xiehe Hospital is on Huashan West Road, tel 0913-4352815. Tourist complaints 0913-4362692, tourist information 0913-4361979. |
| Etiquette and small print | Buy your ticket in advance on busy dates, keep your 48-hour ticket if you plan to visit Xiyue Temple, and carry your passport or ID for the ticket check. Stalls along the trail are cash and mobile-payment friendly, but bring small notes for the shuttle bus. |
Background
Mount Hua is one of the Five Great Mountains of China, the western one, standing 2,154.9 metres above sea level about 120 km east of Xi'an in Huayin, Shaanxi. The whole massif is essentially one enormous block of granite — geologists call it a granite batholith — which is why the peaks rise as sheer white walls instead of gentle cones. Seen from a distance the five peaks open like a lotus, and the character hua in the mountain's name is an ancient word for flower. That is the paradox you will feel all day: it looks like a flower and it climbs like a wall.
Before the Tang dynasty almost nobody reached the summit. Emperors sacrificed to the western peak down in the Xiyue Temple at the foot of the mountain rather than climb it, and it was only when Daoism flourished and monks began building shrines on the slopes that a trail was hacked up the northern valley — the route still known as the single road up Mount Hua. The mountain then filled up with stories: Song Taizu, the founding emperor of the Song, supposedly lost the entire mountain to the Daoist immortal Chen Tuan over a game of chess at the pavilion on the South Peak, which is why locals still joke that Mount Hua never paid grain tax. In the twentieth century the mountain added a modern legend when PLA scouts scaled the supposedly impregnable North Peak in 1949 — the story filmed in 1953 as Taking Mount Hua by Strategy. If you want the full historical walk-through with a local storyteller, our Mount Hua private tour covers the trail and the temples at a pace that suits you.
Further reading
Directed by Guo Wei, Beijing Film Studio, 120 minutes
A black-and-white war film about the 1949 assault in which PLA scouts climbed the cliffs behind Nationalist lines and took the North Peak. Watch it before you ride the cable car past the spot and the mountain stops being scenery — you start looking for handholds.
Wu Changjie
A painter's survey of the five peaks — East (Chaoyang), West (Lotus), South (Falling Goose), North (Cloud Terrace) and Centre (Jade Maiden) — with the kind of close observation you only get from someone who sat in front of each cliff for days. Useful for deciding which peak you actually want to be standing on at sunrise.
Wallace Chung (Zhong Hanliang), from Visual Animal
The title track of Chung's 2010 album, recorded after he set up his own studio. It is polished Mandarin pop rather than mountain music, but the name does the work: put it on the bus from Xi'an and you arrive in the right mood.
The questions visitors ask us most about Mount Hua, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
It's worth it for the exposure, not just the exercise — the plank road, the ridge crossings and the sunrise are experiences you can't get on a gentler mountain. If you only want scenery, take the West Peak cable car up and walk the loop between the peaks; you'll still see the granite and the cloud sea without the night climb.
April to October is the main season, with the best combination of clear air, green pines and manageable temperatures. Autumn is arguably the finest — mild days and red leaves on the cliffs. Winter (December to February) is beautiful under snow and much quieter, but the plank road and Yaozi Fanshen often close, and you'll want crampons or at least a rented pair of cleats.
High-speed trains from Xi'an North to Huashan North take about 30–40 minutes and cost roughly CNY 55–75; slower trains to Huashan Station take 1.5–2 hours for CNY 18–30. From either station it's a short taxi or bus ride to the visitor centre or Yuquan Yuan. Tourist buses leave Xi'an Railway Station east square in the morning and take about 2 hours.
Yes, if you take the cable car both ways — start early, ride up to North Peak, walk the loop to East, South and West Peaks, and you'll be down by late afternoon. Doing it on foot in one day is possible for fit hikers but leaves no margin, and you'll miss the sunrise, which is the reason most people come.
It has a fixed cable and harness system and thousands of people do it every year, but it is genuinely exposed — a fall would be fatal, and the operation closes in snow, ice or high wind. You pay a separate fee for the harness, you clip in and out at fixed points, and if you're afraid of heights you should look at it from the South Gate of Heaven rather than step onto it.
East Peak Hotel is the classic choice for sunrise, with beds from around CNY 120 and views over the Chaoyang Terrace; West Peak Hotel and North Peak's Yuntai Villa are the other main options, from around CNY 95–100 per bed. Rooms are basic, there's no hot water for showers on most peaks, and you must book ahead — the mountain fills up, especially on weekends and holidays.
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Taiyuan
City guide · 12 tours
Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.
Pingyao
City guide · 12 tours
China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.
Wutai Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.
Hulunbuir
City guide · 12 tours
China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.
The Forbidden City
City guide · 12 tours
Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.
Sanya
City guide · 12 tours
China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.
Haikou
City guide · 12 tours
Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.
Beihai
City guide · 12 tours
24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between.
Nanning
City guide · 12 tours
Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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