Can You Climb Mount Huangshan in One Day? Recommended One-Day Route

Mount Huangshan is full of charm and mystery, as the mountains here have a ferocious and terrifying air. To describe them as a sheer precipice is no exaggeration. “Unique, dangerous, and steep” is the best way to explain Mount Huangshan, its masterful craftsmanship is baffling. Can you finish climbing Mount Huangshan in one day?

The scenery of Mount Huangshan is truly amazing. Anyone who has been there will agree with Xu Xiake’s praise, “After visiting Mount Huangshan, you will not look at other mountains.” But the price is also really high. The ticket price has been lowered, and now it is 190 yuan. The scenic spot bus costs 38 yuan for a round trip, the Yun Valley cable car costs 80 yuan, and the Jade Screen cable car costs 90 yuan. If you are on a day trip, all four of these are mandatory expenses. If you want to save the cable car money, you have to stay overnight at the top of the mountain. A standard room at the Baiyun Hotel on the top of the mountain costs about 1200 yuan per night.

Climb to the Yun Valley cable car, although your legs will be tired, it’s fun. Go to Guangmingding for sightseeing, the Flying Stone is right in front of you. Go to Tiandu Peak for adventure, experience the magic of nature. Go to Jade Screen Tower to see the pines, admire the beauty of the Welcoming Pine.
You can take the cable car down the mountain, this route is a one-day tour.

Tiandu Peak and Lianhua Peak are closed to the public every five years. That is, the two peaks will not be open to visitors at the same time. From 2019 onwards, the highest peak of Mount Huangshan, Lianhua Peak, is open, but I went to Tiandu Peak, which is known as the most dangerous peak of Mount Huangshan. After climbing more than 1500 steps, there is a “carp’s back” that looks like a stone bridge, which is only wide enough for one person to pass through, and on either side there is only an iron chain as a railing. Below is a sheer cliff.

Mount Huangshan has four gates: east, west, south, and north. The crowded scenes you see in the news are probably taken at the South Gate, because most tourists choose to enter from the South Gate. There are two tunnels at the South Gate, the Yun Valley cable car and the Jade Screen cable car.

Take the Yun Valley cable car up the mountain, then climb to the Beginning-to-Believe Peak. The origin of the Beginning-to-Believe Peak is as follows. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, a county magistrate believed that Xu Xiake’s praise of Mount Huangshan was exaggerated, but until he climbed this peak, he finally believed what Xu Xiake had said, hence the name Beginning-to-Believe Peak.

At the Beginning-to-Believe Peak, you can see the Phoenix Tail Pine and the Harp Pine. Most of the pine trees on Mount Huangshan are named after their shapes. As you can imagine, these two famous pines, one resembles a phoenix tail, the other like a harp.

Reach the top of the Beginning-to-Believe Peak, then go down the mountain, passing the Intertwined Pine and the Black Tiger Pine, and arrive at the North Sea Hotel. Then go on, look at the Dream Pen Blossoming from afar, then pass the Qingliang Terrace where you can watch the sunrise, and reach the Monkey Watching the Sea. The sea that the monkey is watching is not a real sea, but a sea of clouds.

If there is no sea of clouds, then this view is called the Monkey Watching the Peaceful, which comes from a love story between a magical monkey and a girl from Taiping County. Pass the Lion Forest Grand Hotel, the West Sea Hotel, and the Paiyunlou Hotel, reach the Paiyun Pavilion, then pass the Immortal Drying Boots, the Fairy Drying Shoes, Wu Song Fighting the Tiger, and reach the North entrance of the West Sea Grand Canyon.

If you have two days to spend, you can fully appreciate the scenery of the West Sea Grand Canyon, including the first and second loops. After going down to the bottom of the valley, you can also take the popular cable car to enjoy it again.

But because it is a one-day tour route, I only recommend going to the first loop to experience the unique scenery of the Grand Canyon before returning. Then go to the Paiyunlou Hotel, then go to see the “Flying Stone”, the most famous of Mount Huangshan’s strange rocks, another legend, you know. It is said to be one of the two remaining stones left over from Nüwa patching the sky. Where is the other one? It’s the Spirit Gem worn by Jia Baoyu.

Then reach Guangmingding, Guangmingding is the second highest peak of Mount Huangshan, second only to Lianhua Peak, known for its sunset and sea of clouds. If the weather is good, you can see Tiandu Peak, Lianhua Peak, and Aoyu Peak from Guangmingding.

Pass through Guangmingding, all the way to the Heart of the Sea Pavilion, up Aoyu Peak. If you haven’t seen the sea of clouds anywhere else, Aoyu Peak is your last chance. It is also a good place to watch the sea of clouds.

Walk the Hundred-Step Cloud Ladder, to Lianhua Pavilion, if you have time, climb Lianhua Peak; if you don’t have enough time, just go down, see the Welcoming Pine, go to the Jade Screen cable car, and take the cable car down the mountain.

There are eight-bed and ten-bed rooms for 200 people on the top of the mountain, separated by gender. My wife didn’t want to stay there, so we chose a standard room. It’s expensive, but I didn’t feel it was a waste of money.

I got up early and took the high-speed train from Hangzhou to Mount Huangshan, and I entered the mountain at around 10 am. I stored my luggage at the foot of the mountain, took the back mountain cable car, and went sightseeing along the way. I didn’t go to the Beginning-to-Believe Peak, and put my backpack at the Guangmingding Hotel at 1 pm. I went to the West Sea Grand Canyon with light luggage. At 4 pm, I took the small train to the Aoyu Back and played for a while. At 6 pm, I watched the sunset. The next day, I watched the sunrise, the breakfast buffet was free, after breakfast, I went down the mountain all the way. Lianhua Peak is about to be closed, I didn’t go up, I just took a look and my head was already spinning! I got to the foot of the mountain at around 2 pm, my legs were exhausted. I checked into a hotel in the city at 5 pm.

I arrived at the foot of the mountain at about 9 am, and because I was short on time, I took the cable car from Yun Valley Temple up the mountain, then I walked up and down to visit the West Sea Grand Canyon. At 6 pm, I climbed Tiandu Peak again. I reached the top at 7 pm, and it was already dark. I walked down the mountain for two and a half hours, and I finished visiting almost all the places in 11 hours.