Huangshan and Hongcun
The Yellow Mountain, granite peaks in cloud, and Ming villages below
Huangshan is the mountain Chinese landscape painting is based on — granite peaks rising through cloud, twisted pines growing straight out of rock, and hot springs at the base. You stay overnight on the summit so that you get both the sunset and the sunrise; everything else goes up by cable car and porter.
At the foot of the range are Hongcun and Xidi, two UNESCO-listed Ming and Qing villages where moon ponds, ancestral halls and whitewashed walls have barely changed in five hundred years. Hongcun is the village used in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The walking is real but never technical. We match the route to your knees, and we book the summit hotel early, because there are only a few and they sell out months ahead.
Places to see in Huangshan and Hongcun
The highlights we build into almost every Huangshan and Hongcun itinerary. Your own list can be longer, shorter, or somewhere else entirely.
Sunrise from the summit
Stay overnight above the cloud line — the reason the mountain is famous.
Bright Summit Peak
The second-highest peak, reached on a paved ridge path.
West Sea Grand Canyon
A cliff-hugging loop through some of the most dramatic scenery in the range.
Guest-Greeting Pine
The thousand-year-old pine that appears in every painting of Huangshan.
Hongcun village
A UNESCO Ming village built around a moon-shaped pond.
Xidi village
Ancestral halls, stone archways and whitewashed lanes, quieter than Hongcun.
Hot springs at the foot
Soak after the descent, in the mountain's own mineral water.
Flying-over Rock
The balanced boulder that looks ready to topple.
Celestial Capital Peak
The steepest climb, for the ambitious.
More places in China
Tell us what you want to see in Huangshan and Hongcun
We do not publish fixed packages or prices, because almost nothing about a good trip to China is fixed. Send us your dates and interests and a specialist will design an itinerary around them — with a clear, itemized quotation.
- Your own English-speaking guide and private vehicle
- Hotels chosen for location, not for commission
- Tickets and permits booked on your behalf, including timed entries
- Free revisions until the trip is right
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