Hiking in HuangShan 黄山

[Heartlander]

Decided to share this little detour that I took in Feb this year when going to Xiamen for holiday. The original intention was to visit ancestor villages but due to lack of efforts, ended up just spent time in Xiamen and Huangshan (黄山).

In short, Huangshan is not just a mountain but a series of ridges divided into north and south region supported by 4 cable car systems. You can choose to hike or take cable cars up the ridges, and then do the hiking, then descend by foot or cable cars. There is a short cable car ride within the ridges more for scenery at west side. To enter the mountain, you need to take the shuttle bus to the ticketing counters whether at north or south ends, pay entrance fee, and cable car fees if you intend to take cable car up the mountain which is highly recommended unless you are very fit and want to challenge the 3 to 6 hour route up depending on which one. Then after hiking the ridges which would take hours you can take the cable cars down the mountain or hike. The fees vary according to season, and this year all foreigners need to pay half price for entrance fee. It is advisable to spend one night on the ridges to catch the sunset and sun rise.

Normally a visitor would arrive at foot of 黄山风景区 and stay one night to get ready for the strenuous hike. The South side also got 前山 and 后山 options supported by cable cars while the north side only supported by one cable car system, so now you know which side is more popular with hikers. The most popular route would be entering by 后山 and leaving by the 前山. The foot at south side got many hotels and I would recommend my choice of stay due to many reasons.

https://www.trip.com/hotels/huangshan-hotel-detail-110631164/huangshan-yilong-anyue-hotel-huangshan-scenic-area-south-gate-transfer-center/?locale=en-XX&curr=SGD

Firstly the hotel is cheap and clean, costing less than S$40 for 2 pax/night, think less than 2 years old. Secondly it has very friendly staff including those from the attached restaurant and minimart. Seems all owned by same boss. Ate in the restaurant for 2 dinners and very happy with the meals. No need to leave the hotel at all. Thirdly the onsite travel counter offers fantastic hiking service by doing a thorough explanation of the whole place and the best route to take depending on your liking or fitness, then help to make booking for all the tickets without any markup. I paid a RMB19 fee to join the hiking tour to have a guide following to tell you where are the famous stones and making sure everyone is safe throughout the trip. This was really wonderful as I would otherwise have to figure out where to buy the tickets at the counters but now it is all taken care of. Literally no need to do any pre-planning also can. Fourthly, the hotel is located just beside one of the shuttle bus stop so it is very convenient when returning to the hotel. The hiking tour that day would start from the north gate and coming back from the front gate at the south. The cable cars at the back gate at the south side were closed for maintenance when I was there,

So now coming to the actual hiking part. My fellow traveler was my FIL and coming 75 years old. I overestimated his ability to walk up the endless flight of stairs at the beginning of the hike, so ended up paying RMB600 for the bamboo sedan chair ride for him for the first leg of the hike ending at 光明顶 (the building with a globe which serves as weather station) which is not related to the 武侠小说。It was supposed to be a 3.5km walk taking about 3 hours for one with normal fitness. After a short break at 光明顶 we walked for another 5km taking about 3.5hours to reach the cable car station to go down the mountain. If you are reasonably fit, you will benefit from the chirpy tour guide who tiredlessly shared many stories with regards to the numerous stones all over the place. I was proud that my FIL was able to complete the second leg of the trip despite stopping many time along the way. The bamboo sedan chair is really useful for those who have difficulty completing the hike and are reasonable priced also.  I really enjoyed the hike as the weather was nice and scenery really beautiful. The pictures I took really did not do justice haha.

By the way to reach the 黄山风景区, I took highspeed train to the 黄山北 station then took a taxi ride to the hotel. I spent another night at the hotel after the hike before taking the train ride back to Xiamen to continue my tour. Good to cater one or 2 rest days to allow recovery as the hike is really not that easy. Good if can spend time climbing stairs before the trip to have more enjoyable time instead of just panting and panting all the time in the beautiful mountain haha.

So above is a brief sharing of my trip. Do let me know if you need more details. Good to watch more youtube videos to know more about the place before embarking on the trip.

 

[Voodooman]

Thanks for sharing. 

[Rayleigh]

Nice and thanks for sharing. Have bookmark this thread. 

[Heartlander]

Below is by far the best guide video on 黄山, showing all the possible routes and the cost and timing to take. 

As suggested, best is to stay one night in a hotel along 汤口镇 which is at the foot of south gate of 黄山. There are many hotels there for you to choose, also restaurants. Take note that most places serve authentic 徽菜 which is local style in 安徽 province. 

To enter the 黄山, you need to buy the necessary tickets either online such as Ctrip or onsite travel counter like the one in the hotel I stayed or when at the ticketing counters at entrance of 黄山. If you want to have it easy and worry-free, obvious is to join a guided tour which will arrange everything for you like the one I got at hotel. Take note that depending on the tour guide, you might have a hard time understanding the accent but dont worry you will be accorded more attention after knowing that you are a tourist. Another benefit of joining a tour is that as you are moving with a huge mass of around 20 people, the pace will be very relax as many are not fit especially with many seniors expected in such tours. The tour guide will stop frequently to wait for the group to catchup at strategic places and then share the interesting details about the places, so the whole trip will be at quite slow pace which most can manage even without exercise frequently. But as there are many flight of upward stairs to manage, it is best to do some exercise before the trip in order to be able to enjoy the beautiful sceneries instead of having sore muscles and worse still to have leg cramps.

The bamboo sedan chair option is a fallback for those older folks or those with medical history. The cost is not that high, cumulating at about RMB800 for half the leg depending on the routes, and centrally managed unlike in distant past where there were literally daily fights for customers according to the labourers. The bulk of money would go to the hard labourers with part of them going to the entity running the business. As I was travelling with my FIL who is about 75 years old, I was mentally prepared to do detour upon exiting from the cable car station if he cannot do the climb at all. I even abandoned the idea of staying overnight at summit due to this uncertainty. But we gladly engage the sedan chair service after knowing that the hard part is in first leg, with second leg consisting of mainly descent and flat paths. It is such a waste to abandon the trip at this juncture. And luckily my FIL was able to walk the second leg without issues though there were also stretches of upward stairs to conquer. Just stopped more often to allow catching of breath lor.

But on hindsight, I realised that I have been reckless in beating the path haha. I should have made the trip with younger folks preferably less than 60 years old. Then I would be able to stay one night at summit to enjoy the trip much more. No doubt the stay will cost about S$200 per room, but the experience will be worth all of it.

 

[inlinesix]

For ppl who are more comfy with English

 

[Voodooman]

Just curious if anyone has hiked the other 五岳 and which is the best, not too strenuous with awe inspiring views and balancing accessibility. Planning to hike one of them next year.  

[flat6]

On my bucket list. Meantime make do with oil painting by Liu Kang in my bedroom.

 

 

[Heartlander]

Seems like hiking this mountain is on alot of people's bucket list. My MIL also shared after my trip that she hiked the mountain around 20 years ago, and the experience was most unforgettable as the condition was much worse than now. At least the whole path now is well paved, with clean toilets available at a few places. There are also benches installed everywhere for people to rest and recover. There are also a few places where hot food is served with abit of price premium. There is no need to bring own food just water will do, with big dining places around 光明顶 where you can get noodle and rice set at less than RMB50 which is affordable for us. You can even have nice buffet in the few hotels if you willing to splurge at less than RMB200 for dinner and halve that for lunch. Really beside the strenuous walking, there is no hardship after spending abit of money where you can eat well and enjoy the experience. But of course there is no stopping people from bringing own food if they prefer, especially those self-heated meals which seems very popular with locals. But really, there is no need to bring except for one or 2 pieces of energy bars and banana. Do it light so that you can have more energy doing the walking.

And another observation is that the whole place is very clean, seldom can see litter on the ground. Yes they really deploy alot of cleaners to do the job. Really something I did not expect in such a well-used attraction.

And do bring along those disposable rain coat in case it rain or snow. There is no shelter to take cover if adverse weather. I was lucky the sky was abit cloudy during my trip. The place was cold but made hiking enjoyable as hardly break into sweat except when stopping for longer period. But the following day when I stayed at nearby 屯溪老街, it rained cat and dog for most of the day. Cannot imagine if the weather had been like that the day before haha. So better be prepared and do the hiking only when the weather is favourable.

[inlinesix]

It is similar to my experience of going to jiuzhaigou in 1997.

 

[teomingern]

On 4/1/2025 at 1:24 PM, Heartlander said:

Seems like hiking this mountain is on alot of people's bucket list. My MIL also shared after my trip that she hiked the mountain around 20 years ago, and the experience was most unforgettable as the condition was much worse than now. At least the whole path now is well paved, with clean toilets available at a few places. There are also benches installed everywhere for people to rest and recover. There are also a few places where hot food is served with abit of price premium. There is no need to bring own food just water will do, with big dining places around 光明顶 where you can get noodle and rice set at less than RMB50 which is affordable for us. You can even have nice buffet in the few hotels if you willing to splurge at less than RMB200 for dinner and halve that for lunch. Really beside the strenuous walking, there is no hardship after spending abit of money where you can eat well and enjoy the experience. But of course there is no stopping people from bringing own food if they prefer, especially those self-heated meals which seems very popular with locals. But really, there is no need to bring except for one or 2 pieces of energy bars and banana. Do it light so that you can have more energy doing the walking.

And another observation is that the whole place is very clean, seldom can see litter on the ground. Yes they really deploy alot of cleaners to do the job. Really something I did not expect in such a well-used attraction.

And do bring along those disposable rain coat in case it rain or snow. There is no shelter to take cover if adverse weather. I was lucky the sky was abit cloudy during my trip. The place was cold but made hiking enjoyable as hardly break into sweat except when stopping for longer period. But the following day when I stayed at nearby 屯溪老街, it rained cat and dog for most of the day. Cannot imagine if the weather had been like that the day before haha. So better be prepared and do the hiking only when the weather is favourable.

Bro, you went in Feb... that's kind of like deep winter... how cold was it? Was it very windy up in the mountains? 

[Heartlander]

On 4/1/2025 at 2:06 PM, teomingern said:

Bro, you went in Feb... that's kind of like deep winter... how cold was it? Was it very windy up in the mountains? 

Yah Feb is mid winter in China but surprisingly it was not so cold when I was in the mountains, perhaps because it was not windy and the sun was shining and I was constantly on the move. I did not bring gloves along the China trip and was abit worried as it snowed the day before in the mountains, thus the snow cover in my pictures. Ended up bought a pair of gloves from the minimart on the morning but never use as really not that cold. But something that could have been useful was the pair of foot claws that I was pushed to buy in a minimart in 黄山北station. Certain part of foot paths was covered with ice and it was slippery walking over them. So I tried to skip those icy part when possible. But if snow heavier with more ice sheets forming, the foot claws would definitely be useful. Oh another argument to hard sell the gloves is that the railings along the path would be icy cold and hard to grip with bare hands especially the accent and descent parts, but I manage to do without the gloves anyway.  I also bought walking sticks at RMB5 each from the hotel minimart but also never used. Many people did find the tool useful though so to each his own. It is better to buy since cheap in case haha.

[teomingern]

On 4/1/2025 at 2:48 PM, Heartlander said:

Yah Feb is mid winter in China but surprisingly it was not so cold when I was in the mountains, perhaps because it was not windy and the sun was shining and I was constantly on the move. I did not bring gloves along the China trip and was abit worried as it snowed the day before in the mountains, thus the snow cover in my pictures. Ended up bought a pair of gloves from the minimart on the morning but never use as really not that cold. But something that could have been useful was the pair of foot claws that I was pushed to buy in a minimart in 黄山北station. Certain part of foot paths was covered with ice and it was slippery walking over them. So I tried to skip those icy part when possible. But if snow heavier with more ice sheets forming, the foot claws would definitely be useful. Oh another argument to hard sell the gloves is that the railings along the path would be icy cold and hard to grip with bare hands especially the accent and descent parts, but I manage to do without the gloves anyway.  I also bought walking sticks at RMB5 each from the hotel minimart but also never used. Many people did find the tool useful though so to each his own. It is better to buy since cheap in case haha.

Wah... RMB5 per hiking stick - can use or not? So cheap put weight on it will break or not?

I'll bring my own gloves lar... true that metal railing will be freezing cold...

Oh you mean crampons? Yes definitely useful in the ice, but must stamp the spikes into the ice especially if it's refrozen ice patches... those are incredibly hard and slippery... had many slips in Japan in Aomori in my last trip in 2023...

[inlinesix]

On 4/1/2025 at 2:06 PM, teomingern said:

Bro, you went in Feb... that's kind of like deep winter... how cold was it? Was it very windy up in the mountains? 

Watch the video i posted.

That's February.

[Heartlander]

On 4/1/2025 at 3:25 PM, teomingern said:

Wah... RMB5 per hiking stick - can use or not? So cheap put weight on it will break or not?

I'll bring my own gloves lar... true that metal railing will be freezing cold...

Oh you mean crampons? Yes definitely useful in the ice, but must stamp the spikes into the ice especially if it's refrozen ice patches... those are incredibly hard and slippery... had many slips in Japan in Aomori in my last trip in 2023...

The hiking pole is solid wood with T shape handle bar. Very sturdy.

I seldom touch the railing when walking, so not an issue. Anyway I not scare of cold haha.

The ice claw is something like this, just slip onto the shoes. Also got another design is with metal spikes that look more cheapo. Proper name think is slip-on ice cleats.

 

[teomingern]

On 4/1/2025 at 4:15 PM, Heartlander said:

The hiking pole is solid wood with T shape handle bar. Very sturdy.

I seldom touch the railing when walking, so not an issue. Anyway I not scare of cold haha.

The ice claw is something like this, just slip onto the shoes. Also got another design is with metal spikes that look more cheapo. Proper name think is slip-on ice cleats.

 

Oh? The rubber won't fracture in the extreme cold? Interesting design...

I was thinking below type... heh heh... used those before in NZ climbing the glacier...

Edited April 1 by teomingern

[Heartlander]

On 4/1/2025 at 3:57 PM, inlinesix said:

Watch the video i posted.

That's February.

Huang Shan is famous for 奇松、怪石、云海、温泉、冬雪 so called 五绝. The snow hanging on pine trees are possible only after extensive snowing. When i was there around 20/Feb this year, it just snowed lightly the day before. Maybe by end of Feb this year then will be fully covered with snow so more beautiful. But it will then be very cold and difficult to walk with ice sheets forming everywhere. Got pro and con lah.

[Heartlander]

On 4/1/2025 at 4:34 PM, teomingern said:

Oh? The rubber won't fracture in the extreme cold? Interesting design...

I was thinking below type... heh heh... used those before in NZ climbing the glacier...

I actually got something similar to above, but nvr use. The rubber version is sold in hotel minimart, much lighter and not so bulky.

[Tohto]

Good thread. 

Has not visit 黄山。

Maybe my next Shanghai trip ask Shanghai friends arrange a 黄山 trip.