Benxi Maple Viewing 2025.10.15

🍁 10.15 Benxi Laobian Valley Self-Driving Tour Record 🚗
On the evening of 10.14, we chose to stay at a homestay about 3 kilometers near Laobian Valley. Early the next morning (10.15), we set off for Laobian Valley Scenic Area.
Driving into the scenic area, the first gate is where you pay the parking fee 💰10 yuan; driving further to the second gate is the ticket checkpoint (official entrance). After ticket inspection, we drove a few more kilometers and, guided by staff, parked at P3 parking lot 🅿️ around 8:10 AM.
This is the parking lot just behind P1 and P2, which are closer to the entrance. The entire scenic area has about 12 parking lots; the higher the number, the farther from the entrance. Even if you park at P12, it’s fine because the scenic area offers free shuttle buses to the visitor center entrance.

📍 Laobian Valley mainly has two routes:
➡️ One to "Qicaiping"
➡️ One to "Phoenix Peak"

🍂 Qicaiping
The whole route is about 5 kilometers and very gentle. There are especially many maple trees along this path, highly recommended!
Whether for close-up shots, distant views, or portraits, it’s all very beautiful 📸.
There is a sightseeing bus 🚐 from the visitor center to Qicaiping, costing 20 yuan per person one way.
Many people choose to take the bus to Qicaiping first and then walk back (or vice versa). We walked slowly all the way up and then took the bus back to the visitor center.
We walked, took photos, ate, and strolled along the way. By the time we returned to the visitor center, it was about 12:30 PM (we were quite slow; usually it doesn’t take this long).

🏔 Phoenix Peak
Going to Phoenix Peak requires an additional ticket, 30 yuan per person (including round-trip sightseeing bus).
After returning from Qicaiping, we took the bus to Phoenix Peak. The bus winds up the mountain and drops you off at the Phoenix Peak hiking entrance. After ticket inspection, we started hiking to the summit. Photos 📷 p14 and p15 were taken by me at Phoenix Peak.
This spot is better for shooting distant views, overlooking the smaller mountains, with layers of red leaves that are spectacular 🍁.
After descending from Phoenix Peak, we took the bus back to the visitor center around 2 PM.

There were really a lot of people today! 😆
The weather was great, and the maple leaves were perfectly red.
I think there’s no need to stress about capturing “the reddest moment,”
since each tree turns red at different times,
and the varying shades actually add more depth and natural beauty.
Overall, today was very healing.
Wishing everyone a happy autumn trip 🍂❤️