Huangshan One-Day Hiking Super Detailed Guide

🌏Overview:
After visiting the Five Great Mountains, you won’t be impressed by other mountains; after visiting Huangshan, you won’t be impressed by the Five Great Mountains. The scenery is top-notch. But the view of Huangshan in the rain drops by 80%, and the difficulty increases by 20%, which I happened to encounter 😮‍💨
Total distance: 20 km, time: 8 hours 4 minutes, elevation gain: 2500 meters, calories burned: 3200 kcal.

🚗 Transportation & Accommodation
• Take the high-speed train to Huangshan North, then transfer to a bus or carpool to Huangshan South Gate.
• Transfer to the scenic area shuttle bus to Yun Gu Cableway or Ciguang Pavilion/Yuping Cableway direction.

🎫 Cost Reference
• Ticket: 190 RMB
• Shuttle bus: 38 RMB (round trip)

👣 Route:
By vehicle: Xiaoyao Creek Transfer Center -> Yuping Cableway Starting Point -> Ciguang Pavilion Hiking Start Point
Hiking: Ciguang Pavilion -> Xindao Entrance Up -> Tiandu Peak -> Laodao Entrance Down -> Welcoming Pine -> Bright Summit -> Buxian Bridge -> Bottom of West Sea Grand Canyon -> Paiyun Pavilion -> Monkey Watching Sea -> Shixin Peak -> Yun Gu Temple

📍 Route Segments
1️⃣ Ciguang Pavilion ➜ Tiandu Peak Xindao Entrance (2 km / 60 min)
• 2 km with over 500 meters of elevation gain, quite challenging!
• Recommended to go slow and warm up; I almost got exhausted.
2️⃣ ➜ Tiandu Peak (1.2 km / 50 min)
• Most steep parts have ropes or handrails to hold onto, only a small section requires using both hands and feet.
• Overall difficulty is moderate; be sure to start early to avoid crowds. I was the first to summit via the Xindao Entrance that day, which felt quite rewarding.
3️⃣ ➜ Bright Summit (3.5 km / 80 min)
• Crowds started to form, hard to move fast.
• Ate a bit at the helipad and did some light stretching.
4️⃣ ➜ Buxian Bridge (3 km / 50 min)
• Starting from Baiyun Hotel, follow the signs to the West Sea Grand Canyon small train starting point, then descend into the canyon hiking trail (blue hand-drawn line).
• The scenery is spectacular, the mist is beautiful, the most surprising and enjoyable part of the whole trip.
5️⃣ ➜ Canyon Bottom (2.5 km / 32 min)
• Descending over 500 meters, a real knee grinder, proceed with caution!
• The view should be stunning on a sunny day.
6️⃣ ➜ Paiyun Pavilion (2 km / 96 min)
• Passing through the second and first loops of the Grand Canyon, which should be very spectacular on a sunny day.
• Best to follow the blue hand-drawn line to avoid meeting descending tour groups; otherwise, you know how tough it is going against the flow. I took the wrong loops twice because it was raining and checking my phone was difficult ☹️
7️⃣ ➜ Shixin Peak (2.5 km / 43 min)
• Relatively easy to walk.
8️⃣ ➜ Yun Gu Temple (4 km / 60 min)
• Descending over 750 meters, continuing to grind the knees!