5 Days Guizhou Huangguoshu Fanjingshan Tour: Best Nature Journey

Welcome to cool Guiyang, capital of Guizhou! Your guide and driver await you at the airport/train station for a smooth transfer to your downtown hotel. Breathe in the fresh air!

Free Time Ideas:

Drive to Qianling Park (黔灵山公园), Guiyang’s green lung and the number one mountain in Guizhou, the top choice for Guiyang locals’ leisure and recreation.

The park has an elevation difference of about 200 meters, and along the way, you’ll encounter precious wild macaques. Inside the park, many locals exercise, cool off, and play with the monkeys, making it perfect for you to leisurely experience the cool breeze from all directions upon your initial arrival in Guizhou. Take the cable car to the summit and enjoy a panoramic view of Guiyang’s mountain city from the hilltop pavilion. Hongfu Temple (弘福寺) at the summit is the first Buddhist temple in Guizhou, with over 300 years of history. Countless visitors come to burn incense and pray. Religious or not, feel the atmosphere!

Or, proceed to Jiaxiu Pavilion (甲秀楼), the iconic landmark of Guiyang and also its cultural symbol. Standing 20.7 meters tall and with over 400 years of history, it spans a stone bridge across the Nanming River. It features a rare three-story, progressively narrowing pavilion structure in ancient Chinese architecture.

“Jiaxiu” aims to inspire the emergence of top talent, a sentiment echoed in the “for a hundred years, talented people have emerged in great numbers” within the 206-character first longest Chinese couplet inside the pavilion. Stroll along the riverbank and appreciate the beautiful scenery where the classical pavilion and river harmonize with the modern backdrop, along with the century-old cultural ambiance.

Travel Tip: The best spot to photograph Jiaxiu Pavilion is on West Lake Road beside the Nanming River.

After the tour, go back to your hotel in downtown Guiyang.

After breakfast, drive 2.5 hours to reach Anshun for Huangguoshu Waterfall Tour, the location of the largest waterfall in China and Asia. You will hear the roaring water a kilometer away, and admire the waterfall’s dynamic views!

Back in 17th century, Xu Xiake, a famous ancient Chinese geographer and pre-internet celebrity, traveled to this resort. His blog boosted the reputation of this waterfall nationwide! Follow the popular path he took:

Head to Doupotang Scenic Area (陡坡塘), known for its 105-meter width. It is one of the filming locations for the TV series version of Journey to the West, one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels. During the wet season, the water flow is rapid and makes a low roar, hence its nickname “Roaring Waterfall.” Many tourists enjoy imitating the scenes of Journey to the West pilgrims. Feel free to try it!

Next, take a sightseeing bus to Tianxingqiao Scenic Area (天星桥), to admire the most complete karst landscape in the scenic area – caves, waterfalls, and water stone forests interwoven. You can enjoy view from various angles, with no repetitive vlog or plog scenery. It is especially famous for Silver Chain Dropping Pool Waterfall (银链坠潭瀑布). Unlike ordinary waterfalls where water falls linearly, multiple small waterfalls converge and cascade from a circular stone beach into the deep pool below.

Afterward, take a sightseeing bus to Huangguoshu Waterfall (黄果树瀑布). As the main waterfall with a huge drop, 77.8 meters high and 101 meters wide, it consists of 18 waterfalls with different styles. At first glance, it can be folded into four layers. During the summer flood season, the water volume per hour is enough to fill 1296 swimming pools, falling into the 17-meter-deep pool. The roaring sound of water hit rocks day and night. You will build a deep connection with nature, find scenery changes from high up, straight on, and from the side.

Behind the waterfall is the 134-meter-long narrow Water Curtain Cave (水帘洞), a great place to touch the flowing water and see how it falls. You will walk to it and return by escalator.

After visit, guide and driver will escort you to your hotel in Anshun City.

After breakfast, your guide and driver will take you to explore Guizhou’s Tunpu culture on the way back to Guiyang.

Drive 40 minutes to Tianlong Tunpu (天龙屯堡), a stone village and a “living fossil of Ming Dynasty life.” Six hundred years ago, Han Chinese from the Jiangnan area, thousands of miles away from Guizhou, gathered here to build a stone village as garrison troops, carrying Guizhou’s unique Tunpu culture.

The stone architecture is the physical heritage of the Han Chinese garrison culture, well-preserved since the Ming Dynasty. It possesses both military defense functions and a rough aesthetic.

Upon entering, you can notice that hard stone forms houses, village walls, and roads. Even the window lattices, door frames, and steps are decorated with stone carvings.

Wander through it, you must not miss the intangible cultural heritage Dixi opera (地戏), a folk drama with a 600-year history. Performers wear handcrafted, colorful hero masks and colorful flags on their backs, enacting exciting war stories. Besides Dixi opera, you can also admire Fengyang Han clothing. The women in Tunpu still maintain the Ming Dynasty Han attire and traditional hairstyles. You can drink a bowl of their large-bowl tea and chat freely with them. They are shy and simple.

After the tour, your guide will escort you to Guiyang. Take a 1.6-hour high-speed train to Tongren. Upon arrival, transfer to Jiangkou, the foot of Fanjingshan, for hotel check-in.

Climbing Time: 4-5 Hours (Sightseeing Bus, Cable Car Included)

Route: Fanjingshan Sightseeing Bus – Cable Car – Mushroom Stone – Red Clouds Golden Summit – Chengen Temple – Cable Car – Sightseeing Bus – Return to Hotel

After breakfast, your guide and driver will escort you from your hotel to the entrance of Fanjingshan. Today, you’ll spend entire day on this mountain. Breathe in that super fresh air, and head into the misty heights!

Fanjingshan (梵净山), a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site listed in 2018, is the No. 5 Buddhist Mountain in China and the sacred site of Maitreya Bodhisattva, its name meaning “Pure Land.” As a global green oasis, it preserves living fossils from the dinosaur era, such as the Dove tree (珙桐). This peculiar non-karst mountain rising from a karst sea has chilled for ages. You could even say hi to it if you traveled back 800-1000 million years.

First, you’ll take a 30-minute sightseeing bus up the mountain, followed by a 20-minute cable car ride. From above, glance up at the distant skyline, with ever-changing clouds occasionally engulfing the cable car.

After getting off cable car, you’ll begin hiking along winding Forest Hiking Road, reaching the landmark, Mushroom Stone (蘑菇石), in about 40 minutes. This is a natural wonder of Fanjingshan, a huge mushroom-shaped rock, rectangular on top and conical at the bottom, about ten meters high. It lists drunkenly but has stood on mountain for a billion years. Be sure to take a photo with this iconic symbol of Fanjingshan! (Optional: enjoy 10-minute to Old Summit Peak.)

Next, descend along stone steps, passing Pudu Square (普渡广场), and continue for about 1.5 hours towards the closely adjacent baguette-shaped Red Clouds Golden Summit (红云金顶). You’ll see a decisive crack firmly separating the middle of the Summit. This is Fanjingshan’s highlight and an important pilgrimage site for the Maitreya Bodhisattva’s sacred ground.

At an altitude of 2336 meters, two Buddhist temples (Sakyamuni Hall and Maitreya Hall) are built on the peaks on either side of the Red Clouds Golden Summit, connected by a stone bridge, symbolizing the transition from “reality” to the “future.”

While climbing, you’ll need to hold onto iron chains and carefully ascend narrow 85-degree steps. The initial section is very narrow, opening up to a stone path wide enough for one person before suddenly emerging from the clouds – congratulations, you’ve reached the summit! After reaching top, first pay homage to Sakyamuni Buddha to pray for present life, then cross stone bridge to Maitreya Buddha to pray for future. Standing by stone fence, look down at clouds zooming by mountainside, and soak up sun feeling good on your tired body.

Tip: Around sunrise, you can witness beautiful red clouds as sunlight pierces through the layers of mist.

After visiting the must-see spots, descend and return to Pudu Square to visit Chengen Temple (承恩寺). This Ming Dynasty Buddhist temple is a must-visit for Buddhist pilgrims, backing against the Red Clouds Golden Summit and facing endless mountains. After hiking challenge, chill out here.

After Fanjingshan hike tour, take cable car and sightseeing bus back down the same route. Your guide and driver will escort you to your hotel in Jiangkou County. Have a good sleep!

Tips:

1. Due to crowds, avoid Fanjingshan on weekends and major Chinese holidays (Spring Festival, National Day, May Day).

2. Be careful on the narrow, single-foot trails to the Golden Summit.

3. Bring snacks like biscuits and bread for energy when hiking.

After breakfast, drive 1 hour back to Tongren. Your guide will escort you to Airport/Train Station.

Extend Your Nature Travel to Culture: Tongren is 35km from Fenghuang Ancient Town (1 hour by high-speed train) in Hunan. Or continue your Guizhou travel, you can take 1-hour high-speed train to Kaili, an ethnic village in Guizhou.

Thank you for choosing HelloChinaTrip for your Fujian tour. We are always dedicated to serving you and look forward to welcoming you again for your future trips to China/Asia.