I will be in China for a Photo vacation in October and will be including the Yellow Mountains. I intend to stay at the Mountains for 3 days which should give me enough time for the mountains and a couple of excursions. I would greatly appreciate any advice from anyone who has been in that area.

Thanks in advance..

Hi, i'm french living in Nanjing, not so far from Huangshan (the yellow mountains). If you can have more time around, i'll advise the "Hongcun" village which is not far away from Huangshan.
I've not been to huangshan for 5 years and i'd like to go there as well (probably one trip this summer and one in autumn/winter).
Feel free to contact me if you want any advices about travelling in China and/or maybe plan something together.

Hi,

I live in Hong Kong and frequent travel to Shanghai. In 2007 I was a business travel including an overnight at Huang Shang mountain, just one afternoon and one morning! That was tad short, but worked. Three days should be plenty, pending on weather.

There are a couple of resorts on the mountain and granted I advise to stay on the mountain. There is also an Huang Shan airport and cable car up the mountain (the easy way)... but I forgot how far between the two.... Do plan on lots of walking and ups and downs.... If you do not bring a tourch, at least the resort where I stayed had to lend. Do wake up early for sunrise and do get to a good spot for it in time BEFORE everyone else reaches there for sunrise in order to be able set up your gear, else you will only find very many people! It might be good to first scout during day. Enjoy China, lovely place

Cheers
Anders

Thank you for your reply. The last time I was in China my wife and I hired a driver and guide for Guillin and it was well worth it. It would have been impossible to maneuver on our own. I am going to try and arrange for a driver while we are in the Yellow Mountains area so that we can see the surrounding cities.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Thank you Anders for replying. Everything I have read talks about the walking up and down so I am prepared and intend to travel as light as possible. We have read that getting luggage up to our hotel is also a daunting task but somehow we will make it.

Thanks again....

Just returned from the Yellow Mountains, and I stayed there for a week.

The best route is to start from the West Gate to Buxian Bridge (Walking-Fairy Bridge) about 5.3 miles, where you won't encounter any tourists, and you will also get Shock-n-Awe scenery. When you get to the Walking-Fairy Bridge, then go north to the West Sea (Xihai) though the West Sea Gorges, in about 6 miles. The second part will also offer you some of the best views but you are likely encounter some tourists.

Staying at peaks' hotels can be expensive. It all depends on your budget. You can also rent tent/sleeping bag on peaks too.

Thank you for your suggestions. Can you tell me if there is enough English spoken and written (signs, etc.) so that we will be able to maneuver on our own? Is a map for the mountains available in English? Will we be able to hire a personal driver for excursions away from the mountains?

I hope that this portion of our trip will be as hassle free as possible.

No remember if English map is available. It is China and most time things are in Chinese , many friendly people if you treat them well . Just dont over pay or within few years we will all need to do so, a.k.a. Peru. Do ask front desk staff to mark down on Chinese map, both in English and Chinese. Simple and works.... Having people write Chinese on pieces of paper also works to get around.

Been to many places in China and by time things are in English, the places are no longer much genuine. Li Jiang is one example which felt more like a foreigner Disneyland!

Ask around and people can help you arrange. When in Guilin the other year the girl in office center at my hotel called a young guy in Yangshou which she knew to be my guide. He spoke little English and had as much fun as me touring me around, but I also treated him as a friend. That is one way to see China and to gain contact with locals. He helped arrange driver also, dirt cheap. I been to far remote areas by simply renting a taxi with Chinese driver. Have frond desk at hotel write Chinese on notes, perhaps grab someone from there to negotiate with driver and agree where to drive! If you ask a regular tour guide all they will show you is places where they are trained to take tours. If you really want to be shown good places for photo, then relying on locals is a key.

Anders

My experience from travelling around China is tour guides were massively overpriced and quite simply boring. We travelled from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou for example and after a 10 hour coach trip (ouch!) we got to a mosquito ridden hotel where all anyone wanted to do was sing very bad karaoke. After that we just went on our own. Granted it really helped that my wife (who I travelled with) speaks Chinese as her first language but generally most good hotels will gladly organise a taxi driver for you for the day at an extremely good rate.

Even better than that, often at a lot of train stations and even some hotels around China there will be literally dozens of taxi's waiting to pick up foreigners. They'll often have very basic English but you can most definitely banter prices with them (usually as much as half or more of what they originally ask for).

But as Anders said, relying on locals is key to get to the less touristy but real special places.

Thanks for this information. We will be staying in the Mountains at, hopefully, one of the best hotels..... I expect that they will be able to provide us a driver for a day - at least that's what I am hoping for.

all maps and signs are in Chinese, English, Korean and Japanese on the Mountains, though there are some signs with misspelled English words. Maps are also in Chinese and English.

There are many versions of free English maps of Huang Shan available on the internet.

Map of The Yellow Mountains


Map of the surrounding areas of Huangshan


Map of Tunxi


Distance Map of Huangshan


I hope these maps can help you in some ways.

Most young people speak English. You should be fine if you do get your Lonely Planet China Guide Book. I just mingled with a group of Chinese Landscape Ink-Painting Artists who call Huangshan home, and their insights of Huangshan are so incredible.

attached some signs that I saw on Huangshan for your ref.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post this information. This is very helpful!

Yellow Mountains are located in Anhui province in China. Peaks of Yellow Mountains are absolutely beautiful, and clear rivers. Yellow Mountains are known as the country's treasure.Yellow Mountains are famous for its "Qi-Song, rocks, sea of clouds, hot springs".

Hi vjbelle,

there is an interesting book that you may want to read before your trip.

Celestial Realm: The Yellow Mountains of China (Hardcover)

by Damian Harper (Author), Seigo Matsuoka (Author), Wusheng Wang
Wusheng Wang (Author)

regards,

mshi

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are circular polarizers necessary or even usefull for yellow mountain shots?