The mountain that shaped Chinese landscape painting — granite spires floating above a sea of clouds, wind-bent pines, and a sunrise worth sleeping on the summit for. Below sit the whitewashed Hui villages of Hongcun and Xidi.
Tip To catch sunrise you sleep on the mountain — summit hotels are basic and pricey, so book early. Take the cable car up to save your legs for the ridge walks, pack a cheap poncho (vendors mark them up at the top), and check the cloud-sea forecast: it's the whole point.
Mountain guideUp which cable car, which sunrise viewpoint, and how to book the (basic, pricey) mountaintop hotels before they sell out.
Village guideThe UNESCO Hui villages of moon ponds and black-and-white lanes — the perfect calm day after the mountain.
Access guideHigh-speed rail to Huangshan North, then the bus to the cable-car base — half a day from the east coast.
No cable car runs before dawn. To see the famous sunrise you stay in a summit hotel — book weeks ahead, they're few and fill fast.
Huangshan without the cloud sea is just (lovely) rock. Watch the mountain weather and flex your dates a day if you can.
Rain blows through fast and the summit vendors know it — a ¥3 poncho from town beats a ¥30 one at the top.
Freezing, the hotel was basic, the alarm was 4:40am. Then the sun came up over an ocean of cloud and none of that mattered.
Tight on time. Is the Hui village day a nice-to-have or a must? Coming from Hangzhou by train.