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Access to Huangshan Mountain entrance is from Tangkou. To get there are two possibilities:

• Arrive via Tunxi. This is the most usual, since it can be reached by train.
• Get directly to Tangkou by bus.

VIA TUNXI

First we have to get to Huangshan City, which until recently was simply called Tunxi.

Airplane. There are daily direct flights to several of the main tourist destinations:

• Beijing: from 1100 ¥, 1 a day, 2h30m.
• Shanghai: from 350 ¥, 1 a day, 1h.
• Guangzhou: from 700 ¥, 1 a day, 2h.
• Chongqing: from 450 ¥, 2 a day, 2h30m.

The only restaurant in the check-in area is very expensive and the food was more spicy than expensive the prices. In case of using the airport, after passing security control there are several stalls that sell instant noodles for 10-15 ¥, and next to the toilets, as is usual in airports and train and bus stations, there is a machine that provides hot and cold drinking water.

Trains from Tunxi:

DESTINATION	TYPE OF TRAIN	FREQUENCY AND SCHEDULE	DURATION	APPROXIMATE PRICE (¥)
				1st/2nd class	Soft/Hard Sleeper/Hard seat
Shanghai Central	Normal	20:08	12h		265/175/95
Shanghai Hongqiao	High-speed	8:11 and 13:50 (from Huangshan North)	4h	505/305
Hangzhou			3h	390/230
Nanjing	Normal	5 daily, from 2:30 am to 20:08	6-7h		160/110/55
Suzhou	Normal	7:34 and 20:08	10h		230/155
Wuhan (no direct to Yichang)	Normal	16:25	4h25m	265/175
Changsha (no direct to Guilin)	High-speed	10:22 y 16:01	4h10m	560/330
Shenzen (no direct to Hong Kong)	High-speed	11:26	8h15m	810/500

Buses:

• Shanghai: 135 ¥, 5h, 11 a day. Last at 6 pm.
• Hangzhou: 90 ¥, 3h, every hour from 6:50 am to 5:50 pm.
• Suzhou: 135 ¥, 6h, at 6 am and 11 am.
• Nanjing: 105 ¥, 5h30m; at 7:25, 12:10 and 16:20.
• Yixian: 13 ¥, 1h, frequent.
• Tangkou: 20 ¥, 1h, every 10 -15 minutes, from 6 am to 5 pm. Continue to the North entrance of the mountain (Taiping, 20 ¥)

Taxi: from Tunxi to the Scenic Zone it should cost around 200 ¥. To nearby villages 120-150 ¥.

VIA TANGKOU

Where trains do not arrive, so most people get there by bus. The bus station is called Tourist Distribution Center, 2 km south of the town, and many buses will be labeled to “Huangshan Scenic Spot” instead of the town’s name:

• Shanghai: ¥ 148, 6½h, as far as I know, only 2 a day, although it is possible that there are up to 4. By the way, our bus from Shanghai did not stop at the main station and continued to the southwest leaving passengers in some hotels, so if our accommodation is to the northeast, I recommend telling the driver when you arrive.

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• Hangzhou: ¥ 110, 3½h, 7 a day.
• Nanjing: ¥ 110, 5h. 8 am, 1.50 pm and 5 pm.
• Wǔhàn: ¥ 235, 9h. 8.40 am and 5.30 pm.
• Hongcun: 15 ¥, 90m. One every hour from 8 am to 4 pm.

Some hotels in these major cities offer private buses for a similar price, although they tend to be somewhat slower, it has the advantage that we do not have to travel to the bus station.

Within the village no taxi driver will want to use the meter; we negotiate from south bus station to the southeast end of Tangkou for 10 ¥. Most accommodations will pick us up and bring you to the station for free if you let them know in advance.

HOW TO GET FROM TANGKOU TO THE SUMMIT

Once in Tangkou there are minibuses from the National Bus Company for 19 ¥ (very expensive, as they only cover a few kilometers) that lead to the base of the mountain or to the hot springs (11 ¥). They leave every 20 minutes (although they usually wait to be full) from 6 am to 6:30 pm. You have to choose which of the two cable cars/steps want to go before going up the bus.

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If instead of bus we take a taxi, it costs about 50 ¥ to the cable cars and 30 ¥ to the hot springs. Way to private vehicles is supposedly not allowed, but indeed there are parking lots and people get there using their cars.

To get to the top, there are two ways:

• Walking up the Eastern or the Western Steps. You can also use palaquins.
• Or by the eastern or western cable car. Cost 80 ¥ per trip per person. In high season and rush hour, the waiting time to use it can be 2 hours or more:
  • Cloud Valley cable car. From Cloud Valley Temple (云谷寺; Yúngǔ Sì) to White Goose Ridge (Báiyànlǐng; 白鹅嶺), over the Eastern Steps. People wait in two parallel rows, and the one on the right is somewhat faster because it zigzags less than the left side.
  • Jade Screen cable car. From Merciful Light Pavilion (慈光阁; Cíguāng Gé) to Jade Screen Tower (Yùpínglóu; 玉屏 楼), just behind the hotel of the same name, over the Western Steps. If we are going to walk up, we should not hop off at the cable car, but at the next and last stop.

GETTING AROUND ON THE SUMMIT

Once in the upper part, except for another cable car in the northern part, and one more in the West Canyon (which at the end of 2018 was closed to the public), the only options for moving are walking or some palanquins. Even though we are at the top there are hundreds of steps.

MORE INFORMATION IN HUANGSHAN:

<WHEN TO GO; DANGERS AND ANNOYANCES                  EATING AND SLEEPING IN TANGKOU AND ON TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN>

∇ Destinations / ∇ China / ∇ Anhui / ∇ Huangshan