Climbing Huangshan as a woman, no overnight stay route

Total cost ¥500. For someone who doesn’t exercise much, it’s doable but a bit tiring. I believe this route covers most of the highlights, especially taking the Yungu Cableway up to the West Sea Grand Canyon—that part is really beautiful. And it’s relatively easy. 1️⃣ Scenic area ticket ¥190 2️⃣ Take the shuttle bus from the South Gate transfer station to the South Gate ¥20 3️⃣ Start taking the Yungu Cableway ¥90 Walk all the way toward the West Sea Grand Canyon direction. You can feel like you’re walking through a super tall stone crevice. Most of the route is downhill, which is hard on the knees but relatively easy. Especially when you see people climbing up, I feel for them 🥹—it’s really a long uphill stretch, so I don’t recommend climbing it 🧗. By here, it’s about 6 kilometers. 4️⃣ Take the small train, called the West Sea Cable Car 🚡 in the park ¥100 By this point, people are already a bit tired. The small train ride is only a few minutes, and the ticket feels really expensive. But you’re already at the valley bottom, and walking up from here would be unbearable. Then head toward the Yuping Cableway direction. You’ll pass Bright Summit Peak, Hundred-Step Staircase, and Guest-Greeting Pine. If you can’t walk anymore, just head straight to the Yuping Cableway; if you can, take a detour to the scenic spots (my stamina was a bit poor, so I went straight to the cableway). This part is about 3 kilometers. I grabbed a grilled sausage as a snack, it was so delicious. 5️⃣ Yuping Cableway ¥90 6️⃣ Shuttle bus back to the South Gate transfer center ¥20 After coming down Huangshan, there’s a really good barbecue place called Shuihu BBQ. 🥳 It’s the northern style with big skewers, served with flatbread. The pork belly is amazing, sizzling with oil—I have no idea how they season it, I really want to steal the recipe. If you want to book Tiandu Peak, you must set an alarm for 9:00 PM two days in advance. Many people say to go up from the old trail and down the new trail, but you have to grit your teeth and spend a few more hours walking down the mountain ⛰️, unless you want to return the same way and climb back up. Be very cautious.