Jiuhua Mountain Hiking Guide (Nov 25, 2023)

Jiuhua Mountain is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. It is located in Qingyang County, Chizhou City, Anhui Province. Jiuhua Mountain, Huangshan Mountain, and Tianzhu Mountain are all granite landforms and are the three major mountains in Anhui Province. This trip was mainly for sightseeing, with visits to the main temples (not a pilgrimage route). I drove to the Jiuhua Mountain Visitor Center on the 25th. I stayed at the Qinxin Kuan Ting Design Villa Hotel. The hotel is a distance from the visitor center, but the hotel owner will arrange a shuttle service. Route: Visitor Center (take a scenic area bus) - Huatai Cableway - Huatai - Tiantai Temple - Baijing Platform - Nunnery Group - Phoenix Pine (take a scenic area bus) - Moon Body Hall - Huacheng Temple - Zhiyuan Temple (take a scenic area bus) - Visitor Center This is a route mainly for sightseeing. The best scenery of Jiuhua Mountain is in the Huatai Scenic Area. The Huatai Scenic Area is free of charge, but you can only take the cable car up and down the mountain. The Huatai Scenic Area is a loop, with a plank road on one side and steps on the other. You can take the steps to the top of Huatai Mountain. At the intersection of the plank road and the steps, there is a ticket gate to enter the Tiantai Scenic Area. After reaching Tiantai Temple, walk down the mountain to Phoenix Pine. Take a scenic area bus from Phoenix Pine to Moon Body Hall. Visit the main temples such as Moon Body Hall, Huacheng Temple, and Zhiyuan Temple along the way. This route takes the cable car up the mountain and hikes down the mountain, which is more labor-saving and takes a whole day. Cost: Ticket: CNY 140 Huatai Cableway: CNY 120 Scenic area bus: CNY 50 (unlimited rides between attractions) Food: I tried the local specialty, stinky mandarin fish, and found it hard to accept. Maybe it's because stinky food is not easy to get used to the first time you eat it.