Yuntai Mountain travel guide
云台山
Mention great mountains, great rivers and great gorges, and what comes to mind are the Five Great Mountains, Huangshan, Emei, the Yangtze, the Three Gorges, the Yarlung Tsangpo...…
11 places · In the guidebook: pages 2106–2118
Yuntai Mountain, Henan Province · AI illustration for China Trip
Quick itinerary
Yuntai Mountain in 3 days
- Day 1
- Day 2
- Yuntai Mountain→
- Zhuyu Peak→
- Diecai Cave
- Day 3
The feel of the place
- Awe-inspiring
- Mention great mountains, great rivers and great gorges, and what comes to mind are the Five Great Mountains, Huangshan, Emei, the Yangtze, the Three Gorges, the Yarlung Tsangpo... and Jiaozuo doesn't figure in any of them. But with the boom in Taihang tourism in recent years, subway stations in several of China's first-tier cities now display photos of Yuntai Mountain, and the name has begun to carry real pull. In truth, Yuntai Mountain has long been 'a jewel hidden in the deep inner chambers, unknown to most'. When visitors first see the winding Taihang mountain range, after a brief blank in their minds, their first reaction is 'awe-inspiring', the second is 'even more impressive than I imagined', and the third is 'more of a Huangshan than Huangshan itself'.
Enjoyable in the Rainy Season
The rainy season at Yuntai Mountain falls in July and August. Waterproof clothing, non-slip shoes and rain gear are recommended.
Flying to Yuntai Mountain
If you fly, you must first arrive at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport. The airport runs a shuttle bus to Jiaozuo for ¥60.
By Train
Frequent intercity trains run from Zhengzhou to Jiaozuo, taking about 40 minutes, so the journey is very convenient.
Convenient Coach Services
1. From Zhengzhou: a direct bus to Yuntai Mountain departs daily from Zhengzhou North Railway Station at 8:30.
Zhengzhou Long-Distance Bus Central Station runs a direct bus to Yuntai Mountain every morning at 7:20, with the return departure at 16:30.
2. From Jiaozuo: take Bus Route 3, the tourist line, from Jiaozuo Railway Station. Buses depart every 40 minutes between 6:20 and 16:45. The journey takes about 1.5 hours and the fare is ¥4.
3. From Xinxiang: buses to Yuntai Mountain depart from Xinxiang Long-Distance Bus Station daily at 7:30 and 13:20. Return departures are at 10:00 and 16:00.
4. From Luoyang: one direct bus to Yuntai Mountain departs daily from Luoyang Jinyuan Bus Station at 9:20. The fare is ¥57 and the journey takes about 3 hours.
Preparation and Information
Language
Here you will hear the Henan dialect that sounds most like Shanxi dialect, but communicating poses no problem.
Climate and Best Time to Visit
Spring can be surprisingly cold in the mountains, while in winter the water flow at Yuntai Mountain is very low and the scenery loses much of its appeal. Summer and autumn are therefore the best seasons to visit. From May to October each year, the Yuntai Tianpu waterfall carries abundant water, and its drop of 314 metres is truly spectacular. If you are a fan of Wang Wei, consider climbing Zhuyu Peak on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month to experience the homesickness the poet felt on the Double Ninth Festival.
Things to see
The scenic area ticket is a combined pass valid for 2 days, and entry is checked separately at each attraction. Once an attraction's ticket has been checked, it cannot be visited again. Tickets work together with fingerprint scanning: register your fingerprint at the main gate, and then each smaller scenic area admits you by fingerprint.
Yuntai Mountain
When people mention Yuntai Mountain, many different places north and south of the Yangtze may come to mind, but the one meant here is the Yuntai Mountain of the line 'Everyone has a sprig of cornel in their hair but one', and the main production area of the famous 'Yuntai landform'.
1–3 days · ¥120; sightseeing shuttle ¥60
Zhuyu Peak
Speaking of Zhuyu Peak, you may recall the poet Wang Wei's line 'Everyone has a sprig of cornel in their hair but one'? Although the peak takes its name from this, Wang Wei was not a travel writer, and the claim that he wrote 'Thinking of My Brothers in Shandong on the Double Ninth' here is not accurate. Climb the ladder-and-plank walkway to the peak, 1,308 metres above sea level, and the view over the rolling mountain ranges will not disappoint you.
History & Culture · Photography · Nature
Tanpu Gorge
Tanpu Gorge is a beautiful scene without any 'celebrity connection'. It is the essence of the Yuntai Mountain gorges, and 'a spring every three steps, a waterfall every five, a pool every ten' is a true description of it. Tanpu Gorge
Photography · Nature
Zifang Lake
The name sounds elegant, and the scenery has an artistic flair. The lake is half shaded and half sunlit: one side glitters with golden light while the other is clear and emerald green. At midday the lake surface acts like a giant mirror, reflecting the direct sunlight back out and dazzling the eye.
History & Culture · Nature
Macaque Valley
Large numbers of wild macaques live in groups throughout the scenic area.
Wanshan Temple
Wanshan Temple sits at the foot of Yanwang Nose Peak. Inside the temple stands a 1-metre-tall bronze Buddha, a gift from overseas Chinese in Thailand.
Architecture · Temples
Hongshi Gorge
The most beautiful and most breathtaking part of Yuntai Mountain is Hongshi Gorge, where red rocks are scattered throughout the deep, secluded canyon. 'Stunning' is no exaggeration; the scenery is so dense it can take your breath away.
Photography · Nature
Getting there & around
Getting There and Away
Zhengzhou and Jiaozuo are the main transit hubs for Yuntai Mountain. Jiaozuo in particular is the必经 gateway, as every route passes through it.
Rail
Jiaozuo has three major passenger rail lines: the Jiaoliu line (Jiaozuo–Liuzhou), the Jiaotai line (Jiaozuo–Taiyuan) and the Jiaoxin line (Jiaozuo–Xinxiang). Direct trains run to Jiaozuo from major cities including Beijing, Jinan, Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Changsha, Chongqing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Shenzhen. Visitors from other regions should travel via Zhengzhou and then take an intercity train to Jiaozuo.
Road
Jiaozuo has extensive long-distance coach services, with expressways running directly to Jiaozuo from Jincheng in Shanxi, Zhengzhou, Xinxiang, Kaifeng and Anyang. After reaching Jiaozuo, visitors can transfer to a tourist bus from Jiaozuo city or Xiuwu County to reach Yuntai Mountain.
Eat & drink
The food at Yuntai Mountain is mainly Henan cuisine, with some farmhouse-style dishes. The most famous local specialties are Huaiqingfu donkey meat, Wuliyuan preserved eggs, Henan huimian noodle soup and Wushe oil tea.
Local Snacks
Huaiqingfu Naotang Donkey Meat
Local SnacksIts fame comes from carefully selected ingredients, meticulous preparation, precise control of the simmering time and a distinctive 'naotang' broth-stirring method. The cooked donkey meat is tender and fresh, with a subtle hint of Chinese herbal medicine that gives it a flavour found nowhere else.
Stir-Fried Eggs with Wild Chives
Local SnacksMade with ingredients sourced in their natural state, it has a simple, natural fragrance. Visitors who have been to Yuntai Mountain highly recommend it.
- There is a food street beside the Anshang Service Area, where the noodles are good. The lamb, beef, three-delicacy and five-delicacy huimian, with their rich broth and chewy noodles, are all worth trying.
Where to stay
Because the scenic area ticket is valid for two days, visitors can enter the gates twice. You can choose to stay in Jiaozuo city or within Xiuwu County, and there are also accommodation options at the service areas inside the scenic area. For a taste of local life, you may also choose to stay at a farmhouse guesthouse.
Yuntai Mountain Lijing Boutique Hotel
Recommended AccommodationThe hotel is well located right at the Anshang Service Area, very convenient for reaching the scenic area, with an elegant environment and clean, tidy rooms.
- Address:
- No. 4, East 11th Street, Anshang Service Area, Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area
- Phone:
- 0391-7709668
- 1. Accommodation tip: A new mountain gate has been built at Yuntai Mountain, and most visitors now enter through it. The farmhouse guesthouses currently available at Yuntai Mountain are all located near the old gate (Anshang Service Area). 2. Room rates: The village opposite the old gate consists entirely of farmhouses, and almost every household runs a guesthouse. Facilities are average, but there is 24-hour hot water and a few rooms have internet access. Prices soar during holidays, rising by 100%–200%.
Day trips & beyond
Qingtian River
Daquan Lake is the highlight of Qingtian River. Here you can see northern pastoral scenery and feel the charm of southern waterside villages at the same time. Its middle section closely resembles the Wu Gorge, earning it the nickname 'Three Gorges of the North'. Inside the scenic area, Jinjialing Ridge turns a sea of red every autumn, arguably the finest autumn foliage in the Central Plains, and the thousand-year-old Yueshan Temple holds plaques and couplets bestowed by Emperor Qianlong, which are well worth seeing.
0.5–1 day
Shennong Mountain Scenic Area
To find out just how beautiful the 'Beauty Pine' is, you must visit Shennong Mountain. Nearly 16,000 white crane pines grow on sheer cliff tops, forming a 'Dragon Ridge Great Wall' that is quite spectacular from afar. This is where Emperor Yan, Shennong, is said to have distinguished the hundred grains and tasted the hundred herbs, so the mountain holds many precious medicinal herbs. A saying still circulates: 'One trip through Shennong Valley, and even illness cures itself.'
1 day
Chenjiagou Village
World-famous tai chi originated in this small village called Chenjiagou, and martial arts film star Jet Li once came here specifically to observe tai chi. The village has the Museum of Tai Chi Masters Through the Ages, the Chenjiagou Martial Arts Hall, and the site where Yang Luchan learned boxing. The Chenjiagou Site has also yielded a Western Zhou-period tomb complex and a variety of artefacts.
2–3 hours
Jiaozuo Film and Television City
The city's style is set against the backdrops of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Qin and Han dynasties, and the Three Kingdoms. TV dramas and films such as 'Diao Chan', 'Qu Yuan', 'Cao Cao and Cai Wenji' and 'The Great Qin Empire' were all filmed here.
4–5 hours
Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), pp. 2106–2118. Translated from the Chinese edition; names and prices follow the guidebook. · Plain text version