Yandang Mountain (Yandangshan)

UNESCO Global Geopark; National 5A Tourist Attraction, Known For Peaks, Cliffs And Waterfalls · Wenzhou, Zhejiang

A range of volcanic peaks, cliffs and waterfalls rising close to the sea in southern Zhejiang, formed by eruptions around 120 million years ago and now a UNESCO Global Geopark. Its landscape is vertical: rhyolite spires and sheer walls stand over narrow valleys, and the Dalongqiu waterfall drops close to two hundred metres in a single thread into a green pool, at its most thunderous after summer rain. The mountain's most distinctive experience comes after dark at Lingfeng, where a guide leads visitors along a valley floor with a torch, pointing out the silhouettes overhead: in daylight the cliffs look like ordinary crags, but at night they resolve into an old couple embracing, a hen, a pair of hands in prayer. Elsewhere, the Lingyan valley has cliff-top rope walking and acrobatic shows on the rock face, Guanyin Cave stacks nine storeys of temple halls inside a cleft, and the Fangdong and Sanzhe valleys hold quieter trails. Wenzhou's high-speed station is under an hour away, which makes the mountain an easy break on the coastal line.

Lingfeng Scenic Area, Yandangshan, Yueqing, Wenzhou, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

Lingyan, Fangdong, Dalongqiu and Sanzhepu about 6:30-17:30; Lingfeng 6:30-17:00 by day and 18:00-21:30 for the night walk; other areas about 7:00-17:00 (check).

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