Upon your arrival at Huangshan, your local guide will greet you at the exit of airport/train station by holding a name sign and take you to have a lunch at Huangshan downtown. Before getting off the plane/train, please double check your belongings to ensure you have collet all your stuff. After the lunch, we will drive about 40 minutes to Tangmo Ancient Village and check in at your hotel. The rest of the day is for your own arrangement. You can have a good rest at your hotel. BTW, you can prepare something for the hiking in advance. Highly recommend you prepare some snacks to keep your energy up and bring a jacket even in summer. And don’t forget hiking pole, rain coat and rain boots regardless of the time of year considering the mountain is notorious for rainfall.

After breakfast, your guide will meet you at your hotel and show you around Tangmo Ancient Village. The village could be dated back to the Tang Dynasty, and its name means “model village of the Tang Dynasty” (Tang refers to the Tang Dynasty, and mo means model in Chinese). Because the village is barely touched by tourist groups, you can have an enjoyable time exploring the village. Tanganyuan Garden definitely cannot be missed. The garden was said to be built by a rich businessman for his mother who wanted to visit the famous West Lake in Hangzhou but was restrained by her physical conditions. Her son spent lots of money building the garden by imitating the West Lake. There’s a 400-year-old camphor tree which was once in a Chinese movie Marriage of the Fairy Princess. Couples usually make wishes under the tree and tie red ribbons with each other’s name on the tree. The garden also is a good place to appreciate calligraphic inscriptions of famous Chinese calligraphers from Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Afterwards, you will learn rubbing art from a teacher and try to make a piece by yourself to feel the charm of calligraphy culture.

Then we will move on to Lingshan Village. Surrounded by endless bamboo forest, the village seems far away from the bustling world, and the people here live a simple life. Just immerse yourself in the pastoral scenery. Walking along the Water Street, you will see old residential houses, stones bridges and even villagers washing their clothes in the river. Lingshan people make full use of abundant bamboo resources. They can make basket, hat, dustpan, and other things with bamboo. Marvel at their excellent skills and learn to make things by using bamboo.

After a lunch, we will say goodbye to the villages and drive to Huangshan Mountain. Upon arrival, we will take a shuttle bus first and then take a cable car up the mountain. Your guide will lead you to see the beautiful scenery at Beginning-to-believe Peak, Brush Pen Peak and enjoy sunset at Cloud-dispelling Pavilion. Along the way you will see many uniquely shaped pine trees growing out of the steep cliffs as if someone trimmed them. There will be many staircases that go up and down, but all the tiredness of climbing will be gone when you are rewarded with the breathtaking scenery. Please do not watch your camera or phone while walking. Tonight we will stay at a hotel on the mountain so as to catch sunrise next day.

Today you will get up in the early morning to witness the incredible sunrise. When the mountain is still sleeping under starry sky, we will leave the hotel to occupy a vantage point and quietly wait for the thrilling moment. With the passage of time, the color of sky will change slowly. The sun finally show its head and the peaks are bathed in dazzling gold. After you enjoy the sunrise, we will go back to hotel and have breakfast. Then move on to explore Bright Summit, the second highest peak of the mountain, and continue to Flying-over Rock.

Next we will hop on cable car and descend the mountain to go back to Huangshan downtown. We will have a lunch first and then visit Tunxi Ancient Street and Hu Kaiwen Ink-stick Factory. Tunxi Ancient Street is China’s most well-preserved ancient street combining architectural style of the Southern Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Just stroll on the street leisurely and appreciate the Hui-style buildings. You can optionally try some local snacks such as sesame seed cake (Shao Bing) and hair bean curd (Mao Dou Fu).

Then we will visit Hu Kaiwen Ink-stick Factory which was founded by Hu Kaiwen in 1765 during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty to see how the ink stick is made. Ink stick is one of the four treasures of Chinese study (writing brush, ink stick, ink slab and paper), and the best ink stick in China comes from Anhui Province, the home of Huangshan Mountain. At the end of the tour, your guide and driver will take you to downtown hotel.

Meet your guide and driver at your hotel lobby in the morning after breakfast and check out as you will leave Huangshan directly after the tour. Please pack your belongings in advance. We will visit Hongcun Ancient Village today. More than 800-year-old Hongcun is a typical representative of Hui-style building, mainly in black, white and grey colors. It was listed as World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. You will see many original residences from Ming and Qing dynasties here, among which Chengzhi Hall is an architectural masterpiece and enjoys the name of “Folk Forbidden City”. It has a lot of complex wood carvings with great artistic value. We will also stroll along the South Lake and absorb in the picturesque scenery.

In the afternoon, your guide and driver will transfer you to the train station/airport for your departure train/flight. Our service will end here. Wish you a pleasant journey.