Mount Qingcheng

Two different day trips share the name Mount Qingcheng (Qīngchéng Shān), and picking the right one matters more than anything else on this page. The Front Mountain is the UNESCO-listed Taoist core: a 5 to 6 km circuit past working temples, with a lake ferry and cable car to shortcut the stairs. The Back Mountain is a separate gorge-and-waterfall hike with its own gate and its own ticket, roughly a valley away at Tai'an Old Town. Both sit about 65 km northwest of Chengdu next to Dujiangyan, wrapped in the ring of forested peaks that gave the mountain its name, "Green City Wall."

Front Mountain: the temple circuit

This is where Taoism became an organized religion: tradition holds that Zhang Daoling settled here in the 140s AD, and Tianshi Cave, the temple at the heart of the mountain, still keeps his statue and a gnarled ginkgo said to have been planted by him. The standard loop starts at Jianfu Palace near the gate, climbs to Tianshi Cave, and continues to Shangqing Palace near the summit, founded in the Jin dynasty and rebuilt under the Qing. To save your knees, take the ferry across the small Yuecheng Lake and then the cable car, which drops you a short climb below Shangqing Palace. Count on four to five hours at a temple-visiting pace.

Back Mountain: the hike

The Back Mountain (Qingcheng Houshan) has almost no temples and almost no tour groups. From the gate at Tai'an Old Town a loop of four to six hours follows Five Dragon Gorge upstream past waterfalls and a suspension bridge, turns at White Cloud Temple near the top, and comes down the parallel Feiquan Gorge. Farmhouses along the trail serve simple mountain meals. It is a real hike with real stairs; treat it as a full day and skip it in heavy rain, when the stone steps get slick.

Tickets and hours

Front and Back Mountain are ticketed separately, and the ferry and cable car on the Front Mountain cost extra; fees are moderate rather than painful, but check current rates when you book. Gates generally open around 08:00 and stop admitting visitors from mid to late afternoon, earlier in winter, and the cable car pauses in bad weather. Entry can be booked at the gate or in English through platforms like Klook; domestic visitors mostly use the scenic area's WeChat channel.

Getting there from Chengdu

The fast way is the intercity train from Xipu station (the end of Chengdu Metro Line 2, cross-platform transfer) to Qingchengshan station, about half an hour. From the station, bus 101 or a short taxi covers the last 2 km to the Front Mountain gate. Drivers take around 1.5 hours on the expressway. Most people pair the mountain with the ancient Dujiangyan irrigation system one stop down the same rail line.

When to go

Spring and autumn bring the mildest weather and clearest air. Summer is the classic escape from Chengdu's heat, and the mountain is at its most painterly just after rain, when mist hangs between the firs. Bring a light rain layer whatever the season; this is a damp mountain by design.