Getting Around

From the town of Tangkou at the southern edge of the mountain range, minibuses travel every 20 minutes to the Hot Springs Area, the Western Steps, the Jade Screen Cable Car Station and the Cloud Valley Cable Car Station, which also marks the the start of the Eastern Steps. The bus fare for all destinations is RMB 10.

You can easily cover Tangkou by foot; taxis are available for the Hot Spring Area, Ciguang Temple and Yungu Temple, as well as the two aforementioned cable car terminals. An alternate route into the mountains is to come from the north via Taiping, a cable car terminal that delivers you to Pine Forest Peak in the northwestern corner of Huang Shan; from there, trails lead south and east into the mountains.

Cable Car 

For those who want to take the easy way up, there are three cable cars that run from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. All cable cars take about 8 minutes to reach their destinations. Cable car tickets cost RMB 55 (November-March) or RMB 65 (April-October). The Cloud Valley Cable Car runs between Cloud Valley Temple and White Goose Ridge. You can reach the cable car via minibus from the Huang Shan gate. The Jade Screen Cable Car departs from Ciguang Temple near the Hot Springs Area. The Taiping Cable Car runs from Hibiscus Ridge to the Pine Forest Peak. You can get to the lower terminal via minibus from Taiping. Note that the first two cable cars often require a long wait in line and that they don't run in periods of high winds.

To and from Huang Shan

Air 

Huangshan airport lies 7km (4.3mi.) outside of Tunxi, also known as Huang Shan City (Huang Shan Shi), which is another 70km (43mi.) from the base of Huang Shan. From the airport, take a RMB 5 bus or a RMB 15 taxi ride to the city center. Flights connect to cities including Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hefei, Tianjin, Haikou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Xian, Guilin, Kunming, Zhuhai, Hong Kong and Macau.

Train

The Huang Shan Railway Station is on Qianyuan Bei Lu in Tunxi. A one-and-a-half hour minibus ride runs from Tunxi railway station to Tangkou (RMB 10 - 20). Rail connects Huang Shan to several Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hefei, Jingdezhen, Nanchang, Xiamen, Yingtan and Fuzhou. Direct bus routes connect Huang Shan to Shanghai, Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Huzhou, Hefei, Huainan, Banbu, Maanshan, Wuhu, Anqing, Tongling, Jiuhuashan, Jingdezhen and Jiujiang. Buses leave from the parking lot across from the Tunxi train station. Tickets can be purchased at the station.

Bus

If you come via bus, be sure you are clear on which "Huang Shan" you will arrive at. Some buses drop off at Tunxi, others at Tangkou and still others at Taiping.