Accessible via both the Golden Palace Cable Car (lan che) and a nicely paved trail, Tianzhu Peak stands tallest among the Wudang Mountains and, for both its spectacular views and Ming-dynasty architecture, is definitely not to be missed.  Taking the lan che is definitely the easy way up. It's the way to go if you are on a tight schedule or just not up for feeling your thighs disintegrate over two to four hours of lactic acid churning hell.  However, if you do decide to challenge yourself with the hike (don't worry, it's not that hard), you'll be rewarded by a number of smaller attractions dotting the steep slopes along the way. Alternatively, you could always hire the stout men and women offering sedan chair rides. Don't worry about packing lots of water and snacks for the trek, there are an incredible number of shops lining t... more >>

An ancient sentinel watching over the lush valleys below (not to mention the Wudang reservoir) from its cliff-side perch, Nanyan Temple is Wudang Shan's flagship attraction and is easily its most photographed. The temple stands at the trailhead leading to Golden Top on Tianzhu Peak, where you'll find the Zhenwu Shrine and the All Gods Temple. From the Nanyang Tourist Center, where you can eat, sleep and buy souvenirs, including ridiculously cheap Chinese and Samurai swords, the path to the temple heads right. Heading left gets you started on the arduous, three-hour stair climb to Tianzhu Peak The temple itself is just ten minutes away. You'll encounter a gate and a pavilion housing a large tortoise sculpture as well as a holy, 750-year old Gingko tree on the way there. Once in the temple there are several areas to take in. Through the threshold and to the left is a ... more >>

Zixiao Gong, the Purple Cloud Temple is a sizeable and aesthetically pleasing early Ming temple and monastery. Built against the slopes of the mountain, the structure is built in a succession of platforms that get progressively higher, offering increasingly attractive views of Wudang's sea of jungle-studded peaks.  The area is very photogenic, so don't forget your camera. If you're there at the right times, you'll have the opportunity to watch worshippers bowing to the monks as they enact a number of ceremonies before a golden statue of the benevolent-looking Yellow Emperor. To the left and right, after the first flight of steps, you can find pavilions housing giant statues of tortoises built from single slabs of rock. As you approach on the bus, you'll notice a strip of small storefronts hawking curios, memorabilia and snacks just before the entrance to t... more >>

About 5 kilometers in from the Wudang Shan World Heritage Site gates is the Prince Temple bus interchange station where you can pick up buses going to other areas in Wudang Shan including Xiao Yao Gu (the Carefree Valley), Eight Immortals Temple and the Golden Top Cable Car Station by the Jade Terrace Temple. Situated about 100 meters back in the forest, Taizi Po is a nice place to spend an hour or two wandering around in the temple's gently sinuous, aesthically pleasing corridors whose fuchsia-colored walls seem to glow in contrast to teal roof tiles.  You'll come across a statue of the Black Dragon God in the threshold between the main inner courtyard and the rear courtyard. Proceed to the left to come to the Five-Storey Tower, which has just one story, but is a great place to get free samples of some really nice teas.  Among the teas you ... more >>

A rapidly-developing city of 50,000, Wudang Shan city is a sleepy country town being shaken awake by the demands of an exploding tourism sector. The city's kung-fu schools attract increasing numbers of students, both foreign and local, while word of the beauty of the Wudang mountains and all the temples, pavilions, tea terraces and grottoes to be found among them is quickly spreading. Around the square in front of the train station are a couple local KTV's, a few hair salons that do hour-long 10RMB hair wash/scalp massages (xi toufa), a couple hostels, a few restaurants and plenty of street food. For a great massage head to the 2nd floor of the Laoying Jiodian, they do foot soaks and full-body massages for 38RMB an hour. While in town you'll have plenty of opportunities to bargain for swords (dao) and other souvenirs, there are a ridiculous number of  ... more >>

About 10 minutes down the road from Taizi Po, the Carefree Valley is an extremely scenic area with enough hiking to keep you busy for a full day. Though the main activity here is hiking, if you cross the river and head over to the plain-looking stage area, you can catch kung-fu shows at 10am and 4pm. The tables nearest the stage have signs indicating that you have to purchase 30RMB pots of tea to sit there, but nobody will stop you from taking a seat on the ground even closer to the stage if you want. To the left of the stage is a small lake with a tea house built over it which is accessible by docks. The docks periodically hiss steam, remnants of bygone glory days when the tea house was a film set. It's quite photogenic. Once you've taken in the kung fu show you can move on down the valley and start hiking in earnest. You'll quickly arrive at a ... more >>

Temple ruins situated on a scenic slope with views of Wudang Shan's numerous peaks, Wu Long Gong is far from the regular Wudang Shan tourist circuit (the one that includes Nanyan Temple, the Carefree Valley, Purple Heaven Palace among other spots located elsewhere in the Wudang mountain range). Its relative isolation is a selling point to some--it's one of the last Wudang mountain sights you can take in without running into noisy tour groups and their megaphone-toting guides--but for others, the distance, combined with its rather small size, keep it off the itinerary. If you fall into the former camp, however, much, if not most, of the pleasure is hiking the Wu Long Temple trail through cloud forests, which eventually take you to a farmhouse (go left at the fork) where you can buy meals made with farm-fresh produce. After the farmhouse, the trail winds through... more >>