10 Days in Chizhou

The rail link opened in April 2024 stops at Jiuhuashan station under half an hour from the city; around 99 registered temples climb the slopes, and a funicular lifts visitors to hillside Baisheng Palace.

1. chizhou jiuhua mountain
2. chizhou huacheng temple
3. chizhou baisheng palace

Steps up the Tiantai ridge to its 1,306-metre summit below the 1,342-metre Shiwang crest, then the cableway across to Huatai's granite cliffs and stitched boardwalks.

1. chizhou tiantai peak
2. chizhou huatai

The 99-metre bronze Ksitigarbha finished in the 2010s stands at the mountain's northern gate, its height echoing the traditional count of 99 peaks; the reservoir-and-falls park of Jiuhua Tianchi fills the afternoon.

1. chizhou dizang statue
2. chizhou jiuhua tianchi

A 1.5-hour drive south into Shitai County, the national reserve protected since 1988 keeps forested valleys below its 1,727-metre main peak; boardwalk trails and a night in Shitai town.

1. chizhou guniujiang

Li Bai wrote his seventeen Qiupu songs along this river in the 750s; drift a section by raft, then walk about 3 km of chambers in the Penglai cave before the road back.

1. chizhou qiupu river
2. chizhou penglai cave

West of the city, the Dawang cave opens through karst halls with a boat section; Qi Hill south of downtown carries old cliff inscriptions and a slow view over the Yangtze plain.

1. chizhou dawang cave
2. chizhou qi mountain

The national reserve east of town is a wintering ground where tens of thousands of waterbirds gather from November, hooded cranes among them; the dyke roads make an easy slow day in any season.

1. chizhou shengjin lake

A calm city day — the lakeside loops of Pingtian Lake, then the museum in the old prefecture school halls, where the Xinghua Village story of Du Mu's governorship (844-846) is told alongside local bronzes.

1. chizhou pingtian lake
2. chizhou museum

An honestly labelled neighbouring-city day — the rail line opened in April 2024 runs from Chizhou across to the Yellow Mountain area in under an hour; cableways and granite stairways fill a long day, with the evening train back.

1. chizhou huangshan

The second honest neighbour day — an hour west by rail, Anqing's riverfront temple compound is built around the Zhenfeng pagoda, begun in the late 1560s on the Yangtze bank; evening trains return to Chizhou or continue along the line.

1. chizhou anqing yingjiang temple
2. chizhou anqing zhenfeng pagoda