Wuyishan: Your Ultimate Guide
Updated: Sep 20, 2023
Top tips for enjoying the tea fields, hikes, and fresh air of Wuyishan!
Wuyishan, or Wuyi Mountain (shan (山) means mountain in Mandarin) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the birthplace of oolong tea, and is just lovely!
Definitely one of my favorite places in China. The area is absolutely choc-a-block full of the most beautiful tea fields, amazing hikes, and fresh air. The town itself is quaint (for a Chinese town), vibey, and packed with tea shops (offering many different types of oolong), awesome restaurants, and relaxed bars.
The area is beautiful throughout the year, but visiting in May will mean that you get to see the tea-picking going on, which is really awesome!
How many days?
At least 2 full days.
So, why visit?
Beautiful tea fields (with the first tea bush that birthed Chinese black tea)
Drink delicious tea
Amazing hikes with incredible views
Bamboo rafting down the river
Lovely, quaint, chilled town
Best things to do
Visit the scenic area of the Wuyishan tea fields
Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Wuyishan Scenic Area is packed full of beautiful scenery, amazing views, and some awesome hikes. There are a range of different areas to visit within the scenic area.
To see all the very best bits, I suggest spending about two days in the scenic area.
Here are my favorite areas to visit within the scenic area:
Big Red Robe Scenic Area (Dahongpao)
(Enter at North Entrance)
The hike around the Dahongpao area follows the routes that the tea-pickers use, so if you are there during the tea-picking season you’ll run into people carrying overflowing baskets of freshly picked tea leaves. The entire hike is just beautiful - its trails run through the tea fields, weaving between massive rock formations, and along crystal-clear streams with the smell of tea on the breeze.
Wuyishan is the birthplace of oolong tea, and along your hike, you will come across the most famous oolong tea in the world - Dahongpao tea. Sitting across from the tea house, there are six mother bushes of Dahongpao perched up on the cliffs – these bushes are so treasured that 20g of leaves from these bushes sold for $27 000, and at one point they were even guarded by armed security.
You can sit and have some tea at the tea house (but watch out, it is super pricey – approx. RMB 900 for a cup). Or you can just do as we did and get an oolong soft-serve (‘bing-shilling’) from the little food shop next to the teashop… it will give you your oolong fix, and save you about RMB 885.
Heavenly Tour Peak (Tianyoufeng)
(Enter at the South Entrance)
This hike is really beautiful and gives you the most stunning view of the Nine Bend Stream and the surrounding tea fields. The path is narrow and paved, with about 800 steps going up (carved into a steep rockface), and about 1 000 down the other side. You can finish off at the Nine Bend Stream rivers edge, and dip your toes into the clear water while watching the bamboo rafts pass by.
Nine Bend Stream (Jiuquxi)
There are two ways to enjoy Nine Bend Stream:
Get a beautiful view of a section of the Nine Bend Stream by doing the Heavenly Tour Peak - it ends along the banks of the stream.
Take a bamboo raft along the length of the river (starting at the North Entrance).
Water Curtain Cave (Shuiliangdong)
(Enter at North Entrance)
The walk to the waterfall is lovely and scenic, taking you through pretty mountains and tea fields. The waterfall itself is pretty impressive – it’s a relatively small stream of water flowing over the top of an inverse hanging cave, meaning that you can walk around behind the waterfall. The flow of water shifts with the wind, so you can easily sit and watch it for a while.
Taste different teas at an ancient tea house
Absolutely everywhere you look, there will be tea houses and shops. Pick anyone and go and try a cup (or five) of oolong tea. Oolong is what the area is famous for, so you definitely must give it a try!
One thing you will quickly come to learn about tea in China is that it varies hugely in quality and strength. Although I definitely don’t have the palate to taste the difference in quality, the difference in price is hard to miss - high-quality tea can be as much as $450 for 500g.
I tend to get a bit anxious about going into teashops, tasting a bunch of teas, and then leaving without buying anything. So, my favorite thing to do is to find a teashop where you can pay for a tasting, it's usually about RMB30 - 50, and it takes the stress out of trying to figure out when to leave, how to leave, whether you should buy tea for the sake of it, etc.
We found a lovely place, that has won all sorts of prizes - Yuweizhengyan Tea House
(12 Sangu Holiday Resort Daiwangfeng South Road). It’s RMB30 to taste 5 teas (and you can be there for up to 2hrs). As part of the tasting, you have the opportunity to taste tea that goes for RMB 2000!
TIPS:
If oolong is what you are after… just remember, it does have caffeine in it, so if caffeine stops you from sleeping, maybe plan your visit with that in mind.
Take a bamboo raft down the river
We didn’t end up doing this because there weren’t any available tickets, but it looked like an awesome way to spend 2 hours! Apparently (and it was true from the snippets of the ride that we saw), the bamboo raft floats down 62.8km of crystal-clear river, through beautiful, diverse mountain scenery. The river runs through a large section of the park, starting at the North Entrance, and ending near the South Entrance.
While I’m sure it is definitely beautiful to see the scenery and Nine Bend Stream from a bamboo raft, I still highly recommend also hiking Heavenly Tour Peak (Tianyoufeng) to get a whole different perspective of the area.
TIPS:
I highly recommend booking a ticket, just to make sure you secure a spot.
The raft is largely unsheltered, so take a hat and sunscreen.
Take your shoes off, so they don’t get wet.
Address:
North Entrance: 36 Guilin Street, Nanping
Have a drink overlooking the river
The river running between Wuyishan scenic area and Wuyishan town is really lovely. A great way to relax after a day of hiking to sit, overlooking the river with some snacks, a drink, and some lovely music. A great place to do this is Shi Paradise Jingniang Wine House.
Address:
Shi Paradise Jingniang Wine House
2 Mantingfeng Road
Nanping
Take a nighttime walk along the river just outside the town
There is a river that runs along the western side of Wuyishan town. A newly-done walkway has been created to make the most of the peace and quiet of the river, and it really is a lovely after-dinner activity. The walkway is literally right along the edge of the river and has lovely lighting. It looks directly onto the river, and into the scenic area.
Address:
Dawangfeng Road,
Jiulong Gulf,
Shanshuijian
(I recommend starting at Jiulongwan Holiday Hotel, and then walking South (west-ish) along the river towards the town.)
Try the local food
The food in Wuyishan is really delicious, super fresh, and tasty! Click here to see my top foods to try within the tea fields of China!
Take a three-wheeler
Definitely a fun thing to do after dinner or later in the night! As it gets later, you will see the three-wheelers start to appear. Hail one and get them to take you to your next spot or home for the night. It was pouring with rain, so that’s why we ended up taking one… but it was definitely fun to do!
Best areas to stay
I recommend staying within Wuyishan town because it makes getting into the park easy and it is a nice and vibey area. We stayed within the outer skirts of the Wuyishan town, in Qimingdu, and it was lovely and peaceful but still a 10-minute walk into the town and all the lovely places to eat.
Getting around
Getting around the town and to Wuyishan scenic area
There are local buses that you can take to get from the town to some of the scenic spots within the scenic area – your hotel will be able to tell you the updated routes, etc.
There are taxis and DiDis all over the place, so that is probably the easiest way to get to and from the scenic area from the town.
The town itself is small enough to walk around, otherwise, you can get a taxi or a tuk-tuk for the further-way places.
Getting around the scenic area
There are buses and trains within the scenic area. You can jump on and off them to get to the different locations within the scenic area.
Once you know where you want to go, I suggest asking the guides, guards, whoever, to make sure you are going in the right direction, and getting on the right bus.
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