Transport to Wudang
(1) High speed rail (recommended)
- Wudangshan station 武當山站
- Shiyan station 十堰站
Shiyan station is further away
30 km from the mountain
yet the trains are more frequent
as it is a bigger station
as compared to Wudangshan
i made the mistake of
searching for trains between
Wuhan (Hankou / Wucang station)
and Wudangshan station
instead of Wuhan - Shi Yan
which ended up
making me real panic
as the tickets were limited
and the journey took 6-7 hours
in fact
the trains running between
Wuhan and Shiyan are
really frequent and
it takes approximately 4 hours
(2) Airport
Shiyan Wudangshan Airport
十堰武當山機場
not recommended
as the city is always
cladded in heavy fog
flight cancelation is a norm
how lucky am i to
bump into one
so i ended up
taking the train instead
Journey to Wuhan 08: Flight Cancellation
moreover
public transport
between the airport
and the mountain is
not frequent (once / day)
by this point of time
if you are already confused
over Shiyan and Wudangshan
Shiyan City 十堰市
is the city where
Wudang Mountains is
hence they name the airport
after Wudangshan
Wudangshan Town 武當山鎮
a small town where
Wudang Mountains is
i.e. in hierarchy
- Hubei Province 湖北省
- Shiyan City 十堰市
- Wudangshan Town 武當山鎮
- Wudang Mountains 武當山景區
Accommodation
ideally
visitors shall spend at least a night
in the mountain area itself
for catching the sun set,
early hike etc…
there are people
who choose to camp there too
there are plenty of hotels
at the main transport hubs
in the mountain itself
i didn’t book it in advance
since i wouldn’t know if
the location is strategic
i don’t want to end up
booking somewhere in
the middle of no where
what i had in mind was
as we got here around 1PM
will try to cover a few
attractions along the way
and settle down at
somewhere convenient
before entering the mountain
there are such tourist information booths
along the way leading to the
ticket counter
i got a quick brief
on the route
and ended up
booking my hotel from them
although
i found out later that
the price was
way much more expensive
than online booking
i got no complaint
as it was within my budget
and the room was pretty good
i topped up 20 RMB
for these view
and it would be
much better than
walking clueless-ly and
definitely cheaper than
walk-in price
by the way
for the purpose of
catching train, flight etc
there are plenty of hotels
in the vicinity of Shiyan city
i.e. where the train station is
transport in the mountain
the main form of transport
is a shuttle bus
ferrying passengers
between 5 transport hubs
the fare is inclusive
in the 240 RMB entrance ticket
i.e. you may take the bus
as frequent as you like
Transport Hub
these (except the peak)
are where the bus terminals are
as well as main attractions and hotels
so the hotel recommended
is located at Nanyan
day #1
visited the attractions
along the bus route, i.e.
Taizhipo, Ziqiaogong, Nanyan
and spent a night at Nanyan
day #2
checked out early in the morning
hiked to the Peak
the 4.7 km route
can be done within 2.5 hours
if you are fast enough
not for me though,
it took me almost 3.5
or maybe 4
for our way down
took a cable car ride to Qiongtai
caught a bus to Taizhipo
transferred to another bus uphill
to collect our luggage at Nanyan
before making our way downhill
and spent the night at Shiyan city