Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Journey to Wudang 01: Transport & Stay Overview

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

  1. Hubei Province 湖北省
  2. Shiyan City 十堰市
  3. Wudangshan Town 武當山鎮
  4. 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

Wudang Shan 武當山

 

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

Wudang Shan 武當山

 

i got a quick brief

on the route

Wudang Shan map 武當山地圖

 

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

Wudang Shan Xianghe Villa 武當山祥和山莊

 

i topped up 20 RMB

for these view

View from Wudang Shan Xianghe Villa at South Cliff 武當山南嚴祥和山莊View from Wudang Shan Xianghe Villa at South Cliff 武當山南嚴祥和山莊

 

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

Wudang Shan shuttle bus 武當山公交車

 

Transport Hub

these (except the peak)

are where the bus terminals are

as well as main attractions and hotels

Wudang Shan Transport Map 武當山交通地圖

 

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