Yao Mountain
Yao Mountain is located in the northeast of Guilin with an elevation of 909m, the highest mountain in the city. It used to be an island in the ancient sea, different from most of other hills, it is covered with fertile soil and luxuriant vegetation. Yao Mountain is famous for its unpredictable and colorful scenery, and it’s also the only place to enjoy the sea of clouds. Yaoshan Mountain scenic area has the most abundant types of Karst landform and the world's largest natural reclining Buddha landscape.
There are white stone holes in the mountains steaming out milk-like spring; the water is cool in all the seasons. These springs are considered to be the best choice for making tea by locals, you can drink them directly, and they can take the fatigue out of your trip. This is really a treasure land! At the foot of the mountain is the Mousoleum of Jingjiang Princes, that’s why 11 generations of Ming princes chose to be buried here. You can also take an open-air cable chairlift or slide down the mountain, shuttle in the flower sea jungle, experiencing the pleasure of flying close to the ground.
Facts
- In Chinese: 尧山
- Location: Jingjiang Road, Qixing District, Guilin
- Opening time: 08:00 – 17:30
- Best time to visit: Apr to Oct
- Entrance fee: free; RMB40 for one way cableway; RMB40 for slide
Form of Mount Yao
The mountains of Guilin are all stone mountains of water rock, but Yao Mountain is earth. According to the investigation, 800 to 1.6 billion years ago, Yaoshan Mountain was still the seabed. Four hundred million years ago, as the earth's crust moved up to land, Yaoshan Mountain became an island in the ancient sea, and then a shallow sea. Sandstone and shale formed 360 million years ago, and after millions of years of physical weathering, the rock mass slowly broke down to form a gentle "earth mountain". To this day, surface debris remains on the slopes and foothills. Yao Mountain has fault since 200 million years ago in the Indo-China movement, 70 million years ago in the Yanshan movement and 2 million years ago in the Himalayan movement, and constantly pushed Yaoshan Mountain up, become the highest mountain in Guilin.
What to See & Do?
The highlights of Mount Yao can be the colorful natural scenery in different seasons. In spring, cuckoo in full bloom, peach blossom enchanting; they compete with each other, covering everywhere. In summer, pleasant shade formed under the thick wood, the sea of the clouds after the rain in Yao Mountain is a fabulous Guilin scenery in summer. The sea of clouds changes all the time as if you enter the palace in heaven. In autumn, the forest has been dyed, a piece of gold. In winter, there is snow covering the mountains, a piece of silver sea, looks like the scenery in the north China, therefore, " winter snow in Yao Mountain " became a scenic highlight in Guilin.
Another major attraction is a fantastic tea plantation, which is one of the top 10 tea plantations in Guangxi Province; you will not only touch and see hundreds of hectares of tea trees, but also experience a traditional tea ceremony at no cost. In the beautiful Yaoshan Mountain Scenic Resort, different kinds of organic pollution-free tea like Guilin Maojian Tea, Sanqing Tea, Osmanthus Tea are planted here, the staff here can provide bilingual Chinese and English explanation service, so that you can understand the tea planting, picking, baking, processing, making and other production processes. If you love Chinese tea culture, you can’t miss it.
The cableway in Yao Mountain is the first built cableway facilities in Guilin, introducing advanced technology of DOPPE LMATYR Company. The total length of the cableway is 1416.18 meters, with a height difference of 423.3 meters. There are 175 double hanging chairs and hanging carriages. The upper station is located near the hilltop TV transmitter, and the lower station is beside the Jingjiang Mausoleum. The one-way operation time of the cableway is 20 minutes. Take the cable car down to the mountain, the scenery of whole Guilin city can be seized in your eyes.
The slide on Mount Yao is a kind of roller coaster like Alpine Slide in Switzerland, which is rare in China. The total length of the slide is 1000 meters, and there are 18 curves. The drop of high and low is 150 meters. The average slope is 15 degrees. The design of the slide has a maximum speed of 80 km/h and is currently limited to 35 km/h. It winds its way around Yao Mountain with the figure like a huge Chinese dragon, mostly in dense forest, hard to reach on foot and through two culverts lined with strange pines, rocks and exotic flowers. It will be a unique experience in your Guilin trip.
How to Get to Youshan Mountain?
Other than booking a car, you can also take Bus 24 and get off at Mausoleum of Jingjiang Princes Stop, an then you can easily reach the destination on foot.