World Heritage Site Mt. Qingcheng Hiking Guide

Mt. Qingcheng is a world heritage site in China and one of the origins of Chinese Taoist Culture. It is home to some Taoist temples and a very good hiking place near Chengdu. One can do a good hiking while enjoying the ambiance of traditional Taoist shrine.

Walking up Mt. Qingcheng

Chaoyang Ancient Temple

View by the Summit of Qingcheng

Laojun Pagoda by the Summit of Qingcheng

Shangqing Palace

Yuecheng Lake

Mt. Qingcheng is a medium level hiking place near Chengdu. The hiking trail is on well-paved stairs, passing by multiple Taoist temples. Total hiking around 3km from base to the summit from 750m to 1260m with total gain of around 500m. Normally one starts by the base at Jianfu Palace (palace is the transliteration of a Taoist temple in Chinese) and then walk to Nature’s Painting to the left (to the right is then the leisure way of visiting by using the cable car to go up the mountain). Then walk to either Tianshi Celestial Cave (or with detour to Quanzhen Temple) before going up to the Nine Turnings, then go up to Laojun Pavilion by the summit.

Normally it takes around 2–3 hours to go up to the summit by walking.

Mt. Qingcheng Hiking Map

Coming back from the summit one can use a different route and go to Shangqing palace (the biggest Taoist Temple in Qingcheng) and then from there to the base if one chooses to walk down then can go down by “Viewing All-around Temple” for 1km down to the lake of Yuecheng and then walk out for another 1km to the base. From below Shangqing Palace, one can also choose to use the cable car to go down to save the walking down.

This way of hiking Qingcheng takes up to 5-6hs’ time, including the visiting to the temples. All paths are well-paved and well-marked, one can easily navigate yourself inside the mountain. There are food stalls and local farmers selling fruits/drinks in summer. By the temples there are shops selling water and snacks.

If one is looking to stay by one of the temples then recommend trying Tianshi Celestial Cave or Shangqing Palace which are the biggest temples there that offer accommodations. Some other smaller temple also offers accommodations, but may not be available all year round.

Sichuan Travel Guide offers hiking tours to Mt. Qingcheng, please feel free to send your inquires.