This is Part II to my 3 day guide on Guangzhou. If you have not checked it out yet, Part I can be found here.

Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area

Depending on your itinerary and the available number of days in Guangzhou, this itinerary can be combined with the attractions that I will be going through in Part III. I will provide a link there once that is up. Of course, to combine the itineraries would necessarily mean that the actual time spent in each attraction is shorter and also affects the activities at each attraction site.

Okay. Leaving aside the qualifier above, lets head down to the juicy bit

Báiyún is Chinese for “White Clouds”, derived from views of the mountain’s peaks shrouded in mist. The scenic area is informally known as the “City’s Lung”, from its greenery and ability to refresh the city’s polluted air. Moxing Peak, its highest point, is sometimes called the “First Peak under the Southern Sky” (天南第一峰). Unfortunately for me, when I visited the scenic area it was right in the middle of summer and there was not much of any clouds to speak of. But still, however, the views were still great and overall the area is still worth a visit.

Getting to Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area

You can grab a taxi or a local didi (Uber’s ex-rival now partner) to Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area Tour Center.

There, you have two options available to you. You can either take the cable car up to the mountains or take a battery powered bus-cart up. I decided to go for the cable car. First, the price was cheap at just 20 RMB (US$3.11) and more importantly, I did not know where the depot for the bus-carts were. For those interested, they can be found a short walk (maybe 200-300m?) away to the right side of the green sign above. The price should be about the same.

 

Baiyun Mountain Scenic Area Sights

Up and up we go!

 

Once you reach the cable car station at the top, you will be greeted with a wide open plaza. There are a few scenic spots there. You can cover most of them in around 15-20mins. The more interesting bit would be the mountain’s link to a Qin dynasty alchemist who apparently saved the region from a certain epidemic. There is a section dedicated to this alchemist showcasing his contributions to the region.

That’s the easy bit. Now comes the hard bit. What’s the point of visiting a mountain range if you don’t attempt to conquer its peak which sits at 382 meters (1,253 ft) above sea level?

Again, there are two options available to get you up to the peak (or close to it). However, it would not be apparent that there are in fact two alternatives. Once you walk past the big flower display welcoming you to the attraction, you will see a winding road leading to Moxing Peak before forking into two paths. You will likely get the impression that the shortest route up to the Peak is by foot (just 1km) away. The other route is for cars and its 2km long.

I naturally chose the former since it is numerically shorter. But unknown to me was the existence of another bus-cart depot just beyond my line of sight (maybe 400m from the fork). This “folly” resulted in me hiking (or more accurately, struggle) up to the peak instead of doing so comfortably in a vehicle.

So, if you are in a rush, consider taking the transport up instead of the long hike. This option will allow you to free up the rest of your day to cover the other attractions. If not, you can always take in the views and treat this as an exercise that you body long deserves.

The hike up can be broken down into three main segments.

The first is to the 9 Dragon Spring. And from there, it will be a difficult climb to what you can call as the base of the peak and a last stretch to the peak itself. There is a separate entrance fee ticket for the peak at 5rmb (US$0.78).

 

For me, I decided to take a break just before the 9 Dragon Spring at an eatery there. The place serves both cooked dishes and also bean curd pudding. On hindsight, I think that this was a good idea. The second stretch was hell. It was step after step and my thighs ached from the climb up. Thankfully, there is a rest area right at the very top of the peak that serves cold drinks and I managed to catch my breath there.

I gave up on the way down (I had by then realized my own “folly”) and decided to take the vehicle down back to the fork instead of going by foot. My god, the ride was just 10 RMB (US$1.60). From there, it involved buying another ticket for the remaining journey down to the entrance.

Depending on how fast you actually tackle this attraction, this attraction may take a few hours or if not more. For me, it took some time to hike up and towards the end, I was dead tired and the weather was turning against me. That ended my second day in Guangzhou. It was back to the hotel for me.

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