Visiting Wudang Mountain in Autumn
In October 2025, I was lucky enough to visit Wudang Mountain in person, seeing the birthplace of Wudang Sword in person. Along with visiting the Hubei Provincial Museum in Wuhan, the current home of the Sword of Guojian. An all-round great holiday for the sword obsessed.
Places to Visit
If you’ve never had the pleasure to visit Wudang Mountain, it’s not a single solitary peak, it contains a number of peaks spread over a range of approximately 20-30 kilometers. With a range of different historical temples, paths, and sights to see. To get the most out of the trip, expect to spend 2-3 full days on the mountain at least, along with a lot of walking and climbing stairs.
Highlights that shouldn’t be missed:
- Jin Ding (Golden Peak) Temple - The absolute summit of Wudang Mountain, you can’t say you’ve been to Wudang Mountain until you’ve been there.
- Yi Tian Men, Er Tian Men, San Tian Men, and Chao Shao Men. The Heavenly gates on the Ming Shen Dao, aka the pilgrims path from Nan Yan Palace up to Jin Ding Temple
- Nanyan Temple. The previous home to the entire Daoist canon
- Taizipo. The Crown Prince’s Palace
- Zixiaoyuan. Purple Cloud Temple
This is in no way an exhaustive list of places to see on the mountain, however they are highlights, and you’ll see a number of the others along the way by seeing all of them.
For first time visitors, be aware that private vehicles aren’t allowed on Wudang Mountain, so getting from place to place is either via the shuttle bus, or walking. And depending upon the season, the last shuttle bus can be as early as 6:30pm/1830.
The Route
Depending upon how ready you are for stair climbing is whether you’ll be wanting to do the Pilgrim’s Path first or last. Full warning, it is well over 10,000 stairs on the path up from Nanyan to Jin Ding temple, and if you’re not well prepared, you will be feeling it for days afterwards. However, it is an absolutely incredible hike and the views are spectacular.
Day 1
Taizipo and Nanyan
The first day is going to be busy, making it through the visitor’s centre, buying tickets, and checking into your accomodation on the mountain. I booked accomodation at the Nanyan Binguan (hotel), and used it as a base to start out from each day.
After checking into your room, catch the shuttle bus back down to Taizipo, and wander up the wide path to the Palace. Stepping through the gate, you’ll encounter the 9 Bend Path, the red walls looping through the palace grounds. There are a number of wonderful period buildings here, ennoy exploring your way through a Ming Dynasty palace.
Afterwards, catch the shuttle bus further up the mountain. A quick stop at Chaoshao during the tourist season if you want, otherwise head straight up to Nanyan and spend more time there.
Depending upon the season, Chaoshao are may be open, with Kung Fu demonstrations, Monkeys roaming around, and general touristy entertainment. There’s not much here during the off season, so your mileage may vary.
Spending the end of the day within walking distance of your hotel is highly recommended considering the shuttle buses stopping relatively early. So the final destination on Day 1 is the incredible Nanyan Temple, also known as Raven’s Cliff Temple. Looking out over the peaks and valleys of the Western side of Wudang Mountain, it’s a great place to watch the sunset from. A massive complex of temples and guardian statues, strolling over the cobblestones allows you to fully experience the world that the Daoist priests lived in.
Heading back out fron Nanyan, make sure to swing past the Thunder God’s Cave, if it’s open, it’ll be cool in Summer, but pleasantly warm in Winter.
Afterwards, head back down to your hotel, grab something to eat at one of the restaurants at Nanyan Village, and get plenty of rest for Day 2.
Day 2
The Pilgrim’s Path
This walk will take anywhere between 3 and 5 hours, depending on how many breaks you take, and how many of the temples you visit along the way, there’s a lot. And remember to bring small fruits as offerings to the shrines along the way, there’s enough stairs on this mountain climb to make anyone want to ask the gods for an assist.
Here is a fantastic temple that marks the initial border between the Human world and Heaven. It’s also marking the point where the stairs really start. “Just” above the temple is the First Heavenly Gate, which has an absolutely incredible view as you first come over the rise, upon out of the valleys you’ve been hiking through for the past hour or so, as the vista of Wudang Mountain stretches out above and below you.
Also, the stairs down into the next valley before heading up to the Second Gate are absolutely cruel at this point.
Continuing the climb up, you’ll encounter incredible sights and views, as you hike up through the Second and Third Heavenly Gates. Some things need to be seen with your own eyes to fully experience, and epic mountain landscapes are one of those.
Above the third gate is a viewing platform where you can rest a while before the final push up to the final gate and the summit. Take your time here, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have the weather to get views like this…
After the next ascent, you’ll walk through the final gate, the Pilgrim’s Gate into the Golden Peak Palace. Not the busiest of entrances, since the Cable car is on the other side of the temple, which is how the vast majority of visitors get up to the temple. You’ll need your ticket that you bought back at the base of the mountain to enter the main summit temple from here, so don’t forget it. The last section is climbing the stairs along the eastern wall of the temple. Enjor your first sight of the Eastern views of Wudang mountain as you climb the stairs.
After spending time at the summit, head on back down the temple via the western wall path, and head to the cable car. Take the cable car down and enjoy roaming through the gift shops for a souvenir of your climb. After you get out of tourist purgatory, there’s the Sanqing temple, and restaurants if you’d like a feed after your hike. When you’re ready, take the shuttle bus back to Taizipo, then catch the connecting bus up to Zixiaoyuan (It’s the Nanyan bus, just get off at the appropriate stop).
Zixiaoyuan - Purple Cloud Temple
Approximately named, the clouds on Wudang Mountain can range from Gold, Pink, and Purple throughout the day/year, Purple Cloud Temple is an incredible complex that has daoist priests, monks, and nuns actively following the religion. In the late afternoon, you can sit in the main courtyard and listen to the monks chanting their daily prayers (which is why you should do this in the late afternoon).
Head on back out to the bus stop, or grab something to eat at the restaurants in the hotel, before heading back to your hotel and get some rest.
Day 3 - Optional From here, you can visit any of the temples that you missed, there’s still quite a few on the alternate paths that weren’t visited in Days 1 and 2, including the 8 Immortals Temple, the Qing Shen Dao (take the cable car back up to Jin Ding Temple, then walk down the path to see the Jade Girl Temple, and the bridge). Or ny of the less common temples off the bus routes. When you’re ready, catch the bus back down to the main gate, and enjoy the rest of your visit to China
Hubei Provincial Museum
While you’re visiting Wudang Mountain, one of the easiest ways in is via Wuhan-Tianhe International Airport, which gives you the chance to visit the fantastic Hubei Provincial Museum. On Permanent Exhibition at the museum is the Sword of Guojian, an incredible work of art and history. Not to be missed if possible, and the rest of the museum is absolutely fantastic.
Hubei
While you’re in the area, if you’re a fan of Tea, Hubei is home to fantastic tea growing areas, swing by Yangluodong and pick up some locally grown tea bricks, and wander amongst the ancient towns.