Things to do in Hengyang
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Hengyang
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is a best season, with mountain flowers in April and May, mild temperatures and sea of clouds after rain.
Autumn is the other best season, drier and clearer, with the most reliable summit views and sunrises.
Summer is hot and humid in the city, cooler on the summit, with thunderstorms, slippery steps and peak crowds from mid July.
Winter brings rime ice to the upper mountain, best on cold mornings, and the quietest, cheapest weeks outside New Year.
National Day Golden Week, 1 to 7 October, saturates the mountain and should be avoided unless unavoidable.
What's on
- Nanyue Temple Fair Laba Festival to Lantern Festival, climax on the 14th day of the first lunar month
Southern China's largest Chinese New Year folk event, with the Fire Lantern Festival honouring Zhurong at its climax.
- Nanyue Grand Temple Blessing Festival Eighth to tenth lunar month
The autumn incense and blessing season at the Grand Temple, centred on the eighth lunar month, with pilgrim numbers rivalling spring.
Best things to do in Hengyang
Nanyue Grand Temple
Southern China's largest temple complex, a Forbidden City of the South where Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian worship share one roofline.
Zhurong Peak
The 1300 metre summit of the Southern Great Mountain, with a fire god temple on the rocks and sunrise over a sea of clouds.
Shigu Academy
A famed Song dynasty academy where two rivers meet, destroyed in 1944 and faithfully rebuilt on its old footprint.
Huiyan Peak
The small city peak where migrating geese were said to stop, giving Hengyang its Wild Goose City name.
Laiyan Pagoda
A Ming dynasty brick pagoda carved with wild geese on every level, and the city's best river photograph at dusk.
Dongzhou Island
Hengyang's green river island, ringed by a cycling greenway and at its lantern lit best in the evening.
Nanyue Martyrs' Shrine
A formal mountainside shrine to the fallen of the 1944 campaigns, on the main ascent route up Mount Heng.
Hengyang Defense War Memorial Hall
The museum of the 47 day defence of Hengyang in 1944, inside a restored old residence in the city.
Where to stay in Hengyang
Nanyue Town
the mountain, first-time visitors
Five minutes from the Grand Temple and the first shuttle, with pilgrim town food and Nanyueli evenings.
Zhengxiang District and Huaxin, Hengyang City
the wartime city, food and trains
The better hotels, banquet and barbecue scene, and easy access to both railway stations, an hour from the mountain.
Halfway up Mount Heng (Banshanting)
a summit sunrise, one night only
Simple mountain homestays that turn the sunrise climb into a couple of hours in the dark.
Think twice about
- Hengyang East high-speed station area
Well out of the city, isolated at night, with little to eat or do on foot. Use it for trains, sleep in the city or Nanyue.
- Streets around old Hengyang Station, Zhuhui District
The older station quarter with the cheapest older hotels and the grittiest street feel in the city, and the worst value sleep.
Best restaurants in Hengyang
Lufu Restaurant
The city's most famous banquet room, serving formal Hunan cooking for round tables in the Ramada podium.
Sanmao Tucai Guan
The representative farmhouse Hunan table in the city, earth dishes of pork, river fish and preserved meats.
Xiaodan Jia Kouwei Cai
Punchy Hunan flavour dishes of fresh chilli, garlic and pickled peppers, built for sharing over rice.
Shangfeng Temple
A temple vegetarian meal served below the summit at the highest temple on Mount Heng, made for climbers.
Peng Haijun Fish Noodles
Hengyang's signature breakfast bowl, rice noodles in fresh fish broth with tender fish and pickles.
322 Pork Rice Noodle Shop
The pork rice noodle orthodoxy, the second morning bowl that turns one Hengyang breakfast into an education.
Zhangji Brine Noodles
Rice noodles in a dark spiced braising liquor with brined toppings, a Hengyang signature with no close equivalent.
Li Zihao Stinky Tofu
Hengyang style stinky tofu, fried crisp and dressed with garlic juice and chilli water at the original store.
Outdoor things to do in Hengyang
Mount Hengshan
The full pilgrim hike from Victory Arch to Zhurong Peak, about 12 km of stone steps past lakes, shrines and temples.
Nantianmen
The shuttle bus and cable car gateway to the upper mountain, leaving a one hour summit walk to Zhurong Peak.
Nanyue Water Curtain Cave
A waterfall pouring into a stone pool before a cave under Zigai Peak, one of the Four Wonders of the Southern Mountain.
Fangguang Temple
The mountain's quietest temple, in a forested glen away from the shuttle road where pilgrim crowds thin to nothing.
Hengyang Maya Beach Water Park
A huge Maya themed summer water park with more than 30 slides and rides, where Hengyang families cool off.
Cai Lun Bamboo Sea
A cool, dense sea of bamboo around Leiyang, named for Cai Lun, the papermaking pioneer who came from the town.
Best hotels in Hengyang
Linyin Holiday Hotel
The city's grand premium hotel, with a pool, big dining operation and the deepest review base in Hengyang.
Nanyue Yishan Yishui Hotel
Nanyue town's five star splurge address at the foot of Mount Heng, though its English review base is thin.
Atour Hotel Hengyang County Nanyue Hengshan Scenic Area
The safest booking in Nanyue, a reliable Atour a short walk from Nanyueli and the road to the Grand Temple.
Ramada by Wyndham Hengyang Zhengxiang
The city's best evidenced brand hotel, river view rooms and the Lufu restaurant in its podium.
Shuixieshanshe Homestay
A small, kind homestay five minutes from the Grand Temple, with free station pick up from the young owners.
Mingjing Mountain House
A simple halfway mountain homestay that puts the Zhurong Peak sunrise a short dark climb away.
Is Hengyang expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥180 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥380 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥800 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Cai Lun Bamboo Sea: a few days ahead
- Mingjing Mountain House: a few days ahead
- Book Mount Heng tickets ahead on Trip.com or Ctrip on public holidays and at Temple Fair peaks.
- Book G trains ahead for Spring Festival, Qingming, May Day, National Day and fair weekends.
- Message homestays and halfway mountain houses in advance to confirm pick up and exact location.
- In fair weeks Nanyue town rooms go early and prices rise, and Hengyang city is the overflow valve.
Is Hengyang safe?
- Mountain weather changes fast, summit wind is strong, and wet or icy stone steps are the main real risk.
- In winter the upper mountain has rime ice and iced steps, so use crampons, poles, gloves and warm layers.
- On fair days keep documents on your body and agree a meeting point in the Grand Temple crowds.
- Carry your passport for memorial sites that check ID, and cross city streets with the crowd against scooter traffic.
- Eat at busy stalls, drink bottled water, and start at mildly spicy before graduating on day one.
Hengyang travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- English sources constantly confuse this southern Mount Heng with the northern Mount Heng in Shanxi, so check for Nanyue and Zhurong.
- Buy no incense bundle from the first seller at the Grand Temple gate, a modest bundle inside is all anyone needs.
- Nanyueli is a modern ancient style street, not a preserved old town, whatever the marketing says.
- Do not attempt Zhurong Peak in rain or low cloud for a sunrise that will not happen, swap the mountain and city days.
- Buy water, food and ponchos in town, because mountain shops charge mountain prices.
Getting around Hengyang: public transport and more
- Hengyang East is the high-speed station, about 40 minutes from Changsha South, but a long taxi ride from the city centre.
- Old Hengyang Station is central and better placed for the city sights, so check which station your ticket says.
- For the mountain, use Hengshan West station, then a bus or DiDi to Nanyue town, and ask your hotel about pick up.
- City buses serve the sights, including 116 to Shigu Academy and 182 to Dongzhou Island, and DiDi is cheap.
- On the mountain the system is walk, scenic shuttle bus or cable car, and the shuttle is your descent bail out.
Who Hengyang suits
| Solo travellers | Great |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Hengyang your trip
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