Best Ancient Towns and Villages to Visit around Huangshan

When we talking about Huangshan, what comes into our mind is the spectacular and beautiful mountain view of Mount Huangshan. However, except for Mount Huangshan, there are also a couple beautiful ancient towns and villages around Huangzhou for tourists to explore. By visiting these villages and town, one can not only see how the rural life of local residents would be like, but also learning get to know what Huizhou Culture is.

In this article, some of popular ancient towns and villages around Huangshan are introduced to you, such Xidi Ancient Village, Hongcun Ancient Village, Shexian County, Chengkan Ancient Village, Huizhou Ancient Town, Wuyuan County. All of them are spoken highly of by many tourists in terms of beautiful view and fun & long history.

Xidi Ancient Village

Xidi Ancient Village is located right at the south foot of Mt. Huangshan, so you can take a short visit to the place after your Mt. Huangshan tour. The village is well known for their regional culture. The overall layout, landscape, architectural form, decoration, and construction techniques all retain the original features of Anhui villages between the 14th and 20th centuries. It is home to over 300 simple, yet graceful residences built in Ming and Qing dynasty, of which 124 are well preserved. The streets and lanes in the village with their original style remain as what they look for centuries, and the village has been praised by foreign architects as containing some of the best preserved old-time houses and as being one of the most beautiful villages in the world.

• Address: Xidi Village, Yi County, Huangshan, Anhui Province, China
• How to get there: There are many direct buses leaving for Xidi Village from Tunxi Bus Station in downtown Huangshan. It takes about 1.5 hours for one-way travel.

Hongcun Ancient Village

Hongcun Ancient Village is situated about 11 km from Yixian County. The whole village was originally laid out in the shape of an ox. The west end of the village, called Leigang Hill, resembles an ox head and that is where two huge trees stand like ox horns. At the front and rear of the village are four bridges that span a Jiyin stream and resemble four legs of the ox. The several hundred well-arranged houses form the body of the ox, and the 1,000-meter-long Jiyin stream that meanders through the village is regarded as its intestines. A crescent pond in the village is the ox's fourth stomach, and a larger South Lake is its reticulum, the second stomach. Looks interesting! The villagers of Hongcun long ago designed this marvelous landscape. Many of the buildings date back to the Ming and Qing dynasties and are regarded as the best examples of typical Anhui-style architecture.

• Address: Northwest Corner, Yi County 245500, China
• How to get there: Hongcun is 85km from Tunxi and 11 km from Yixian by a good sealed road through some very nice rural scenery. It is less than 50km from Tangkou (base of Huangshan Mountain). One can take bus from Tunxi Bus station in Huangshan downtown towards Hongcun, look for the Chinese character “宏村” written on the front of the bus. It is quite convenient.

Chengkan Ancient Village

Chengkan Ancient Village is a perfect and typical combination of beautiful natural scenery and Huizhou culture art. It is famous for well-preserved residential architecture of the Ming Dynasty (1368 AD – 1644 AD). The ancient architectures contain elegant pavilions, bridges, houses, ancestral temples, wells, etc. Moreover, there are exquisite stone carvings, wood carvings and brick carvings, on each house. The Baolun Hall in ancestral temple is an outstanding example of the refined beauty of Chengkan's architecture. The special layout of the residences together with the mother river of the village – Longxi River, are believed to bring liveliness and fortune to the whole village and the welfare will be passed down from generation to generation.

• Address: Chengkan Village, Huizhou District, Huangshan 245900, China
• How to get there: usually, visitors need to get to Huangshan first, then take bus from Tunxi Bus Station in Huangshan, towards to Huizhou (徽州), then transfer bus to Chengkan village.

Huizhou Ancient Town – Home to Huizhou Culture

Huizhou Ancient Town is located in center area of Shexian County, which is a state historical and cultural county in China. Huizhou Ancient Town is also home to Huizhou Government. Inside the ancient towm, visitors can see elegant ancient dwellings in beautiful layout. The ancient bridges, pagodas, streets, dams and memorial archways shows its elegance of primitive simplicity and make the whole town look like a magnificent museum of history. There are a couple of must see highlight sites for visitors: Xu Guo Stone Archway – Eastern Arc de Triomphe, Xin'an Memorial Park – Hui Merchants' garden, Doushan Street – Unique Buildings in Hui style, Yuliang Street – the gate of Hui Merchants' Business, Huiyuan Garden, Memorial Hall of Tao Xingzhi – famous for beautiful scenery, etc. You must be attractive so much by visiting the ancient town.

• Address: Huizhou Ancient Town, Within the County, She County 245200, China
• How to get there: usually, you need to get to Huangshan first, then take bus from Tunxi to Shexian County first (30 minutes' driving). Upon arrival, take Public Bus No. 1, 2, 4, to Huiyuan Station.

Huizhou Ancient Town

Wuyuan County

Wuyuan County is a county of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. It is also one of the cradles of Huizhou culture. Wuyuan is known as “the hometown of book” and “the hometown of tea”. It is recognized as the most beautiful village in China. Except for the best-preserved ancient architecture, the natural landscape is another unique highlight of it. The best time to visit Wuyuan is in March or early April in Spring when the rape flower blooms or in October and November in fall when the leave of trees around turns red and yellow.

• Address: Wuyuan County, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, China
• How to get there from Huangshan: There are only two express buses leaving for Wuyuan from Huangshan Tunx Bus Station every day. One leave at 8:00 in the morning and the other leave at 12:30 at noon. The bus ride takes about 2 hours. You can learn more at How to Get to Wuyuan from Huangshan

The above are some popular towns and villages around Huangshan to visit. All of them are not only rich in local culture, but also has beautiful natural landscape.

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