Luoyang Departure: Fenghuang, Furong Town and Aizhai Bridge, 4 Days 3 Nights

The train stops at Fenghuang Gucheng station and a ten-minute taxi brings you into town. The guesthouse is at Huilongge, the window facing the river, the lower half of the timber building standing in the water. Bags down, then out to the jumping stones, a line of blocks across the river with water squeezing between them. At dusk walk toward Hongqiao and the boats come out of the arch. Dinner is blood tofu duck.

Attraction introduction: Fenghuang sits in Fenghuang County, where the Tuo River cuts through the town. Most of the riverside stilt houses were built in the late Qing and early Republic, propped on timber posts against the bank so that the lower floor is under water when the river rises.

Tips: Walking the old town is free; only the small museums such as the former home of Shen Congwen need the 128 yuan combined ticket. Guests generally find the bars near Hongqiao are loud and that the pedlars on the bank overcharge for silver. In practice, book a riverside room away from the bar street and you get both quiet and the view.

Up at half past six, when the mist is already on the water. It is thickest at the jumping stones, the stilt houses reduced to outlines, and someone is washing clothes on the bank, the mallet striking in a slow rhythm. Breakfast at eight, by which time the mist has gone and the groups have arrived. Morning for the north gate wharf and the Wanyan pagoda. After lunch the road runs to Yongshun, ninety minutes, and you walk down the Five Li stone street with the sound of water growing.

Attraction introduction: Furong Town, formerly Wangcun, is a Tujia town built on a waterfall in Yongshun County. A two-stage fall drops more than sixty metres through the middle of the settlement, with the Youshui River below. The 1986 film Hibiscus Town was shot here, and the old street and the rice tofu shop remain in place.

Tips: The walkway beside the fall is permanently wet from spray, so flat soles are safer. Guests generally find the falls are lit after seven and look best from the first floor of the viewing terrace. In practice, staying inside the scenic area means no dark walk out after the lights.

An hour east after breakfast brings you to Aizhai. A lift carries you up to the bridge head and then the cliff walkway begins, running more than a kilometre along the rock face with the Dehang gorge below and cloud drifting under the deck. The bridge stands over three hundred metres above the valley floor, and the old highway below loops through thirteen hairpins. In the afternoon, Dehang: Liusha waterfall dropping from a cliff mouth and breaking into spray. Back to Fenghuang for the night.

Attraction introduction: Aizhai Bridge carries the Baotou-Maoming expressway across the Dehang gorge on a steel truss suspension span with a main span of more than 1,100 metres, opened in 2012. The old zigzag road beneath it was cut during the war of resistance, thirteen tight bends in six kilometres. Dehang means beautiful valley in the Miao language.

Tips: Part of the cliff walkway has a glass floor, and the inner side is there for anyone uneasy with heights. Guests generally find the bridge closes temporarily in strong wind or thick fog, so it is worth asking on the day. In practice, walking the cliff path in the morning gives a clearer view before the cloud builds.

No alarm. Up at seven and back to the river, where the mist is thinner than two days ago and you can see window frames and washing on the far bank. Breakfast is a bowl of Xiangxi rice noodles with pickled beans and minced pork. Bags packed by half past nine, then a short boat ride from the north gate wharf, the buildings seen from the water at a different angle. Lunch in town, then the station.

Attraction introduction: The Tuo is a tributary of the Wushui and divides the old town in two. The north gate wharf was the river landing, its stone steps running down into the water, and the jumping stones are square blocks set across the channel for crossing on foot.

Tips: Boats run by day and by night, the daytime trip costing a little over eighty yuan for about twenty minutes. Guests generally find the boat shows how the houses are propped over the water in a way the bank does not. In practice, take the boat before the train, and skip it if time is tight.