Luoyang Departure: Sanqingshan, Wangxiangu and Huangling, 4 Days 3 Nights

Board at Luoyang Longmen and run southeast for a little over five hours to Shangrao. The road north takes seventy-five minutes to the Jinsha service area at Sanqingshan, bamboo and tea trees on both sides. Drop the bags, walk over to look at the queue pens by the cable car, then dinner. The local palate is hot: braised tofu and a plate of fried rice noodles. At night the mountain is quiet enough to hear the stream.

Attraction introduction: Sanqingshan stands where Yushan County meets Dexing in Shangrao. The three main peaks are named after the three deities of Daoism, and the granite has weathered into dense clusters of pillars and pinnacles over a very long span of time.

Tips: The base sits at seven hundred metres and nights run five or six degrees cooler than the city, so a fleece is needed in November. Guests generally find the Jinsha cable car queue grows sharply after eight, which is the whole reason for sleeping at the gate. In practice, set breakfast for seven.

Cable car at half past seven, eight minutes to the upper station. South Qingyuan first, all stone steps, past the Giant Python emerging from the rock, a pillar so slender it seems balanced, a pine growing from its top. Noodles for lunch on the mountain, then the west coast walkway, sixteen hundred metres of path pinned to the cliff with nothing beneath but air and cloud rising from the valley. Sunset at Sunshine Coast, where the wind makes standing difficult.

Attraction introduction: The Giant Python is a granite pillar 128 metres high and less than seven metres across at its narrowest. The Goddess Peak is a second named rock, its outline like a seated figure. The west coast walkway runs at about 1,600 metres for roughly four kilometres along the rock face.

Tips: Temperatures swing hard, warm at noon and cold the moment the sun drops. Guests generally find the west coast path takes over two hours with no supplies on the way, so carry water; in heavy fog it closes briefly. In practice, leave the heavy bag at the hotel and walk light.

One more look at sunrise, then the cable car down. Away at ten, an hour west to Wangxiangu. In by three, walking upstream along the creek between bamboo and maple, water pushing out of cracks in the rock and falling in white sheets where the bed drops. Back at the mouth of the valley by six to sit on the steps and wait. At half past six the lamps come on all at once, the timber houses lighting from the valley floor to the cliff top.

Attraction introduction: Wangxiangu lies in Wangxian township of Guangxin district, Shangrao, an east-west gorge with a fast-falling stream that forms a chain of cascades and pools. The buildings imitate the local style of northeast Jiangxi and are stacked against the cliffs on both sides.

Tips: The gorge is all steps, several hundred of them up and down, so soles matter. Guests generally find arriving after three works best, since the daylight landscape and the evening lights come in one visit, and that the night ticket is cheaper but starts later. In practice, staying inside means walking back along the boardwalk after the lights.

At the cable car by half past eight, ten minutes up. Into the village and straight to the drying terraces, where every household has bamboo trays on timber racks above the roof, red chillies, chrysanthemums, corn and pumpkin slices spread out. November is the tail of the season, less than October but still enough colour. Tianjie street is lined with whitewashed Huizhou houses, horse-head gables one after another. Down past the Leixin bridge at eleven and back to Wuyuan station after lunch.

Attraction introduction: Huangling is a Huizhou village of more than five hundred years in Jiangwan township, Wuyuan. Flat ground is scarce, so crops are dried on trays set above the roofs, a practice that became the autumn drying landscape. The Tianjie and Shuijie streets and the terraced fields below connect the village to the valley.

Tips: Trays go out at eight and come in at five, and nothing is dried in rain, so the sight depends on the day. Guests generally find October is fullest and mid-November still has half, with the advantage of no queues. In practice, go up to the high terrace first for the overhead view, then work down.