Anhui Private Tour: Huangshan, Hongcun, Xidi and Jiuhua Mountain

Anhui runs from the flat Yangtze plain up to the granite peaks of Huangshan. Hefei, the capital, sits in the northern plain; the south is the old Huizhou country of white-walled villages, merchant courtyards and tea hills. Two of China's most photographed places are here — the Yellow Mountain and the village of Hongcun — and they are an hour apart, which is why most routes through the province are built around those two points.

Getting there

There are two useful airports: Hefei Xinqiao International in the north, and Huangshan Tunxi International in the south, just outside the city of Tunxi. High-speed rail does the rest — Hefei to Huangshan North is under two hours, and Huangshan North sits on the Hangzhou–Huangshan line, so Hangzhou is a short hop.

Road distances were measured rather than estimated: Hefei to Hongcun 278 km, about three hours twenty; Hangzhou to Hongcun 272 km, about three hours fifteen; Shanghai to Hongcun 439 km, about five hours. Inside the south, Hongcun to Xidi is 16 km and about fifteen minutes, Hongcun to the Huangshan transfer point 41 km and about forty minutes, Tunxi to that transfer point 60 km and about fifty minutes.

Private tour — the route planned too

A private tour means the province is arranged as a line rather than a series of day trips: which city you sleep in, whether the mountain comes before or after the villages, and how the northern plain fits in if you start in Hefei. Anhui rewards that planning because the distances are real and because the mountain is weather-dependent. Two mountain mornings in the plan is not padding; it is the difference between seeing the peaks and seeing cloud.

Charter — car and driver

A charter is the vehicle and the driver, with fuel, tolls and parking inside the quote. You set the stops; the driver handles the roads, the car parks and the timing, does not come into the sites with you and does not act as a guide. In a province where the interesting places sit off the rail line — the archways at Tangyue, the bamboo above Mukeng, the tea hills around Qimen — that is exactly the service you want.

Private tour cost: how it is calculated

The fee has three parts: vehicle and driver by the day, a licensed guide by the day if you want one, and the hotel nights. Distance is the variable that matters most here, because a route that starts in Hefei and ends at Huangshan crosses the whole province. Party size decides the vehicle. We quote the complete route once the days are fixed.

Charter cost: what drives the price

Charter price moves with days, vehicle class and total distance, not with the number of stops. A day inside the Huizhou villages costs less than the Hefei transfer day. Tolls, fuel and parking are included rather than added at the end, and any overnight leg carries the driver's own room.

Guide cost: private guide versus driver

A licensed guide is charged by the day, separately from the car. The guide's value in Anhui is context: the Huizhou merchant system that paid for the courtyards, the Buddhist sequences on Jiuhua Mountain, the reason a village is shaped like an ox with the pond as its stomach. A driver gets you between the gates; a guide tells you what the gates were for.

Do you need a private guide?

Not every day. Most parties book one for Hongcun, Xidi and Shexian, where the architecture carries the meaning, and go without on the mountain, where the paths are marked. Jiuhua Mountain is the other case where a guide earns the fee: the temples are spread over a large slope and the order changes the day.

Routes that work

Five days: land at Tunxi, Hongcun and Xidi, one full day on Huangshan, out from Huangshan North.

Seven days: the same with a second mountain morning, Shexian and the Tangyue archways, and a night in Tunxi's old street quarter.

Ten days: start in Hefei for the provincial museum, drive south through the tea country around Qimen, then the villages, the mountain and Jiuhua Mountain before flying out of Tunxi.

When to come

October and November are the most reliable months: dry, cool, and the mountain out of cloud more often than at any other time of year. Spring brings rapeseed around the villages in March and early April, and mist that is beautiful in the valley and obstructive on the summit. June and July are the wet plum rain. Winter is cold and quiet, and snow on the Huangshan pines is the photograph everyone wants; upper paths can close without notice.

Corporate group tours

Anhui suits company groups because the south is compact: one airport, one high-speed station and four or five sites within an hour of each other. We handle vehicles, meeting space in a Tunxi or Hefei hotel and the dinners, and keep the group on a single route with fixed arrival slots. Larger groups run in convoy, which is the only way a village entrance works.

Incentive travel

The incentive ingredients here are a courtyard dinner in a Huizhou merchant house, an ink or inkstone workshop in Shexian where the group makes something to take home, and a sunrise on the mountain. We fix those points and leave the rest of the day open.

Family private tours

Families do better in Anhui with a car, because the alternative is a coach timetable that does not fit a four-year-old. The village lanes are flat and short, the ponds are full of fish, and the cableways turn the mountain into a half-day rather than a hike. We plan around nap times, supply child seats when the ages are declared, and keep the longest drive for the day the children are most likely to sleep.

Frequently asked questions

How many days do you need in Anhui?

Five days covers Hongcun, Xidi and Huangshan. Seven adds Shexian and a second mountain morning; ten brings in Hefei and Jiuhua Mountain.

Should we fly into Hefei or Huangshan?

Fly into Huangshan Tunxi if the mountain and villages are the point; Hefei suits trips that start in the north.

Is Huangshan hard to climb?

Not with the cableways, which remove most of the ascent; the ridge paths at the top are stepped but manageable.

Can Hongcun and Xidi be done in one day?

Yes. They are 16 km apart, about fifteen minutes, so a morning and an afternoon covers both.

What is Anhui food like?

Huizhou cooking is one of the eight great Chinese cuisines: braised pork, preserved mandarin fish, hairy tofu and bamboo shoots.

Anhui hotels: city hotels, five-star hotels and hot-spring hotels

City hotels

Tunxi for the south, Hefei for the north: close to the station you leave from, walkable to dinner, easy for an early start.

Five-star hotels

Full-service houses in Tunxi and Hefei with room to spread out, a proper breakfast and a restaurant that opens early.

Hot-spring hotels

The springs below Huangshan have been used for centuries, and the hotels on them put the bath at the centre of the stay with dinner in the building.

Compare Anhui hotels on Trip.com · or send your dates and we quote hotels inside the tour price.

Main cities and places

Routes we arrange in anhui can be combined across these cities and places:

• Huangshan
• Hongcun
• Xidi
• Jiuhuashan