Discover Guilin and Yangshuo
Moon Hill
月亮山
A karst peak pierced by a huge natural arch that appears to change phase like the moon as you walk around it. The climb to the arch is short and steep, and the surrounding cliffs are a world-class sport-climbing area.
The story
What makes this place special
Moon Hill is a karst peak south of Yangshuo whose summit has been eroded into a natural arch - the hole that gives it its name, and which appears to change shape from crescent to full circle as you move along the road beneath it. Its other claim is sporting: it is the most famous climbing crag in the Yangshuo area, with routes up to about 5.13, and it is one of the reasons Yangshuo became an international rock-climbing destination from the 1990s onward.
What you’ll discover
A path and then a stone stairway, reported at around eight hundred steps, climbs through trees to the underside of the arch, where you stand in the hole itself and look out through it; continuing round gives views over the surrounding peaks and the Ten-Mile Gallery valley. The arch is big enough that bolted climbing routes run up its flanks and across its underside, so there are usually climbers overhead. From the road below, the shape of the opening shifts as you pass, which is the local party trick.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- The classic way to do it is by bicycle or scooter along the Ten-Mile Gallery road from Yangshuo, stopping at the viewpoints where the arch changes shape, rather than being driven to the gate. The road is the attraction as much as the hill.
- It is around eight hundred steps in heat and humidity, and there is no shade at the top. Go early, and carry more water than you think.
- You do not have to go up. The best photograph of the arch is from the road below, not from inside it, and plenty of visitors look at it from the valley and spend the time on the Yulong River instead.
- If anyone in your group climbs, this is the crag they have heard of. Yangshuo's climbing shops in town arrange guided days here with gear, and the belay areas under the arch are a spectacle in themselves.
- Pair it with the Yulong River raft and the Ten-Mile Gallery as one half-day loop by bike - they are all on the same road out of Yangshuo.
When to come
Early morning, for the temperature and because the arch is lit from the east. Spring and autumn; midsummer afternoons on this staircase are genuinely punishing.
Getting around
Not accessible. The ascent is a long flight of stone steps - several hundred of them - through forest, with no lift or alternative, and the top is uneven rock. A wheelchair cannot go beyond the car park, and a bad knee will struggle with both the climb and the descent. The compensation is that the arch is best seen from the road below, which is flat, so a visitor with limited mobility loses the climb but not the sight.
Worth knowing before you go
Cycle there along the Ten-Mile Gallery rather than driving - the road itself, with Big Banyan Tree and the Butterfly Spring en route, is the better half of the outing.
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