Climbing Tai Shan for sunrise

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
8
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
7
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
7
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
67 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
192nd/454
Top 40%
continent
Asia
country
China
Length of time
1-2 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$40 ($10-$125 in 2025 prices)
Time of year visited
March
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Hiking Mountains Sunrise
All Tags
Buddhist site Cable cars Cliffs UNESCO world heritage site
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Summary

If you’re going to climb one mountain in China, Tai Shan (Tai Mountain) is the one.  There are a series of reasons why the Chinese see it as the most sacred of China’s mountains, but one piece of info stands out as significant:

  • UNESCO have 10 criteria that they use to qualify a site as World Heritage (6 for cultural significance, 4 for natural).  Tai Shan meets 7 of these criteria which, along with the Tasmanian Wilderness Area, puts it top of the list of all sites in the world.

It was one of my standout experiences in this mesmerising, vast country.

 

Climbing Tai Shan for sunrise, Shandong China

 

Climbing Tai Shan for sunrise, Shandong China
 

Key tip – try to catch the sunrise

I find many “you must go for sunrise” experiences turn out to be a bit of a let down – once you’ve seen one sunrise you’ve kind of seen them all.  But Tai Shan felt different because

  1. You’re on top of a mountain so the views are naturally better.
  2. You avoid the vast majority of crowds – bear in the first cable cars only start 730am summer, 830am winter.  And this is China so not a small consideration.
  3. The experience, if you choose to walk, is a cracking one as you’re doing it by moonlight and all part of a buzz with other night-hikers.
Climbing Tai Shan for sunrise, Shandong China. Sunrise of reds
 

Highlights

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#1 Enjoying the sunrise from the top as you look out across the clouds

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#2 The long walk up is dotted with culturally significant points - a bit like a very long museum and justifies a break from the uphill slog

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#3 The views all around of the stunning, and misty, mountains

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#4 Some of the unusual and intricate little temples all the way up

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#5 The climb itself up the stairs - a good challenge

Tips

The walk

Although it’s called a mountain, it’s more of a hill and only 1,533m / 5,030ft in altitude, so you don’t need any special equipment or anything like that.  But, it is quite steep and a lot of steps (something like 7,000 in total if starting from the First Gate of Heaven), so be prepared for 4 hours or so to the top.

 

Time of year

We went in March and the crowds were reduced, mainly because of the cold.  But the best time of year to visit is September to October when the temperature has dropped a bit and the air is cleanest.

 

Stay in one of the guesthouses on the top

When we stayed for the sunrise we slept on the floor of a restaurant, who were happy for a bit of extra cash.  This is a risky strategy as they may not be so hospitable, and doubt it’ll be much fun staying through the night exposed at the top.  Instead, stay in one of the guesthouses they have available.

 

Weather

The weather is going to play a key role in your overall experience.  Difficult to do, but if you can be a bit flexible on avoiding rain and perhaps a fuller moon for visibility on the hike, it could make a huge difference.

 

Some broad tips for travelling in China

I lived in China for 2 years or so, and have now been living in Hong Kong for 10+ years.  I’m fascinated by what is such an awe-inspiring and vast place.  Here are 3 tips I would give to any first time visitor:

 

China is vast, try to get some context – huge in terms of its sheer land area, population, economy, but also its history and culture.  You could spend a lifetime travelling what is effectively like another continent and still only scrape the surface.  To help start to get your head around it, it helps getting some context.  For this, I would really recommend the book Wild Swans by Jung Chang, which tells the true story of 3 generations of women living in China from 1909 to modern day.  Highly recommend.

The Chinese people – it’s often difficult to interact with locals in China.  There are certainly strong cultural differences that go deeper than you would experience in most other parts of the world, but the main problem is of course the language.   Get out google translate for simultaneous translation.  You’ll be surprised how keen the locals will be to speak to you, and just how interesting you may find their stories.  It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to suggest those conversations could be the highlight of your whole trip.

Frustrations – travelling in China can often be difficult.  Scream-out-loud, pull-all-your-hair-out, call everyone a a f***ing ****, never-ever-going-back style difficult.   The language barrier, the often radically different way of doing things, the combo of an often world leading digital country mixed in with archaically manual processes can all make it feel at times like a challenge rather than a joy.   My advice is simply to go with it it’s all part of the adventure, and above all don’t lose your temper.  Shouting at someone or generally showing frustration will just be viewed by the Chinese as embarrassing and, at worst, a loss of face for them.  Which means you’ve got very pretty much zero chance of them helping you.  Patience, politeness and a smile will often see them wanting to help you.  They’re not trying to be difficult . . . most of the time 🙂

 

Experiences Nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

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Lake Como – the world’s most beautiful lake
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Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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