Beautiful Scenery, hiking, and DOGS!
Xinchang is not big, but what it lacks in space it makes up for in scenery. Countless off the beaten path hiking trails and mountains as far as they eye can see. We rented a car and decided to stay on the outskirts of the city and am I ever glad we did. Our guesthouse was surrounded by tea fields and mountains everywhere you looked.
Nearby our guesthouse we discovered a few beautiful walking paths that both the people and the dogs enjoyed. The best part was that even though we went on a holiday there was no one there. Just one or two hiking groups that also came from Shanghai. But other than that, we didn’t see anyone.
Li Bai Yan Cun
This is a hiking path down the villages. It is a lot of stairs and if you park at the top you will have to figure out how to get back to your car. The path is very nice with great scenery.
It starts nearby a large parking area and a viewing platform. Beside the viewing platform there is a set of stairs. Follow the stairs down the path. You will come to a fork in the road, do not keep going straight, turn to the fork on the left. You can also use your map and it will direct you to the villages.
The path is nice to walk down and is not very busy, we had about 30 dogs on this hike, most off leash and there were no problems.
If you are looking for an easier hike you can choose to drive directly to the villages and walk along flat paths.
Google map location, need VPN
Shi Men keng Cun
Our first village was to Shi Men Keng Cun (石门 坑 村). There is a stone with traditional writing carved into it. We were told it was very old. The highlight of this stop was walking along the river. Everything was so green and mountainous. It was very quiet and peaceful with very few people (and we went on a holiday!). We followed the river which was a fairly easy walk, mainly flat with the occasional stairs until we detoured off up a set of stairs. We had no idea where it led to but were pleasantly surprised when it led to a clearing with a view. We stayed there a while just taking it all in before going back done and continuing our walk along the river.
Google map location, need VPN
Shi Xia Keng Cun
Our second stop was just a bit farther down. From the first spot’s viewpoint it actually looked like you could walk all the way to this second point.
The second point was just as beautiful and relaxing as the first. Mountains everywhere, greenery as far as the eye could see. It was absolutely gorgeous! Again, we didn’t meet many people in this location, just a few hiking groups and they seemed to actually be interested in our dogs. The medic of the hiking even tried to share his food with our pups. The hiking group told us this path led all the way to another town/village and it was about an hour walk each way. We didn’t make it to the end because we didn’t want to end up too far from our cars. This area doesn’t seem like the easiest place to call a Didi.
Anshan Ancient Trail
Many travel companies are doing day hikes from Shanghai to Anshan Ancient Path because of its beauty and accessibility.
It is a relatively easy hike with most of the path being fairly flat. There are places along the way to get in the water, but this definitely depends on the time of year. We went in early June and the river was very dry.
The path itself is very dog friendly, we saw many dogs roaming around with their owners with no problems at all.
*Note – This place gets very busy. It gets very crowded by the river with both people and dogs. I would not recommend this hike for reactive dogs as there are many people and a lot of off leash dogs.
