Mount Sanqing

World Natural Heritage site (inscribed 2008), World Geopark, and national 5A scenic area — a museum of granite peak-forest landforms. Signature sights = the two natural stone peaks, Oriental Goddess and Giant Python Emerging from the Mountain; the Nanqingyuan loop is the essential route, while the Sunshine Coast and West Coast high-altitude walkways offer gorgeous sea-of-clouds views. The mountain is named for its three peaks — Yujing, Yuxu, and Yuhua — which look like the three Taoist Sanqing deities seated on their summits; Sanqing Palace was first built in the Song dynasty, and the Ming-dynasty Taoist building complex was laid out on the Eight Trigrams (according to records), with ancient architectural remains the finest among mountains of its kind. Belonging to the same granite-mountain aesthetic family as Huangshan, it is praised by geologists as the most beautiful granite on the western Pacific rim.

Getting there: High-speed rail, Shangrao Station / Yushan South Station, then tourist shuttle approx. 1.5 hours