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The world's textbook example of cone karst — an entire horizon filled with green stone peaks, farmed and lived in for a thousand years. Here's everything you need to visit it independently.
Wanfenglin (万峰林, "Ten Thousand Peaks Forest") is a belt of nearly 20,000 cone-shaped karst peaks stretching across the south of Xingyi, Guizhou. Geologists call it the finest example of cone karst on the planet; the Ming-dynasty travel writer Xu Xiake, who saw most of China on foot, wrote that this was where the empire's peaks became a wonder.
What makes it different from other famous karst areas — Yangshuo, say — is that it's a living landscape almost untouched by mass tourism. Between the peaks are rice paddies, canola fields and Buyi minority villages that have farmed this land for centuries. You can cycle through it on quiet lanes for hours and meet more farmers than tourists.
The single best way to see Wanfenglin is from a bike saddle. A dedicated cycling greenway and farm lanes run down the valley between the peaks, past villages, fields and viewpoints. Regular and electric bikes can be rented near the scenic area entrances. It's mostly flat along the valley floor and suitable for anyone who can ride a bike. This is exactly what our guided cycling day tour does, with an English-speaking guide and lunch in a village home.
The official shuttle makes a loop of the main viewpoints (General Peak, the Eight Diagrams fields and others) with hop-on-hop-off stops. Fine if you're short on time or travelling with people who don't ride.
Trails and ridge paths give you the elevated views the buses can't reach. A moderate day-hike through the peak forest and villages is the photographer's choice — especially at sunrise, when mist pools between the cones. See the Karst Ridge Hike.
| West Wanfenglin 西峰林 | East Wanfenglin 东峰林 | |
|---|---|---|
| Character | The classic postcard: viewing platforms above rice paddies and the famous field patterns | Quieter farmland, villages, and the cycling country |
| Best for | First visit, photography, the sightseeing bus loop | Cycling, slow travel, village life |