Moganshan is a mountain in Deqing County, part of Huzhou prefecture, in Zhejiang Province. It stands about 60 km north of Hangzhou. The main peak, Tashan, reaches 719 to 720 meters. Forest covers over 92 percent of the area, most of it moso bamboo grown as a commercial crop rather than planted for looks.
One warning before you book anything. Moganshan Road is an art district in Putuo District, Shanghai, roughly 200 km away. Search results mix the two, and so do some booking sites. If an address says Shanghai, you have the wrong Moganshan. The one you want is this one, in Zhejiang.
How to get to Moganshan from Hangzhou: the short answer
The high-speed train from Hangzhou East to Deqing takes 13 to 17 minutes. Sixteen services run every day. Second class fares are roughly RMB 16 to 67.
The live Hangzhou East to Deqing timetable is what to book from. Fares and train numbers move with every timetable revision, and on a leg this short the only thing worth choosing carefully is the departure time.
Visitors tend to read that twice. Thirteen minutes is correct. Deqing station sits on the Nanjing to Hangzhou high-speed line, open since 2013, so the link is not new and does not depend on the newer Shanghai to Huzhou route.
Here is the part that guides leave out. The train is the easy leg. Everything after the train takes longer than the train did.
| Leg | Time | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hangzhou East to Deqing, high-speed rail | 13 to 17 min | RMB 16 to 67, second class | 16 services daily |
| Deqing station to Moganshan town, Y1 shuttle | 30 to 40 min | RMB 10 | 7 departures a day |
| Deqing station to Moganshan town, taxi or van | about 30 min | about RMB 100 | No schedule, negotiate on arrival |
| Central Hangzhou to Moganshan, car | about 1.5 hours | Varies by operator | 60 to 63 km |
The train, step by step
1. Get to Hangzhou East
Hangzhou East (Hangzhoudong) is where the Deqing trains leave from. Leave buffer time for ticket checks and for finding your gate.
2. Book Deqing, not Moganshan
This trips people up. There is a railway station called Moganshan, on the Shangqiu to Hefei to Hangzhou line. It does not serve the mountain. Book Deqing station (德清站). We cover the layout, the exits and the shuttle bay in more detail on the Deqing station page.
Huzhou station also exists, and it is farther from Moganshan than Deqing. Skip it.
3. Cross the last leg
Deqing station is not at the mountain, and you cannot walk it. Two realistic options close the gap.
The Y1 tourist shuttle. It leaves from the Deqing Coach Center, next door to the station, and runs to the Moganshan tourist distribution center. The ride is 30 to 40 minutes and costs RMB 10. It is styled as a Republican-era tram, which is charming and slow.
There are seven departures a day: 07:30, 08:40, 09:40, 10:40, 13:00, 15:00 and 16:00. Note the gap. Nothing leaves between 10:40 and 13:00. Return services run from 08:40 to 17:00.
The Y1 also stops in Moganshan town. It does not carry you into the scenic area itself, and it does not drop you at your guesthouse door.
A taxi or van. About RMB 100, about 30 minutes, into the town. If you are staying in an outlying village such as Houwu or Dazaowu, add time. Houwu alone is about 30 minutes from Yucun.
Door to door, honestly
Journey planners quote the train leg and stop there. These are our estimates for the whole trip, built from the measured legs above.
| From | Method | Door to door |
|---|---|---|
| Central Hangzhou | Car or private driver | 1h20 to 1h45 |
| Central Hangzhou | Rail plus transfer | About 1h45 to 2h30 (estimate) |
| Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport | Car | 1h45 to 2h15 |
| Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport | Rail plus transfer | 2h30 to 3h00 |
Round the car figure to about 90 minutes and you will not be far off. That is the number to plan around.
Rail is not faster than driving on this route. It is often cheaper, and it is immune to weekend traffic, which matters more than the clock does.
By car or private driver
The road distance is 60 to 63 km and the drive takes about an hour and a half. For two people with luggage, a car usually wins on convenience.
Timing is the catch. Weekends and public holidays load this route heavily. Over the May 2024 holiday, occupancy at high-end guesthouses on the mountain hit 94 percent, and daily footfall in the village of Yucun during National Day 2025 ran 30 to 40 percent above normal. Everyone arrives in the same few hours. Leave early or leave late.
The rule that catches drivers out
Private vehicles cannot drive inside the scenic area. You transfer to local transport at one of three transfer centers: Yucun, Fatou or Houwu. They operate from 08:00 to 18:00.
This is rarely stated in English-language sources, and it changes how you pack. Arriving after 18:00 with a car full of bags is a problem you can avoid by knowing about it in advance. Our page on getting around Moganshan covers the transfer centers and what runs between them.
From Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport
Xiaoshan (HGH) is the airport for Hangzhou. There are two sensible routes.
By rail, take a train or taxi into Hangzhou East, then the high-speed train to Deqing, then the shuttle or a taxi. Allow 2h30 to 3h00 in total.
By road, hire a car for the whole way, or take an airport coach to Deqing bus station and continue from there. A private car door to door runs about 1h45 to 2h15.
If you land late, the Y1 shuttle is already done for the day. Its last departure is 16:00. After that, a car is the answer.
Why Moganshan works as a Hangzhou add-on
Most visitors come to Hangzhou for West Lake and Lingyin Temple. Both are city sights, both are busy, and two days of them is usually enough.
Moganshan is the natural second half. It is a bamboo mountain with a hill-station past, close enough that the transfer costs you an afternoon rather than a day. Two nights is the right length: one to arrive and walk, one to do nothing in particular.
It is also not a secret. The area holds national scenic area status and a AAAA tourist attraction rating.
Deqing Moganshan International Tourism Resort was named a national-level tourism resort. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, People’s Republic of China, 15 December 2020.
The temperature is a real argument in summer. July and August average 24.1 °C on the mountain, which runs 6 to 7 °C cooler than Hangzhou. American missionaries worked this out in the 1890s and built villas on the strength of it. The logic has not changed.
“The Hamptons of China.” Tatler Asia, on Moganshan. No publication date given.
If you want the trip mapped out with Shanghai in the mix, see our Shanghai, Hangzhou and Moganshan itinerary. For where to sleep once you are up there, start with where to stay.
Timetables, fares and ticket prices last checked 5 August 2026. Rail schedules and shuttle departures change with the season. Confirm before you travel.
Last checked 9 August 2026 by Cyril Drouin. Prices, timetables and entry rules on this mountain move without notice, so confirm anything you are booking around.
Photographs on this site are representative illustrations, not documentary images of the specific building, property or service described.
