Deqing County, in Huzhou prefecture, Zhejiang Province, is where you find Moganshan: a mountain about 60 km north of Hangzhou and 200 to 240 km from Shanghai. The protected part of it is the Moganshan National Scenic Area, and it is smaller than people expect.
The layout is what trips people up. The villages, and almost all of the roughly 1,000 guesthouses, sit outside the ticketed area. So do most restaurants. You do not stay inside the scenic area. You go in for part of a day, come back out for dinner, and the last transfer leaves earlier than you expect.
If you are here after Moganshan Road, that is the M50 art district in Shanghai, which the what and where Moganshan is page sorts out.
Three designations, one mountain
Three official labels sit on the same mountain.
| Label | What it is | Dated |
|---|---|---|
| National scenic area | China’s state level category for protected landscape, set up by the State Council | 1994 |
| National AAAA tourist attraction | The second highest grade in the national A level system | not published |
| National level tourism resort | Named “Deqing Moganshan International Tourism Resort” by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism | 15 December 2020 |
What reaches you is the effect of the labels. Protected status is why there is a boundary and a ticket, and why you cannot drive your own car up the hill. This is not a national park in the sense that phrase carries in the US or Europe, and none of the three titles tells you where the boundary runs.
Designations and the 15 December 2020 resort listing, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
The national scenic area set up by the State Council in 1994, Deqing News (德清新闻网), carrying Zhejiang Release (浙江发布), 14 October 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/10/14/035310995.shtml
How big the scenic area is
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Ticketed core | About 20 km² |
| National scenic area, 2024 to 2035 plan | 36 km², with a core protection zone of 9.72 km² |
| Forest cover | Over 92 percent, nearly all moso bamboo |
| Main peak | Tashan, 719 to 720 m. You will see 758 m elsewhere; ignore it |
Use the smaller figure, since that is the part with a ticket on it. The bamboo is grown and cut as a commercial crop, and the bamboo forest page shows what that looks like on the ground.
The larger figures come from the scenic area’s master plan for 2024 to 2035, which the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (国家林业和草原局) approved on 21 September 2026. It puts the national scenic area at 36 km², in three sections (Moganshan, Moganhu and Shuangxi), with a core protection zone (核心景区) of 9.72 km². Neither is the ticketed area. The plan also caps visits at 24,000 a day, with 12,000 as the reasonable figure, and forbids admitting visitors beyond capacity. No quota or booking system has been announced; the week 42 dispatch has the detail.
The 2024 to 2035 plan: 36 km², a core protection zone of 9.72 km², 12,000 visits a day reasonable and 24,000 absolute, National Forestry and Grassland Administration (国家林业和草原局), reply 林保发〔2026〕46号, 22 September 2026, tier 1. https://www.forestry.gov.cn/lyj/1/gsgg/20260922/689252.html
The 36 km² in three sections, Moganshan, Moganhu and Shuangxi, Deqing News (德清新闻网), carrying Zhejiang Release (浙江发布), 14 October 2026, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2026/10/14/035310995.shtml
What is inside, and what is not
Moganshan Town and the scenic area are not the same thing. The town covers the foot of the mountain, with the villages and the guesthouses in it. The scenic area is the ticketed core above. Most of your trip happens below the gate.
The split below decides where your day happens.
| Inside the ticketed core | Outside it |
|---|---|
| Sword Pond (Jianchi) | Yucun, the main village at the foot: square, market, 1932 culture park |
| Luhuadang Park | Xiantan, the guesthouse village on the north side, more than 150 minsu |
| Dakeng | Laoling, Sanjiuwu, Houwu, Dazaowu |
| The Xuguang sunrise platform | Almost all of the roughly 1,000 guesthouses |
| Chiang Kai shek’s villa | Nearly all the restaurants and shops |
| The Bai and Yun Art Museum | The transfer centres themselves |
| The bamboo slopes of the core | Wukang, the county town 20 km away, and Deqing station |
You sleep and eat in the right hand column.
The roughly 250 surviving historic villas fall on both sides of the line, with the densest cluster up in the old hill station.
The gates and the transfer centres
Knowing where the line falls is only half of it. Crossing it trips people up.
One rule shapes every visit, and English language sources almost never print it. Between 08:00 and 17:30 a private car cannot drive into the scenic area. The rule has been in force since 30 November 2018.
Vehicle transfer rule, 08:00 to 17:30 daily, in force since 30 November 2018, Tide News (潮新闻), 4 December 2025, tier 2. https://tidenews.com.cn/news.html?id=3315585
In practice the gate and the transfer point are the same thing. You leave the car at a transfer centre and change to scenic area transport there. The one exception is a guest booked inside the gate with a parking reservation, which the private car ban page explains.
How many transfer centres there are depends on who you ask. A member of staff told Tide News in December 2025 that two were set up in 2018. The written record has said three since 2019: Yucun (庾村), the main one, Fatou (筏头) on the provincial road S304, and Houwu (后坞) off the same road.
A staff member’s account of two transfer points set up in 2018, Tide News (潮新闻), 4 December 2025, tier 2. https://tidenews.com.cn/news.html?id=3315585
Three transfer points, their locations and routes, Sohu Travel (搜狐旅游, 权哥探店), 2 July 2019, tier 3. https://www.sohu.com/a/324235488_357973
The hours are where the record disagrees most.
| Entry rule | The reading | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Private cars barred from the road | 08:00 to 17:30 | Tide News, December 2025 |
| Shuttle at Houwu, in winter | 08:30 to 17:00, last up 16:30, last down 17:00 | Tide News, December 2025 |
| First bus up, last bus down | 08:00 and 17:00 | Huzhou Bendibao, September 2023 |
| Transfer centres | 08:00 to 18:00 | BeyondBorder Group Ltd desk research, August 2026 |
| Coach up and back down | RMB 35 | Huzhou Bendibao, September 2023 |
| Y1 tourist shuttle | Deqing Coach Centre to Moganshan town, 30 to 40 min, RMB 10, seven a day | BeyondBorder Group Ltd desk research, August 2026 |
| Where the Y1 ends | Moganshan town, outside the scenic area | BeyondBorder Group Ltd desk research, August 2026 |
Private vehicles change to scenic area buses between 08:00 and 17:30, and the Houwu board gave a last bus down at 17:00, Tide News (潮新闻), 4 December 2025, tier 2. https://tidenews.com.cn/news.html?id=3315585
A first bus up at 08:00, a last bus down at 17:00 and the RMB 35 transfer coach fare, Huzhou Bendibao (湖州本地宝), 21 September 2023, tier 3. http://huzhou.bendibao.com/tour/2021123/3560.shtm
Transfer centre hours of 08:00 to 18:00 and the Y1 shuttle, BeyondBorder Group Ltd desk research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
The transfer centres are the gates. There is no separate list of pedestrian entrances. Before 08:00 and after 17:30 the road is open to any car, but the ticketed sights keep their own hours, and the indoor ones were open 08:30 to 16:30 in the last guide to print them. An early car buys a walk, not the Sword Pond.
Indoor sights open 08:30 to 16:30, Youxiake (游侠客), guide by 金二思, 22 June 2020, tier 3. https://www.youxiake.com/gonglue/view?id=4306
The readings sit an hour apart, and no seasonal calendar behind them is published. Both dated readings of the last bus down say 17:00. Work backwards from that and none of the disagreements can reach you. Day trippers should be heading down well before it.
Public transport also drops you outside. The Y1 timetable sits on getting around Moganshan, and the shuttle system page has the coach, the loop bus and every board in print.
Moganshan tickets: two published prices, one dated record
Prices are not consistent across sources. Two ranges are in circulation, and neither traces to an official source.
| What the source says | Adult ticket |
|---|---|
| Higher range, with a winter discount | RMB 120 online, RMB 130 at the gate, half price in winter |
| Lower range, split by season | RMB 50 off season, RMB 80 peak |
The two published price sets, from RMB 50 to RMB 130, BeyondBorder Group Ltd desk research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
The dated Chinese record is narrower. Two guides, three years apart, put the adult ticket at the window at RMB 80, with RMB 35 for the coach up and down and RMB 15 for the loop bus at the top. No official channel could be reached to confirm any of it.
Adult, advance, student and senior ticket prices and the RMB 35 transfer coach fare, Huzhou Bendibao (湖州本地宝), 21 September 2023, tier 3. http://huzhou.bendibao.com/tour/2021123/3560.shtm
Entry at RMB 80, coach up and down at RMB 35, the loop bus at RMB 15, RMB 130 in total, Youxiake (游侠客), guide by 金二思, 22 June 2020, tier 3. https://www.youxiake.com/gonglue/view?id=4306
Fetch results for every tier 1 ticket source, BeyondBorder Group Ltd desk research, 19 September 2026.
Part of the spread is people pricing different places under one name. Yucun and Houwu are scenic areas in their own right, rated and listed separately from the core.
Deqing Yucun scenic area, rated 4A, and Deqing Houwu village scenic area, rated 3A, listed separately on the Huzhou roll of sites waiving the first gate ticket for exam candidates in June 2023, Zhejiang Online (浙江在线), 9 June 2023, tier 2. https://zjnews.zjol.com.cn/zjnews/202306/t20230609_25838009.shtml
Budget RMB 130 a head for the gate and both buses, and be pleased if it comes to less. Your guesthouse is the fastest place to check. Tickets and entry has the short version, and Moganshan tickets in 2026 has every figure with its tier and date.
Concessions go by height and age, applied at the window against a document. Under 1.2 m tall or under 6 is free, and so is 70 and over. Students and ages 60 to 69 pay half, RMB 40. The concession covers the gate ticket, not the buses.
Free and half price entry rules by height, age, student status and teaching service, Huzhou Bendibao (湖州本地宝), 21 September 2023, tier 3. http://huzhou.bendibao.com/tour/2021123/3560.shtm
Inside the gate: the named sights
Once through, this is the part you paid for.
Sword Pond carries the mountain’s founding story. The name Moganshan comes from Mo Ye (莫邪) and Gan Jiang (干将), a swordsmith couple of the Spring and Autumn period who, in legend, forged blades for the King of Wu and cooled them here. It is a legend, and the walk is worth doing anyway.
Luhuadang Park and Dakeng put you deep in the bamboo, and Xuguang is the sunrise viewpoint, reached at dawn only from a bed inside the gate, as Moganshan sunrise explains. Things to do covers the wider list, most of it outside the gate.
When to go, and how busy it gets
Summer is the historic season and still the main one. Moganshan is counted traditionally as one of China’s four great summer resorts, with Beidaihe, Lushan and Jigongshan.
| Time of year | Up on the ridge | At the gate |
|---|---|---|
| July to August | Mean 24.1 °C, 6 to 7 °C cooler than Shanghai and Hangzhou | Peak season |
| January | Mean 1.4 °C, close to freezing, and empty | Half price under the higher published range |
| Golden Weeks | 94 percent high end occupancy over the May 2024 holiday | Everyone funnels through the same transfer points |
| Weekends | Busy all year | Arrive early |
| Mondays | Notably quiet | The easiest day to go in |
Moganshan Town recorded 2.60 million visitors in 2018 and 2.52 million in 2021. Those are town totals rather than gate counts, but they set the scale.
Visitor totals for Moganshan Town, 2018 and 2021, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
Golden Weeks hit the transfer centres first. Footfall in Yucun ran 30 to 40 percent above normal during National Day 2025. For the month by month picture, see the weather page.
Last checked 7 November 2026 by Liyan Ye. 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.
