Moganshan is a bamboo mountain, and bamboo does not turn. It is easy to conclude, as our own autumn guide once did, that colour is not what this season is for. That misses about ten thousand trees. The scenic area counts more than 10,000 red maples, and for three years running it has held a festival for them. The catch is timing. The maples turn in the second half of November and hold into December, well after the October holiday. Plan for the last week of November.
Moganshan (莫干山) is a mountain and former hill station in Deqing County (德清县), Huzhou (湖州), Zhejiang, about 60 km north of Hangzhou and 200 to 240 km from Shanghai. It is not Moganshan Road in Shanghai, the M50 art district in Putuo (普陀), which owns most of the search results.
When Moganshan autumn colour arrives
Three festivals so far, and each opened later than the one before.
| Year | Festival opened | What the record says | Source, tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | No festival yet | Colour still “slowly unfolding” on 5 December | Tencent writer, 3 |
| 2023 | 1 November | First festival, set to run two months | China Daily website, 2 |
| 2024 | 12 November | “Now is a good time” for autumn; festival to run more than a month | Deqing News, 2 |
| 2025 | 18 November | Best colour arriving in December, season to mid December | Tide News, 2 |
Tiers: 2 is a dated news report, 3 a named writer’s account, 4 a promotion account, cited only for what it announced.
First Moganshan red maple festival opened 1 November 2023, to run two months, China Daily website (中国日报网), relaying China.com.cn (中国网), 2 November 2023, tier 2. https://cn.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202311/02/WS65436631a310d5acd876d141.html
Second festival opened 12 November 2024 by the Moganshan Management Bureau, to run more than a month, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 13 November 2024, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2024/11/13/034801734.shtml
Third red maple season opened 18 November 2025, Tide News (潮新闻), relayed by China News Service (中新网), 18 November 2025, tier 2. https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2025/11-18/9636841.shtml
Maples entering their best in December, season to mid December, Hangzhou Net (杭州网), from Tide News, 5 December 2025, tier 2. https://travel.hangzhou.com.cn/lyzx/content/2025-12/05/content_9138035.html
A launch tells you when the scenic area expected the trees to photograph well. That’s a marketing call. In 2025 a provincial promotion post called the colour at its best by 28 November; Tide News, a week later, said the best was arriving in December.
Maples at their best by 28 November 2025, a Zhejiang tourism promotion account (诗画浙江游浙里) on Tencent News (腾讯新闻), 28 November 2025, tier 4, as announced. https://view.inews.qq.com/a/20251128A06OQU00
Colour “slowly unfolding”, a named travel writer on Tencent News (腾讯新闻), 5 December 2021, tier 3. https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20211205A08VZZ00
Our reading, not a forecast: the last week of November sits inside every festival window on record, and in a warm autumn the first week of December is the better bet. No 2026 date had been announced by 4 November 2026; our week 45 dispatch has the three earlier openings and the search that found nothing.
Why the date moves
China Weather (中国天气网), the national weather portal, gives the thresholds. Most red leaf species start to turn once the night minimum falls below 10 °C, and turn fully between 0 and 5 °C. A day to night swing of more than 10 °C helps. A wet growing season pushes the turn later.
Turning starts below a 10 °C minimum and is complete at 0 to 5 °C, China Weather (中国天气网), on CCTV News (央视网), 23 October 2025, tier 2. https://news.cctv.com/2025/10/23/ARTIofIm3U44p18MbloKnzE6251023.shtml
In November, then, watch the overnight low rather than the calendar. When China Weather’s town forecast for Moganshan (in Chinese, though the numbers need no translation) shows nights under 10 °C, the turn has started. When the lows reach 0 to 5 °C, the trees are close. We found no published November average for the mountain.
The Moganshan reports say 红枫, red maple, and never name a species. China Weather files sweetgum and Japanese maple, which turn weeks apart, under the same 红叶, red leaves. Expect the colour over weeks, not on one day.
Where the maples are
The maples are not a forest. They grow in villa gardens and along the old roads, and gather at the viewpoints the hill station was built around.
| Place | 中文 | What the record says | Year, tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villa 62, Maple and Azalea Valley | 62号枫鹃谷 | A villa garden under maples; picked by the scenic area as a viewing point | 2024 and 2025, 2 |
| No. 274 | 274号 | The “king of maples” in its yard | 2025, 2 |
| No. 92, Yiyuan | 92号颐园 | Old maples, leaves photographed on its steps | 2024 and 2025, 2 |
| Xuguang terrace | 旭光台 | A check in point in 2024; old maples by the pavilion | 2024, 2; 2021, 3 |
| Thousand Maples Sunset Pavilion | 千枫夕照亭 | Sunset viewing; a check in point in 2024 | 2024 and 2025, 2 |
| Luhuadang hotel platform | 芦花荡饭店 | Photographed from the air in 2024 | 2024, 2 |
| Wuling village | 武陵村 | Old maples among the villas | 2021, 3; on the 2025 routes |
| Queen’s Hotel | 皇后饭店 | Old buildings and maples, first stop of the 2021 loop bus | 2021, 3 only |
Check in points at Xuguang terrace and the Thousand Maples Sunset Pavilion, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 13 November 2024, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2024/11/13/034801734.shtml
Maples at the Luhuadang platform, Villa 62 and No. 92, China News Service (中国新闻网), 13 November 2024, tier 2. https://www.chinanews.com.cn/tp/2024/11-13/10318612.shtml
The numbers are the hill station’s house numbers; the villas page places the oldest.
The 500 year tree: which one?
A 2021 trip account on Tencent puts a maple “more than 500 years old” in the garden of Villa 62, with tea tables underneath. The record does not settle it.
A maple over 500 years old in Villa 62, a named travel writer on Tencent News (腾讯新闻), 5 December 2021, tier 3. https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20211205A08VZZ00
The scenic area’s own figure, given in 2024 and repeated in 2025, is more than 10,000 red maples, more than 100 of them over a century old, and the oldest over 500. Which tree, it doesn’t say.
More than 10,000 red maples, more than 100 over a century old, the oldest over 500 years, Moganshan Management Bureau (莫干山管理局), quoted by Deqing News (德清新闻网), 13 November 2024, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2024/11/13/034801734.shtml
In 2025 Tide News called the Villa 62 tree a “hundred year” maple and gave the title “king of maples” (枫树王) to a tree in the yard of No. 274.
A hundred year maple in front of Villa 62 and the “king of maples” in the yard of No. 274, Tide News (潮新闻), relayed by China News Service (中新网), 18 November 2025, tier 2. https://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/2025/11-18/9636841.shtml
So there are two candidate trees and three claims about them, four counting the guesthouse now in Villa 62, which tells its guests that its two maples are over 500. Villa 62 and its maple sets out every account and what Zhejiang’s rules ask of a 500 year tree. To be sure of the oldest, see both, from the path if the gate is shut.
Walking the maple routes
Seeing the old trees means walking. For 2025 the scenic area announced four walks, each a loop from Yinshan Street (荫山街), where the shuttle from the transfer centre stops. Nobody here has walked them. Only route 3 came with walking times: about 40 minutes between stops, plus the walk back.
| Route | Via | Ends at the maples of |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Xuguang terrace, Wuling village, the sunrise platform, Zhonghua pavilion (中华亭) | The Thousand Maples Sunset Pavilion |
| 2 | Xuguang terrace, Wuling village, Zhonghua pavilion | No. 274, then Gangtou Road (岗头路) |
| 3 | Luhuadang hotel, the old No. 100, the stele forest, Nos. 48 and 410 | Linshu hotel (林墅酒店) garden |
| 4 | No. 208, Gangtou Road, No. 161, No. 126 | Villa 62 and No. 92 |
The four routes, and about 17:00 for the last bus down, a Zhejiang tourism promotion account (诗画浙江游浙里) on Tencent News (腾讯新闻), 28 November 2025, tier 4, as announced. https://view.inews.qq.com/a/20251128A06OQU00
The clock that matters is the last bus down: 17:00 on the board Tide News read in December 2025, and about 17:00 in the maple route list.
Last bus down 17:00, Tide News (潮新闻), 4 December 2025, tier 2. https://tidenews.com.cn/news.html?id=3315585
The shuttle system has the rest of the timetable.
Moganshan red leaves are not the only colour
During the 2024 festival Deqing News reported golden larch (金钱松), ginkgo and plane trees at their best alongside the maples. The 2025 route list starts at a century old ginkgo over the wall of No. 95, five minutes from Yinshan Street.
Golden larch, ginkgo and plane trees reaching their best during the 2024 festival, Deqing News (德清新闻网), 13 November 2024, tier 2. https://dqnews.zjol.com.cn/dqnews/system/2024/11/13/034801734.shtml
Now the honest part. The 2021 writer placed autumn Moganshan’s “little Kyoto” (小京都) in the garden of Villa 62. It isn’t. Most of the mountain stays green, and the red comes in pockets. Two of the 2024 festival photographs were taken from a drone, which is how a pocket of red fills a frame. Anyone hoping for a whole hillside on fire has picked the wrong mountain. What’s on offer is ten thousand maples scattered among stone villas, with bamboo behind them.
Tickets, cars and rooms in late November
The scenic area charges for entry. We don’t print a price here because no tier 1 source we can reach has published one; Moganshan tickets in 2026 sets out every published figure with its date.
Driving up is where a red leaf trip can go wrong. On 1 December 2025 a visitor heading for the maples was stopped five or six kilometres below the scenic area and sent back. From 08:00 to 17:30 every car changes to the shuttle at a transfer centre, unless its driver is booked into a property inside and has reserved parking.
Shuttle only from 08:00 to 17:30 without a booking inside and a parking reservation, Tide News (潮新闻), 4 December 2025, tier 2. https://tidenews.com.cn/news.html?id=3315585
The rule and its exceptions are set out under the private car ban.
For rooms, the calendar matters more than the trees. Moganshan is a weekend trip from Shanghai and Hangzhou, so a late November Saturday is busy whether the maples have turned or not, and midweek is quieter. Nobody has published a visitor count for the festival weeks that we can find. Autumn on Moganshan sets November against the rest of the season.
Rooms near the villas and in the villages below are listed on Trip.com, and where to stay sets the villages side by side.
Last checked 6 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.
