Winter here runs December to February. Moganshan in winter is the low season, and behaves like one. Rooms sit at the bottom of their range, the ticket falls under one of two published price sets, and the mountain that sells out in August is empty. The bill is cold, and daylight that runs out early in villages with no evening economy.
Here means Deqing County, inside Huzhou prefecture, in China’s Zhejiang Province, on a mountain whose main peak, Tashan, stands 719 to 720 meters up. Hangzhou is roughly 60 km down the road to the south, Shanghai 200 to 240 km off. Moganshan Road, which your search will also turn up, is a street in Shanghai. The seasons guide sets winter against the other three.
How cold it gets
January is the coldest month, and our sources disagree.
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| January mean, the figure we use | 1.4 °C |
| January mean, the other published figure | About 3.5 °C |
| July and August mean | 24.1 °C |
Temperature means, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
We print 1.4 °C because it is better supported. The honest range is roughly 1.4 to 3.5 °C. Both sit close to freezing, and a mean averages mild afternoons against cold nights, so pack for the colder end. The mountain runs 6 to 7 °C below the cities in summer. No source gives the winter version of that gap, so treat a city forecast as a steer. Moganshan weather sets out what we know and what we do not.
Moganshan snow is not a plan
Snow brings people here, and we cannot give them what they want.
No snowfall record is published for this mountain: no average number of snow days, nothing on depth. At 720 meters in this part of Zhejiang, a January dusting is possible rather than dependable. If snow is your only reason to come, pick a different mountain.
Do not picture the opposite either. This mountain is a bamboo crop. Forest cover runs over 92 percent, mostly moso, grown to be cut and sold. How that looks in January we have no record of. What you do in the cold is what you do in May: the old hill station, the paths up to Sword Pond.
The ticket, and a half-price rule one source states
Winter is when the entry price is supposed to drop. Supposed to, because the two published price sets disagree.
| Published price set | In season | What it says about winter |
|---|---|---|
| The higher set | RMB 120 in advance, RMB 130 at the gate | Half price through winter, about RMB 60 to 65 |
| The lower set | RMB 80 when busy | RMB 50 the rest of the year, and no winter discount stated |
Both published ticket sets and the winter half-price rule, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
Only the higher set states the half-price rule. The lower one never uses the word winter, and neither says which months qualify. Budget on the dearer line. Tickets and entry has the conflict in full.
Rooms at the bottom of the band
The ticket is not where the season saves you. The off-season band for a mid-range room is RMB 300 to 500 a night, and winter is its bottom. That same room clears RMB 1,000 in July and August. High-end starts near RMB 1,500.
Room rates, guesthouse numbers, the bed cap and 2024 occupancy, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
Supply is why. About 1,000 guesthouses operate against a bed capacity capped near 10,000 in late 2017, and occupancy averaged about 55 percent in 2024. Nobody there holds a peak rate in January.
Nobody publishes winter hours here, and a good number of small properties and kitchens simply shut for the season. Ask your guesthouse what is open when you ask the price. Where to stay covers the villages and tiers.
The evening problem is really a winter problem
The cold and the price are the easy parts. Chinese reporting on the guesthouse villages notes something true all year: no evening economy, no night market, little food late.
In August that is a mild disappointment. You can sit outside at nine. In January at 1.4 °C you cannot. Your guesthouse dining room is the evening, and if its kitchen closes you are back in your room early. Choose the property on whether you would be content there for a long evening indoors.
The light goes before the gate does
Cold you can dress for. The clock is harder. None of the rules below changes in winter, but the daylight does, and that is what turns them into a problem.
| The rule | What it is |
|---|---|
| Private vehicles in the scenic area | Not allowed in any season. Everyone transfers |
| Transfer centers at Yucun, Fatou and Houwu | 08:00 to 18:00, unchanged all year |
| Last Y1 shuttle up from Deqing station | Leaves 16:00. Seven a day, RMB 10, 30 to 40 minutes |
| If you miss it | A taxi, about RMB 100, about 30 minutes |
Transfer rules, shuttle timetable and fares, BeyondBorder Group Ltd primary research, 1 to 5 August 2026.
That window is ten hours wide, and in December the useful part ends mid-afternoon. Take the morning train and walk before lunch. Coming from Shanghai, we would plan on the second night paying for itself, because the arrival day goes on getting up the hill.
Moganshan in December, January and February
| Month | What changes |
|---|---|
| December | Autumn crowd gone. Light at its shortest against an unchanged 18:00 window |
| January | Coldest and emptiest. Mean 1.4 °C, or about 3.5 °C by the other source |
| February | Cold, easing late. The shortest wait to the spring shoulder |
All three sit at the low end of RMB 300 to 500. The one date to watch in February is Spring Festival, when domestic travel moves everywhere in China at once.
Then the day of the week, which every other page here tells you to pick first. Moganshan runs as a weekend market all year and Mondays are notably quiet. Winter takes the force out of that: a season this far below capacity does not fill on a Saturday the way October does.
Who should come, and when
An October weekend cannot sell you an empty path at any price. January gives one away with the room.
| Come in winter if | Stay home if |
|---|---|
| What you want is the mountain itself | This is your only trip to China |
| An empty path beats a warm one | Anyone with you will not walk in the cold |
| Price is what decides the trip | You need a village awake at nine |
The site sends first-time visitors here in autumn, so for one season this page argues against itself. Pressed for a date, we would say a January weekday, on a morning train, picking the guesthouse before the village. The best time to visit has the other case.
Temperature means, room rates, shuttle fares and the winter half-price ticket, all last checked 6 August 2026. Published ticket prices disagree from source to source and move with the season, so confirm yours at booking.
Last checked 9 August 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.
