In China, most sites are huge. Huge palaces, huge gardens, huge temples, huge fortifications, huge mausoleums, huge Buddhas, huge old towns ... As impressive and deserving of inscription as these sites are, I also enjoy the smaller and more intimate sites you find in other countries and was wondering when/where I could find one of those in China. Turns out, Hongcun fits the criteria.

Hongcun is a traditional folk village in the Anhui region that together with Xidi is the most representative and best preserved example of the local traditional villages. Note: There are more similar villages in the area.

Hongcun village dates back to the Ming dynasty and is largely intact, ignoring the tourist shops that have opened up in the old houses. It's remarkable intact and a joy to explore on foot with plenty of houses open for visitors to explore. The best bits to me was seeing how the city dealt with water, with water flowing below the walkways.

Getting There

The main transport hub for the area is the bullet train station at Huangshanbei (North Huangshan, the town, not the mountain). Around the train station, a small tourist town has developed with hotels and some restaurants. It's just a bit tricky to get to the hotel area on foot, even though it's just a 5min walk. You need to pass below the railway tracks via one deserted looking tunnel. In addition, google maps had it all wrong, so I ended taking a 2min cab to my guest house.

From the train station, you need to take a bus. The regional bus station is to the right when exiting the bullet train station. Most buses are bound for Huangshan (the mountain, not the town) and will take the fast (new) highway to the mountain. But there are occasional buses to Hongcun via Xidi. I think the first bus runs at 8:45h, but better to check. If you wanted you can do both villages as a day trip. I only visited Hongcun having a few short glimpses of Xidi from the bus window.

In Hongcun, it's a simple walk to the village. There are multiple ticket offices. Best choice as a pedestrian is to walk left when exiting the bus parking lot and head for the foot bridge into town. When I visited in January 2020, the town was still surprisingly popular with tourists. I am afraid that in high season the streets could get very crowded.

After visiting Hongcun, I caught another bus to Tangkou (Huangshan National Park). The bus ride through the mountains is quite scenic.