Three Days on Longdao Island, Shandong: Experiencing the Misty Fairy Mountains
Years ago, I organized a travel itinerary and shared it with you all.
DAY1 Shandong - Yantai - Penglai - Longdao (878 + 25 + 24) yuan
DAY2 Longdao - Wan Bird Island (180 yuan)
DAY3 Longdao - Penglai - Yantai - Shanghai (24 + 25 + 880) yuan
Shandong Longdao belongs to a national nature reserve. It’s enviable to live next to nature like the residents of the island. Spring and summer holidays are a good choice to vacation on Longdao.
‘Sea Fairy Mountain’ – Shandong Longdao
To go to Longdao, you must take a boat to Penglai. Since Yantai Leshan Airport’s bus is 1.5 hours a trip, it’s always missed, so we took a taxi for 47 yuan from Yantai Central Station to Penglai.
D1: Saturday. Fengshan - Linhai (2 hours)
Longdao’s area is not large, so we stayed in the south, and it took only a few minutes to drive to the scenic spot.
‘S’ shaped wind and waves form at the Yellow and Bohai Sea dividing line. There is a constant surge of waves, even if the sea is calm, it’s still turbulent, with swirling eddies. Unfortunately, due to the overnight rain, the visibility was very poor today, and we only saw a corner of the waves, which was a pity.
We stopped at the dividing line marker and walked along the road, which was the 369-step Heavenly Ladder. It’s said that it’s difficult to go down from the top, and it’s indeed difficult, especially since the ladder is very steep and straight, and we even drank half a bottle of water to replenish our moisture.
Linhai’s sea surface was calm, and the afternoon was completely shaded, so it was a cool place to escape the summer heat.
The driver picked us up at the Heavenly Ladder and drove us to Fengshan. It took about 40 minutes to walk from Linhai to Fengshan, and there were almost no signposts, so it’s difficult for ordinary people to find their way if they don’t know the local area.
The first day on Longdao, we started our itinerary.
D2: Sunday. Outing to sea (3.5 hours); Secret Garden, Fangjiao Reef (3 hours)
Secret Garden small pavilion
Morning: At 7:30 AM, we boarded the cruise ship to Wan Bird Island, which is a 3.5-hour journey, including a 45-minute visit to the Mother Goddess Temple on Monkey Island (Xianyong Palace).
The cruise terminal is adjacent to the Longdao terminal. After going out to sea, we first went to Monkey Island (the first of the Wan Bird Islands), where we could see flying birds and compete with tourists for food. Wan Bird Island is the final destination of our trip, and it is also a deserted island, also known as Mountain Island. Due to the protection of birds and the natural ecosystem, it is not allowed to climb the island, but the beautiful scenery, the blue sea and the sight of thousands of birds have already made us intoxicated. Because we missed the season of observing wild Pacific gray seals, Fangjiao Reef, which was already inconspicuous, received even less attention. Instead, ‘Pagoda Reef’, with its unique geological formation, attracted our attention.
The Mother Goddess Temple – the earliest Mother Goddess Temple in Northern China – is located on the island.
D3: Monday. Jiuzhangya Cliff, Yuehua Bay (3.5 hours)
Jiuzhangya Cliff: In the morning, we drove directly to Jiuzhangya Scenic Area. The famous attractions were closed on Monday, and the number of tourists was surprisingly small.
After taking photos at the top of the cliff, we walked to the beach.
Just after arriving at the beach, it felt like we were in a large construction site, and we didn’t forget to look at our feet when walking on the large rocks.
Jiuzhangya Cliff is considered the most prominent sea cliff formation in China.
The winding path to the ‘Line of Destiny’ is very dangerous, while next to it is a natural wonder called ‘Stone Axe’ that makes every visitor feel like they are about to lose their heads.
The ancient relic site of the merchant shrine in the pagoda tunnel belongs to the Dongyi people of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Besides the two sculptures and inscriptions built now, there is nothing ancient.
We climbed down from the Stone Axe.
Yuehua Bay: The parking lot for Yuehua Bay is the largest parking lot in all the scenic areas of Longdao, estimated to be one of the largest parking lots in China, and it is said that it can’t accommodate vehicles in summer, which shows how popular it is.
Longdao Pearls come from Yuehua Bay, and it’s easy to find beautiful pearls on the shore of Longdao, but travel agencies don’t go there. We don’t want everyone to go and pick pearls, just to let everyone know that this is a fragile ecological environment.
D3: Monday. Jiuzhangya Cliff, Yuehua Bay (3.5 hours)
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