GUDAO (Zhejiang Ancient Trails): Hiking Through the Tea Mountains of Songyang

Arrival in Songyang

Arrive in Lishui by high-speed rail or by air from farther afield, then drive for one hour into the mountain-folded world of Songyang.

Rest or Explore No. 9 Coffee

If the travel has left you weary, settle into your five-star hotel for rest. Or make your way to No. 9 Coffee, WildChina’s flagship coffeehouse, carved from the bones of an ancient multi-story wooden building in the old town. Relax on the rooftop terrace in the afternoon sun. Below, a sea of gray-tiled roofs ripple toward Dushan Mountain, where a Song Dynasty summit pavilion has stood sentinel over a thousand years of comings and goings.

Old Town Stroll

Descend into the old town’s narrow lanes and peek into workshops where craftsmen practice trades passed down through generations. Woodcarvers, metal smiths, and tea merchants arranging their wares with quiet precision. The air carries the scent of tea and aged timber.

Authentic Songyang Dinner

As evening settles over the valley, sit down to an authentic Songyang dinner: dishes built from what the mountains and fields offered that morning, prepared with the kind of care that comes from knowing every ingredient by name.

Your luggage will be transported to the next stop, but you should carry a day pack with water and snacks (provided by us). 

Total distance: 11km, 700m gain (6.5 hours hike)

Drive to the GUDAO

A 20-minute drive delivers you to Longdian’er Bridge, the start of the trailhead. The ancient flagstones that have threaded these mountains together for centuries wind their way up into the valley before you.

Longdian’er Bridge to Chenjiapu Village

Begin your ascent past a temple dedicated to the local rain god, then climb alongside a mountain stream where hidden waterfalls tumble through the forest. Beneath your feet lie weathered, moss-covered stones laid centuries ago by villagers eager to trade crafts and ideas. At a small village museum, handle the weight of heritage: suōyīrain capes woven from palm fiber, tools shaped by generations of hands.

Chenjiapu

By noon, reach Chenjiapu, a hamlet clinging to the mountainside above terraced tea fields and an ocean of bamboo. Lunch is freshly made from local ingredients: seasonal bamboo shoots, a white radish and pork soup, and the local specialty, huángmǐguǒ, stir-fried yellow rice cake. After you finish your meal, a local herb master, who learned the names and medicinal properties of all the plants in Songyang from his parents—as they did from their parents before them—will show you what he’s been collecting during your morning hike and how to use the forest’s treasures to make a special medicinal tea, duānwǔ tea.

Afterward, sip coffee overlooking the valley and browse the village bookstore—the quiet catalyst that helped revive this community.

Chenjiapu to Tanghou Village

The path continues through bamboo forests that sway and whisper, opening occasionally to reveal sweeping views of tea gardens and cherry trees. An ancient stone staircase descends to a forest pavilion where you may catch your breath beside a stream before the quick climb to Pingtian village. As you enter its weathered streets, a tucked-away café offers tea, snacks, and handmade gifts.

The final stretch is downhill, followed by a short ascent into Tanghou Village, where a fengshui grove of centuries-old trees stands watch. Dinner awaits at your guesthouse, still steaming. The quiet settling of dusk harked by the day’s last birdsong accompanies you as you rest from the day’s efforts.

Your luggage will be transported to the next stop, but you should carry a day pack with water and snacks (provided by us).

Total distance: 18km, 650m gain (10 hours hike)

Tanghou to Zicao Village

This is a big morning, so fuel yourself well at breakfast. You’ll climb 400 meters steadily through forest that shifts from bamboo and broadleaf to pine as you ascend. At the ridgeline, fatigue dissolves into wonder at the view of mountains rippling out in every direction, villages tucked into valleys far below, and a distant waterfall glimmering through the morning mist.

The trail continues through old farm fields now reclaimed by national forest, the result of China’s massive 21st-century reforestation efforts, a living testament to evolving conservation policy. In forest pockets, farmers still cultivate Chinese medicinal herbs. Traverse some of the wildest stretches of the GUDAO before descending into Zicao village for a well-earned lunch and rest.

Zicao to Youtian Village

The afternoon is longer in distance but gentler in spirit—almost entirely downhill. You’ll surrender the morning’s elevation gain slowly, passing through six villages cradled by cherry trees and tea terraces.

One of the last villages is Songzhuang. Although the descent towards it, on a river trail, is unassuming, the village reveals one of the region’s most remarkable bridges: a centuries-old stone arch held together not by mortar, but by the precision of fitted stone and the elegance of physics. Bridging the banks of a gentle steam, it is subtle evidence of the ingenuity that built life in these valleys.

Pause for tea or coffee beside the bridge, then walk the final kilometers to Youtian, where a 400-year-old pine towers over tiled roofs and rammed-earth walls. Your restored courtyard guesthouse awaits. You’re home.

Your luggage will be transported to the next stop, but you should carry a day pack with water and snacks (provided by us).

Total Distance: 7km, 150m gain (4 hours hike)

Green Tea Picking

Start early with a stroll through the village and a fresh breakfast, then drive to a mountainside tea field. As mist parts, the river valley unfolds far below. Join local pickers who show you their swift, practiced movements as they pluck only the youngest top leaves. Fill your bag alongside them and learn a trade as old as these hills. (Tea picking is subject to seasonal availability.)

 Tea-Whisking Workshop

Back at your courtyard guesthouse, a local tea expert will guide you through the ancient art of the Song Dynasty diǎnchá (tea-whisking) Less popular among the Chinese—who after the Ming dynasty largely preferred to drink whole-leaf tea—this ancient ritual was preserved and made famous to the West through the Japanese art of matcha. Whip up your own, fresh bowl and let the grassy aroma energize you for the final stretch of your afternoon hike.

Youtian to Yangjiatang Village

Wind downward through forest until you emerge suddenly at an overlook: Yangjiatang Village spreads below in terraced layers, earning its nickname as the “Potala Palace of Songyang.”

A centuries-old camphor tree greets you at the village entrance, its massive trunk inviting your embrace and its limbs forming a cathedral overhead. Below, the “husband-and-wife trees” shade the village center. Wander narrow lanes, taste piping-hot fried tofu, and watch women wash clothes in moss-lined rivulets. Enjoy your lunch on the porch of a family-run restaurant while listening to the sounds of the countryside humming around you.

Yangjiatang to Tongxi Village

After lunch, savor your final kilometers on the trail through some of its gentlest, most beautiful sections. Tread under wild weeping willows and over ancient stones that wind alongside a stream. Inhale the scent of bright, edible azalea blooms and patches of Chinese foxglove poking shyly between the rocks.

Near the end of the trail, slip off your shoes and dip your toes in cold water beneath another centuries-old stone bridge. The landscape opens into wide, sun-bathed tea fields bordered by unexpected cliffs. You’re back in the valley now. After a short walk along the road, reach your driver who awaits to bring you back to Songyang. End the day with a hot shower, one last meal in the old town, and the quiet satisfaction of a journey completed on foot.

Your luggage will be transported to the next stop, but you should carry a day pack with water and snacks (provided by us). 

Visit the Local Tea Market

After breakfast, drive to Songyang’s famous tea market, a sprawling 71,500-square-meter hub that has grown from humble beginnings into one of China’s largest green tea trading centers. Each morning it comes alive when farmers arrive with their harvest, and the vast space fills with the rustle of leaves and the hum of negotiation.

Watch the entire process unfold: workers sifting tea through screens to separate dust and broken leaves from premium whole buds, grading by quality, then packing into massive plastic bags for shipping across China and beyond. Buyers move methodically from stall to stall, plunging hands deep into each bag, lifting samples to the light, rolling leaves between fingertips, bringing them close to inhale their fragrance. Every gesture is deliberate, practiced, and precise.

Here, in the controlled chaos of commerce, you witness what you’ve walked through over the past days: tea as the meeting point between mountain and market, nature and craft. In Songyang, it anchors village life, perfumes the hillsides, and sets the tempo of the seasons.

Depart Songyang

Drive one hour back to the Lishui high-speed rail or airport to begin your journey home or elsewhere in China.

Your luggage will be transported to the next stop, but you should carry a day pack with water and snacks (provided by us).