Fairy Mountain National Forest Park Chongqing: Photos & Review

Not far from the Three Natural Bridges is another of Chongqing’s scenic natural wonders: Fairy Mountain National Forest Park. While it’s more or less ten kilometers away from the Three Natural Bridges’ karst formations, you’d think this forest park is in a different country or continent once you actually see it. I wasn’t actually expecting much but I found myself just marveling at the scenery when I got there. As for how I got there, it was pretty straightforward.

Booked on Klook

So my visit was part of a booking I made on Klook. If you’ll notice on the site’s booking page, the package is mainly a tour of the Natural Three Bridges (which I had already written about) with Fairy Mountain National Forest Park being one of the handful of options for an add-on tour.

There were actually two types of packages available on the Klook site. The first one was for just a Chinese driver while the second was for an English-speaking tour guide. Of the two, the first was much cheaper with rates starting at just CNY690. As for the second type, it’ll set you back at least CNY952.

Ticket Purchase:

👉 Klook: https://klook.tpx.lv/xs4vk3hV

👉 Viator: https://viator.tpx.lv/MC8Bi2KO

Fairy Mountain National Forest Park Chongqing: Scenic Views and Friendly Animals

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Talk of cost aside, here’s the kind of views you’ll see as you travel to Fairy Mountain. This honestly reminded me of the ride going to Snow Monkey Park in Nagano during my Japan trip. If you’re traveling from the Three Natural Bridges in Wulong Karst then this should be a rather short trip as the distance between the two areas is just 10 kilometers.

Upon arriving at the scenic area’s tourist center, you’ll come across a number of guide maps. This one shows the route for the tourist sightseeing bus/train (shown in blue) as well as the walking and bike trails (solid white). Surprisingly, the walking path (2.87kilometers in total) is actually a lot longer than the sightseeing bus/train route (just 1.83kilometers). Off to the left of the guide map is a list of guidelines for riding the bus/train.

This sign shows how much it would cost to use the sightseeing bus. It’s actually a little expensive at CNY25. That said, it’s actually nice that there didn’t seem to be a price hike since the time this was set in 2015. Like a lot of attractions, 6 year olds (and under) as well as kids less than 1.2 meters all get a free pass to use the vehicles.

Here’s the ticketing station with the price list for the sightseeing mini-train. This one’s a bit more expensive than the bus at CNY41 per ticket for an adult. Like with the sightseeing bus, children at a certain age (6 years old and below) and height (1.2 meters and lower) get a free pass to ride the train.

Now once you’ve paid for and gotten your ticket, you can then line up here to wait for your ride. Surprisingly, there weren’t that many people in front of me when I lined up so I actually didn’t have long to wait. That said, your mileage may vary so just be sure you have something to keep you preoccupied while you’re in line.

Here are the mini-trains that I’ll be riding to get to the scenic area. As you can see, this isn’t really a train per se as the park really doesn’t have any rails. It’s more like a truck but instead of cargo containers, it’s pulling passenger train carriages. Owing to the short distance to the scenic area and the passengers on its carriages, the ride on the mini train was relatively smooth albeit a bit slow.

The first stop for the mini train was the Fairy Mountain Nature Center. As you can see, the scenery here is markedly different from the Three Natural Bridges’ karst landscape. You’ll actually notice the stark difference as soon as you get to the tourist center. Here it’s mostly plains and forests of tall pine and oak.

These are some of the signs you’ll see at the Nature Center. The one on the right is a reminder to not use drones or fly kites and balloons in the vicinity to avoid any aviation related accidents. You see, the park also has its own airport called Xiannvshan/Xiannushan Airport (Wulong Fairy Mountain Airport) and it’s, if I’m not mistaken, more or less 4 kilometers from this location.

I’m not quite sure what the shed was. Using my translation app, it seemed like it had something to do with national security. Considering the CCTV cameras, that might just be the case. Anyway, to its right you’ll find a sign with directions pointing to the notable attractions here at the Fairy Mountain Scenic Area.

This is a close up of the sign from earlier. I was initially intrigued by the horse walking field since I’d only seen pictures of the animals seemingly roaming inside pens. Turns out, you can actually get to ride the horses though it will cost you a little.

Here’s another map of the attractions here as well as a short explanation of Fairy Mountain’s significance. I was actually a little surprised to know that Fairy Mountain is also referred to as the “Oriental Switzerland”. Now that I think about it, the landscape here does remind me of the Swiss Plateau with the Three Natural Bridges serving as its Alps.

So this path is a little ways off the entrance earlier (where the small shed was) and if my translation app is not mistaken, it’s called the Nature Science Popularization Trail. The trail here is rather short and eventually finds its way back to the main pathway. I will say though that it’s actually quite nice here as there aren’t that many people around (at least this was the case during my visit).

In this image you can see exactly where this walkway joins with the main path. You’ll also notice how this area has excellent shade thanks to the higher concentration of trees here. With that being said, sunburn really isn’t a big problem here as the weather is relatively cool even with the sun out and about.

Here’s another guide map that also serves as a marker for the Impression Fairy Mountain part of the trail. In the background, you can see the entrance with the shed that was pictured earlier. You’ll also notice how that area has seemingly more people.

Aside from the marker and guide map, there was also an infographic here talking about what this area used to look like. I was actually surprised to know that this place used to be barren sixty plus years ago. What was even more surprising is that the reforestation and rehabilitation of the area was done through natural means and actually ended up being more than just successful.

So this is where this walkway converges with the main path. You might think the skies here looked overcast but it actually wasn’t. It was a little cloudy but the sun was still out. As I said earlier, the sun isn’t as big of a problem here as windy weather is. The place is around 1900 meters above sea level and if it gets windy, it becomes rather chilly. Most people I’ve talked to who’ve visited here actually suggest bringing a jacket just for this.

Here’s the main pathway and it looked like I was going to be in for another walkathon. Thankfully, I’ve been used to it during my travels that walking long distances doesn’t really seem to faze me anymore. For what it’s worth though, I did see a handful of elderly during my visit and they did seem to be okay with the long walks.

It’s not just your body that gets to exercise here at Fairy Mountain National Forest Park. If you want to challenge your knowledge of animals then this signboard might just be for you. It features “guess the silhouette” puzzles of the animals that can be found here at the park. In all honesty though, I wouldn’t really call these puzzles as the answers to the questions of “Can You Guess Who I Am” are already provided.

As you can see from this image, the sun really was out that day. Thankfully, the high elevation made it so that I didn’t really feel the heat that much. Still, I think it would be good if you bought sunblock cream/lotion as well as a hat or cap just in case.

Here’s a sign pointing to what I thought were stores/shops. You’ll also notice that we’re at the point in the path where it diverges. Don’t worry too much about this though as the path is pretty linear. This means that you’re basically still going to get to the same destination at the end of the day.

So if you’ve been to Chongqing and Sichuan, you’ll know that rabbits are valued both in a cultural and culinary context. I think I’ve talked extensively about rabbit heads being a delicacy in these regions. Culturally, rabbits also symbolize longevity, peace, and harmony which is probably why you’ll see plenty of these mascots/statues.

Remember when I said that we’re all going to the same destination regardless of the route we followed? Well, the building off in the background is the destination that I’m talking about. I could have actually gone there at the time I took this picture but I felt like it was still a ways off for the tour to end. Instead, I decided to explore the area with my group and boy was that one of the best decisions I made that day.

I was so used to the tight alleyways and streets of Chongqing’s urban attractions that it was kind of liberating to be here in the Fairy Mountain Scenic Area. As I was walking around there was a constant and gentle breeze here that just was refreshing. The landscape really did remind me of the movies and animated shows (Heidi in particular) that I saw as a kid that had Switzerland and the Swiss Plateau as a setting.

As I was exploring, I came across this particular area that had these pictures of people riding camels on a board. Right next to it was a sign that featured instructions and safety guidelines that visitors had to follow if they wanted to ride the camel. I tried looking for horses but unfortunately, the only one I saw was the statue in the background.

Now I was seriously considering riding one of the camels but I ended up chickening out. I’ve read that camels are a lot less skittish than horses but I really wasn’t that keen to find out if this was true or not. For whatever it’s worth though, it did seem like the people in the pictures on this board were genuinely unfazed by the camels they were riding on.

This is a closer look at the guidelines for riding the camels. According to this, you’ll need to make sure you wear loose and comfortable clothing if you plan to ride one of the animals here. Other than this, you should also avoid the ride if you have health issues like high blood pressure and other heart conditions. You might also want to hold off on using the flash on your phones/cameras when taking pictures as that might spook the camel and result in accidents.

Speaking of camels, here they are! I’m not going to lie, they were actually quite docile. They pretty much were just chilling there waiting for somebody to ride them. That said, I still wouldn’t have gotten on their backs even with their handlers around. I just really have this inane fear of falling off.

Close to the camel riding area, I came across this Swiss style cabin. I was honestly confused as to why they chose to build this structure (and in a European style at that) here. Then I realized that traditional Chinese architecture just doesn’t seem to fit the Swiss/European vibes of the place.

I will say this though, seeing the house up close really makes you feel like you’re in Switzerland. For some reason it just really reminded me of a really old anime called Heidi which was set in the Swiss alps and had a house that (from what I can remember) looked rather similar to this one. Thinking about it now, it’d probably be nice if I can go to the Alps (both the Swiss and Italian sides) sometime in the future.

Here’s an interesting bronze sculpture that I happened to come across in a wooded area. It’s of a boy sitting on top of a bull and it looks to have had a rough time. The boy’s right hand is seemingly broken off and the sculpture is off-balance. Honestly, I’m not quite sure if this is the way it’s supposed to be presented or if it was sent here for disposal.

After admiring the sculpture I looked back at the camels and saw that the people congregating there had seemingly moved on to another area. It was at this point that I also noticed just how vast this park was. With the Three Natural Bridges you kind of couldn’t really guess how large the area was because of how the cliffs obscured your view. Here, it’s just green as far as your eyes can see.

Moving along, I came across these sculptures of goats. These looked to be rather old and it was rather hard to see their details if you didn’t get closer. I’m guessing these look this way thanks to their exposure to the elements over the years.

Looking around, I saw a few people off in the distance who seemed like they were looking at something in the wooded area. At this point, I still had time so I decided to join in. Little did I know that I’d get to have an unforgettable experience by doing this.

So what those people were looking at were actually real live goats. No, these aren’t sculptures like in one of the previous images. These were living, breathing, and bleating goats who were surprisingly used to people’s presence.

I was initially hesitant to get close but my curiosity got the best of me. When I drew closer, I saw that they were actually eating the leaves off of the trees here. Now I’m not sure what these trees were or if they were endemic to the area. My guess is, much like the goats, these were introduced here when they were rehabilitating and reforesting the park.

Back to the goats, they really seemed like they were enjoying their meals here. Even with me being close by, they didn’t panic which made me think they were the domesticated kind and used to human interactions. I’ll also say that this made them kind of endearing.

Now if you do plan to watch these goats frolicking and eating the greenery off the place, you might want to make sure that you’re not stepping on their land mines. Yes, what you’re seeing is goat manure and no, you don’t want that on your shoes. It’s not as bad as other animals’ droppings but it’s still going to stink (literally and figuratively) if you do step on it.

I wasn’t quite sure what the building in the distance was. There’s actually plenty of buildings here that, much like the one I saw earlier, are heavily inspired by European architecture and design. I didn’t bother to get closer to the building though as I was a little preoccupied.

At this time, the goats were actually grazing near us and they simply looked adorable. This one looked like quite happy munching on the grass and didn’t even care that there were people near it. For our part, we still made sure to not bother the goats as they were doing their thing.

Not all goats were happy to be near us though. This particular juvenile didn’t seem like they were too keen on sharing the space with us humans. It wasn’t quite hostile but it definitely went out of its way to avoid us if we did get too close.

After a while, I looked around and found what seemed like the whole herd finally showing themselves. I noticed that there were plenty of kids out and about as well which kind of tracks with this being the spring season. Another thing I noticed was the fact that the goats weren’t really loud indicating that they’re rather well fed.

This was a rather cute juvenile that didn’t have its horns out yet. It seemed to be pretty independent despite its age and was actually really curious. Initially, I thought this was the other black goat pictured earlier but looking at their pictures that one clearly had its horns out.

As the minutes passed, the number of goats didn’t appear to be going down. It seemed like everywhere I looked a new goat would pop up. I was honestly enjoying observing these animals so much that I kind of lost track of the time.

I mean, can you really blame me? These little ones were really cute and if you looked closely, you can see they still had their umbilical cords. It’s possible that I was one of the few humans that they’ve interacted with which is kind of cool if you think about it.

Oh look, it’s the little ones’ mama! Or at least I thought that was their mom. Her udders looked swollen and I’m pretty sure the little ones couldn’t wait to get a taste of their milk. On a side note, I was quite surprised that the mother goat wasn’t aggressive considering she’d just given birth at that time.

Out of all the goats I took a picture of that day, this one was perhaps one of the most friendly and photogenic. I was looking to capture a photo of the people going back to the trail and this one decided to make himself the subject of the picture. This one wasn’t quite old judging from their horns and was naturally quite inquisitive.

A couple of baths and they just might end up on the cover of a goat magazine or something. Kidding aside, this one did eventually leave to go with the herd. It was brief but for some reason, I genuinely found myself having fun interacting with these animals.

With the last goat I pictured leaving, I took that as a cue for me to go back to my own herd. The people I was with were slowly heading back to the building that was off in the distance in this image which meant that it was probably time to go home. The sun was still shining and while I’d been walking for some time now, I honestly didn’t feel tired.

After an uneventful walk, I finally reached the building which at that point had people who were waiting for the mini-train. If you’re hungry then this would be a great time to eat at one of the establishments before going back. Aside from restaurants, the area also has a supermarket.

As I was checking out the area, I got to see another cute animal. Much like the goats, the alpaca is not a native of this area. I’m not sure though if there are any other alpacas in the park other than this one.

I would have wanted to check out the view at the top of the building but I ended up just skipping it. I’d already gotten plenty of pictures and some videos that I probably won’t be missing much if I went up. If I was tired though I’d probably sit at one of the seats on the second floor veranda and maybe enjoy some tea and snacks.

This tree was close to the building and I was told that it was also a popular spot for taking photos. Initially I was confused as to why that was but then somebody explained that it was a completely different tree when it starts flowering. True enough, I searched online and the tree does look vastly different when its flowers are in bloom.

Here’s a marker with the characters for Xiannvshan painted on it. Again, that’s just the name of Fairy Mountain in Chinese. I was wondering why people were seemingly flocking here but I guess like any tourist, they just want a souvenir picture of their visit.

After riding the mini train, we finally got to the terminal exit. There’s actually a food street here that you might want to check out if you’re still hungry. Personally, I just wanted to rest for a bit so I decided to hurry and thankfully, the people in my group felt the same.

This picture marks the end of my Fairy Mountain National Forest Park visit. I will say that this was a really nice experience. The walk was scenic and the animals I met were really nice and cute. If there’s one issue I have, it was probably not having more time to explore the entirety of this scenic area. Other than this, I think this was a nice experience to have had.

What do you think of Fairy Mountain National Forest Park? If you’ve ever had the chance to visit the place then we’d love to hear about your thoughts and experiences in our comment section!