Let me start out saying: I am not a big fan of being in hot water for an extended amount of time. What am I supposed to do? I can’t relax my mind for that long. But somehow we ended up spending about 5 hours at the hot spring in Huangshan.
The lovely owner at our hostel informed us that there are three main sites for the hot springs. The hostel had a deal for the cheapest spot which is called Ravishing Hot Spring Park. The price for both of us to this hot spring was about 400 Chinese Yuan (about 55 US Dollar). The other two spots are located right next to the Yellow Mountain which makes it more popular and more expensive. Even though this is the cheaper of the three hot spring spots, we were not disappointed.
Once we entered the facility and paid, the staff gave us bracelets for our lockers in the bathroom, with women and men being separated. Once changed into our swimsuits, Jaron and I met up in the hot spring public area.
There were five main areas: (please refer to the Map above)
- The area in Light Blue is the family area, the temperature was not too hot which is ideal for smaller children. There were also fun water activities for kids while the parents can relax.
- The Yellow area is the hot spring with the hottest temperature. This is not just a big pool of hot water. It is divided into smaller pools. Each pools has its own description for health benefits with the ingredients used. For example, I had a chance to soak myself in a pool filled with milk which is really good for the skin, making it very popular among women.
- I didn’t spend much time in the Orange area, but it seemed like the pools had different ingredients in them with a little milder temperature than the Yellow area.
- The Green area was my favorite area. The temperature was milder than the Yellow area so I could stay in the pools longer and not feel like I was being boiled alive. They also had very interesting ingredients put in the pools such as Chinese herbal medicines.
- I didn’t use the Dark Blue area at all. This area has an infinity pool which was closed due to the cold weather.
Each area provided free hot tea, but no water. You only get a free towel to cover up which was not enough for me. I ended having to rent a robe for about 10 Chinese Yuan (about 1.5 US dollar).
They had a cafeteria area in case you get hungry, but be warned that it is expensive and not that great.
You don’t have to bring cash with you into the hot spring area. Everything will be charged to your locker bracelet and you pay everything when checking out of the park.
We paid the owner of our hostel to drive us here for a small price, about 25 Chinese Yuan (about 3.5 US Dollar). The drive took about 30 min. It is located halfway between Liyang old street and Yellow Mountain.
If you are hiking the Yellow Mountain and want to go to the hot spring right after the long hike, you can take the shuttle from the base of the Yellow mountain to the hot spring sites. Instead of going from the base of the mountain back to the Visitor Center, you can take it to the hot spring. The price for the hot spring shuttle was cheaper than for the shuttle going back to the Visitor Center.
The Ravishing Hot Spring park is open from 2pm until midnight, so there is plenty of time for you to relax. I never thought I would be spending 5 hours in a hot spring, but that was what ended up happening. There were so many different pools that we didn’t even get to go in even though we only spent about 10-15 minutes in each pool.
I personally think that it was best for us to go to the hot spring and Yellow Mountain on separate days. I was so exhausted after our hike that I don’t think I could have enjoyed the hot spring very much. But who knows, the hot springs could have helped my aching legs.
Happy Travels!
