Chengde has a continental monsoon climate, half wet and half dry. The region is situated in the hinterland of Yanshan Mountain in the transitional belt of Inner-mongolian Plateau and North China Plain as well as the transitional belt of the warm temperate belt and the cold temperate belt.

The whole region is made up of two kinds of terrains: plateau above the dam and mountainous region below the dam. And the climatic differences are thus quite obvious.

The best time for going to the plateau above the dam is during July and August. At the very time, flowers are here and there and it is cool and foggy. While the time from the beginning of September to the beginning of October is most suitable for visitng the Mulan Paddock and appreciating the spectacular scenery in late autumn, with a mountain of red maple leaves, as if everything in the mountain has been dyed.