10 Most Beautiful Waterfalls in China
Besides its lakes and mountains, China has a lot of beatiful waterfalls. We recommended these 10 below for their beautiful scenery.
1. Huangguoshu Waterfall Cluster
As the largest waterfall cluster in China, Huangguoshu Waterfall Cluster, 77.8 meters (255 feet) high and 101 meters (331 feet) wide, is composed of 18 cascading waterfall of various sizes. The main waterfall (Huangguoshu Waterfall) is 67 meters (220 feet) high and 83.3 meters (273 feet) wide on its top, featuring magnificent and thundering, which is the only waterfall that could be viewed from all directions in the world.
Huangguoshu Waterfall Scenic Area consists of Huangguoshu Waterfall Cluster, Water Curtain Cave, Watching–Waterfall Pavilion and Rhinoceros Pool. The Watching-Waterfall Pavilion offers the best view of the waterfall, where you can appreciate the magnificent scene of Huangguoshu Waterfall falling into the Rhinoceros Pool.
Location: No. 123, Huangguoshu Town, Anshun City, Guizhou Province
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. -6:00 p.m.
2. Chishui Waterfall Cluster
Chishui Waterfall Scenic Area features waterfalls, green bamboo forests, creeks, and a Danxia landform, where the highlighted attractions include Chishui Waterfall (or Shizhangdong Waterfall), Zhongdong Waterfall, Panlong Waterfall, Jifeiyan Waterfall, Renyouxi Waterfall, Xiangxi Lake, Shisun Peak, and Cliffside statues.
The Chishui Waterfall rivals Huangguoshu Waterfall with 76 meters (249 feet) high and 80 meters (262 feet) wide, and it falls from cliffs like ten thousand horses galloping, whose sound can be heard from hundreds of meters away. The scenery of Chishui Waterfall changes with every step you make, and you can appreciate the fantastic rainbow on a sunny day.
Location: on the upper reaches of Fengxi River, south Chishui, Guizhou Province
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
3. Jiuzhaigou Xiongmaohai Waterfall
With 2,592 meters (8,592 feet) high above sea level, the cascading Jiuzhaigou Xiongmaohai Waterfall (Jiuzhaigou Panda Sea Waterfall) is 78 meters (256 feet) tall with the top 50 meters (164 feet) water in three curves. Walk along the sightseeing stand (north of Xiongmaohai) and climb down a plank road along a cliff, you can see a flying waterfall cascading down overwhelmingly, just like a sea that had been overturned.
Jiuzhaigou Xiongmaohai Waterfall turns into a world of ice and snow in winter, with huge icicles and various ice stalactites hanging everywhere in the valley and caves.
Location: Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, Sichuan Province
Opening hours: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
4. Jiuzhaigou Shuzheng Waterfall
As the first waterfall, you will see in Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, Jiuzhaigou Shuzheng Waterfall is over 50 meters (164 feet) wide and 20 (65.6 feet) meters long, which rushes through the bushes, contrasting strikingly with the old trees standing silently on the cliff.
A poet describes the beauty of Shuzheng Waterfall as: “half trunks of the old trees dip into the waterfall, which seems as if young girls with long hair play in the water.”
Location: Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, Sichuan Province
Opening hours: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
5. Zhaga Waterfall
Zhaga means the torrent flowing over white rocks in Tibetan. The cascading Zhaga Waterfall is 93.7 meters (307 feet) tall and 40 meters (131 feet) wide. On the upper reaches of the waterfall is a lake, and on the lower reaches is a multistep riverbed. Zhaga Waterfall boasts of being the highest calcific waterfall in China, whose sound is just like ten-thousand horses galloping ahead, and it has a reputation of “the First Waterfall of China”.
Location: Zhaga Mountain, Housigou, Sanlian Village, Mouni Scenic Area, Aba Qiang and Zang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province
Opening hours: 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
6. Black Dragon Pool Waterfall
The Black Dragon Pool Waterfall cascades down overwhelmingly from the Baizhang Cliff as though a sea had been overturned, resulting in a pool beneath. The pond is jar-shaped with several feet deep, and it’s said that it’s linked with the East Sea and a black dragon swims inside it, hence its name.
The Longevity Bridge strides over the Baizhang Cliff, which sets off the green mountains and crystal-clear water. On each side of the Longevity Bridge stands a pavilion, Cloud Water Pavilion (Yunshui Pavilion) in the east and Wind Thunder Pavilion in the east, with a river running gently under the bridge.
Location: the Baizhang Cliff, Taishan Mountain, Shandong Province
Opening hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
7. Nine-Dragon Waterfall Cluster
The Nine-Dragon (Jiulong) Waterfall Cluster is known for its width, multi-steps, and big drop height due to its unique geological structure and thousands of years of water erosion, and it’s appraised as the most beautiful waterfall of China by experts from the Chinese National Geography Magazine.
Two waterfalls stand out in the Nine-Dragon Waterfall Cluster, one of which is the Nine-Dragon Waterfall with 56 meters (184 feet) tall and 112 meters (367 feet) wide, and it’s also called the Immortal Dragon Waterfall (Shenlong Waterfall). The other one is the Lover Waterfall with 43 meters (141 feet) tall and 39 meters (128 feet) wide, which is an ideal place for lovers to date.
Location: over Jiulong River, 22 kilometers northeast of Luoping County, Yunnan Province
Opening hours: 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
8. Hukou Waterfall
As a natural waterfall on the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Hukou (Kettle Mouth) Waterfall runs through Shanxi –Shaanxi Grand Canyon with 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Ji County of Shanxi Province and 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Yichuan County, which is the second-largest waterfall of China, next to Huangguoshu Waterfall, and it is 30 meters wide (98 feet) and 50 meters (164 feet) tall.
The Yellow River narrows down from 300 meters (984 feet) to 50 meters wide (164 feet) at Longwangshan Mountain (Dragon King Mountain) and cascades down overwhelmingly into a kettle-mouth-shaped groove, hence its name.
Location: 45 kilometers (28 miles) west Ji County, Linfen, Shanxi Province
Admission fee: 91 RMB /Person in summer, and 46 RMB /Person in winter
Opening hours: 6:00 a.m. -7:30 p.m.
Transport: take a bus to Taiyuan Bus Station there directly.
9. Detian Waterfall
Detian Waterfall bestrides the border of China and Vietnam, and it’s the fourth largest transnational waterfall in the world, next to Iguazu Falls (between Brazil and Argentina), Victoria Falls (between Zambia and Zimbabwe), and Niagara Falls (between the U.S. and Canada). Detian Waterfall is 200 meters (656 feet) wide with a drop height of 70 meters (230 feet).
Below Detian Waterfall is a deep pond of 30 meters (98 feet) deep and 200 meters (656 feet) wide, in which various kinds of fish are available. Around the waterfall are mountains, with terraced rice fields on them, which is extremely beautiful in autumn.
Location: Detian Village, Shuolong Town, Daxin County, Chongzuo, Guangxi Province
Admission fee: 80 RMB /Person
Opening hours: all day long
Transport: a direct sightseeing bus at Nanning Langdong Bus Station will take you there.
10. Three Gorges Grand Waterfalls
As a natural geological museum, the Three Gorges Grand Waterfalls vividly show geological conditions of the Three Gorges in the Sinian Period, Ordovician Period, and Cambrian Period, featuring green hills, clear water, fantastic caves, and spectacular waterfall in China,
The stream of the Gorges Grand Waterfall Scenic Area stretches over 5 kilometers (3 miles), along which more than 30 waterfalls are scattered, including Tiger Mouth Waterfall, Pearl Waterfall, Five Fan Waterfall, and Y-shaped Waterfall. These waterfalls are extremely picturesque on a sunny day.
Location: Xiaofeng Village, Yichang, Hubei Province, 34 kilometers (21 miles) from Yichang
Opening hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.