Day Trip to Hukou Waterfall and Huangdi Mausoleum

Today, we will depart early in the morning. You are suggested to have a big breakfast at your hotel as today's tour will take a relatively long time. Your guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel at the appointed time confirmed with you one day before.

Drive out of the city for around 2 hours to reach our first stop today, the Huangdi Mausoleum, which is the most important ancient grave site in China. Huangdi, the initiator of Chinese civilization, was a great tribal leader in the final primitive society of ancient times. The Huangdi Mausoleum is the tomb of Huangdi. Since 422BC, the Mausoleum has been the place where emperors and celebrities worshipped Huangdi. Nowadays, it becomes a key point of interest for historical Chinese culture. Apart from the traditional culture, the natural scenery is also fascinating here. The dense evergreen cypresses in the Mausoleum is considered as the oldest, largest and best preserved ancient cypress group in China, with a total of more than 80,000 trees. There is a 5,000 year old cypress planted by Huangdi himself. It is supposed to be the oldest cypress in the world, known as the "father of the world cypress" and "crown of the world cypress".Then continue our trip to Hukou Waterfall, which is located 300 kilometers (186 miles) away from Xi'an. After noon, we will arrive at Hukou Waterfall Scenic Area in Yichuan County, Yan'an City. Lunch is arranged on your own. You can either prepare some food in advance or dine in a restaurant at the scenic spot. Your guide will be glad to recommend you some delicious authentic food in northern Shaanxi.

The distance from the entrance to the waterfall is about 8 kilometers (5 miles). We will take a shuttle bus to get to the waterfall to explore the scenic area. Here, you can see the majestic waterfall, surging Yellow River and vast spray of water mist formed by the waterfall falling from the riverbed to the deep hole. The primitive beauty of Yellow River will leave a deep impression on you. If weather permits, we may also be able to see the rainbow over the waterfall.

It is the second's largest waterfall in China and the largest yellow waterfall in the world. That's why we strongly recommend this Hukou Waterfall tour from Xi'an. The turbulent Yellow River rushes to this narrowing estuary resembling a kettle spout with steep cliffs on the two sides, so it is called Hukou, meaning kettle spout. In the upper reach of the waterfall, the water surface is 300 meters (328 yards) wide. While in a distance less than 500 meters (547 yards), it narrows to 20 to 30 meters (22 to 33 yards). So when the Yellow River with a speed of 1000 m3/s rushes down the steep cliff of more than 20 meters (65.5 feet) high, it forms a majestic and amazing scenery.

A series of unique landscapes appear along with the waterfall are the heavy spray in the air, the ships stranded by the riverside, the rainbow over the water, the rain in a sunny day, the loud sound like thunder, the icicles in winter, and the dragon-like river channel.Hukou Waterfall has distinct scenery in the four seasons. One of the best travel times is April to May, when the surrounding peach blossom and melting ice show a picturesque scenery of spring. The other period is from September to November. It is just after the rainy season. And there is always cool autumn breeze and the rainbow. In addition, it is possible to see the ice waterfall in winter. The Yellow River flows down among the various shapes of icicles and a wonderful ice bridge is formed under the waterfall. The ice columns formed by the overflow water hang like ice peaks on the cliff.

Friendly Tips:
1. Due to the strong wind and heavy mist around the waterfall, it is suggested to take one more overcoat to keep warm.
2. The river bank of the waterfall are almost flat rock covered with a layer of loess which makes it slippery, so you are supposed to pay more attention to safety.

After the trip, a private transfer will take you back to your hotel in Xi’an. The return trip takes around 4 hours. You are advised to have a quick simple dinner before driving.