Mount Song is one of China's Five Sacred Mountains, the ancient peaks that defined the cosmological boundaries of the realm. The summit area is reached by a combination of hiking trails and cable car from within the Shaolin Scenic Area. At the top, the Junji Peak Observatory — built in the Tang dynasty and still standing — is one of the oldest astronomical observation sites in East Asia, used for centuries to calculate solstices and calibrate the imperial calendar.
The mountain offers genuine hiking beyond the well-worn tourist circuits of the monastery below: the eastern peak (Taishi) and western peak (Shaoshi) are connected by a ridge trail with views over the Yiluo River plain. The Song mountain area as a whole contains an exceptional concentration of ancient buildings — the Zhou Dynasty Observation Platform, Han Dynasty Que Gate Towers, Taoist temples, and Buddhist structures — inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010. If you are interested in the mountain rather than just the monastery, allow a second day.