Mount Hua is the westernmost of China's five sacred mountains and widely considered the most vertiginous. The five main peaks rise from a common base in Hua Shan county, sixty kilometres east of Weinan city, with the South Peak reaching 2,155 metres. What sets Hua Shan apart from other famous mountains in China is not its height but its shape: the rock is almost entirely sheer granite, and the ancient paths that thread between the peaks run across narrow ridges, up chains bolted to cliffs, and along ledges so thin that pilgrims once had to tilt sideways to pass each other.
The North Peak is the lowest (1,615m) and the most accessible by cable car from the eastern base station. From there, a trail leads south over Canglong Ridge and up to the Central Plaza, where paths fan out to the remaining four peaks. Most visitors do a circuit: West Peak for the Lotus Flower rock formation, South Peak for the plank walk and the summit tea house, East Peak for sunrise views, and back. The full circuit from cable car to North Peak and back takes a long day; the peaks are also covered on an overnight hike from the base, arriving on the summit for dawn. The western cable car, from Yuquan Courtyard near the town of Huayin, is a more scenic but slower approach.
The town of Huayin, at the foot of the mountain, is thirty minutes by high-speed train from Weinan city and about an hour and twenty minutes from Xi'an. Accommodation is available both in Huayin and on the mountain itself, in simple guesthouses near the peaks.