Moganshan is a year-round destination but has two distinct high seasons. Spring — April and May — brings mild weather, new bamboo shoots, and the tea harvest on the lower slopes. Autumn — October and November — offers clear skies, cooling temperatures, and the contrast of the bamboo forest with yellow ginko trees. Both seasons fill up on weekends when Shanghai residents descend in force; weekday visits are dramatically quieter.
Summer is the historical season for Moganshan — the whole point of the colonial villas was escaping Shanghai's summer heat — and the mountain is genuinely five degrees cooler than the cities below. This makes July and August comfortable, though weekends can be crowded. Winter brings occasional snow and has an atmospheric quality of its own, with the bamboo weighted down by ice and the stone villas emerging from fog.