Meilin Mountain, The City Hike
Greenery in the middle of urban jungle / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Meilin Mountain is a great hike option for those who do not want to travel too far out of the city, that’s because it located right in the city centre, sprawling across Nanshan and Futian districts. The highlights of this hike are some great views of downtown Shenzhen (on a clear day), some great nature on display, multiple start and end points, and easy access from the metro.
City views on offer from this hike / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Some of the downsides are, the basic route is a little easy (3 hours or so), its usually quite popular especially on weekends, and of course as with all Shenzhen hikes, lots of stairs.
The hike itself is not too difficult and is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. There is a lot of up and down here with some steep stairs drops and inclines. From start to finish with be around 20,000 steps or so, not extreme but a good solid workout. You have the option of taking the dirt trail too if you do not want to do the stairs, these run parallel to the stairs and if you ‘keep going up’ then you will reach the summit. At the top of Meilin there is a nice pagoda where you can rest, and eat a snack or two. Turn left at the pagoda to continue the hike.
Unfortunately there are a lot of stairs on this hike too / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
The great thing about this hike is that you can start and end in different locations. The most common starting point is at Meilin Reservoir. This is a casual gradual uphill path, until you reach a set of stairs, this is where the Meilin hike begins. This a very casual start and is usually the busiest part of the hike with many people buzzing around.
Meilin reservoir start point/ Courtesy Joe Macpherson
View of the reservoir / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Head up the stairs when you see this signpost/ Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Another start point is at the Meilin mountain park. This immediately starts with steep stairs, which last 20 minutes or so, then if you turn right at the cross roads it will lead to a long dirt path that winds around until the top. This is located nearby Qiaoxiang metro exit C. If you cross the road, you will see a Vanguard, keep walking ahead until you see an overpass bridge. The park entrance is right there.
Keep following the dirt path until you get to the pagoda on top/ Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Part of the dirt path that leads through Meilin Mountain/ Courtesy Joe Macpherson
In the city but surrounded by nature / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Around halfway through the hike there is an option to connect to Tanglang Mountain too. This will add around 3 hours onto your hike and turns the level from easy into quite difficult.
This path on the right leads to Tanglang Mountain / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
3 way signpost connecting you to different start and end points. The bottom arrow is for Tanglang / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
You could of course do the reverse too and start at Tanglang and end of Meilin. Tanglang Mountain is another popular city hike, with its biggest appeal being the monkeys that roam the forest here.
Tanglang mountain monkeys / Courtesy Joe Macpherson
Details
The hike has limited if any bathrooms, so be prepared for that. There is also nowhere to buy water along the way so bring your own, or buy before you start. There are many rest stops on route, so you can go at whatever pace you want. Not many sign posts along the way, but the path is pretty easy to work out.
Where:
Meilin mountain park entrance
Meilinshan Park, Meilin Rd, MeiLin, Futian District, Shenzhen 深圳市福田区梅亭路14号梅林山公园
Qiaoxiang metro exit C
Meilin Reservoir Start
Xiameilin metro station (line 9) exit C
Tanglang Start
Tanglang Mountain 塘朗山
Longzhu road North, Nanshan North East side, Shenzhen 深圳塘朗山郊野公园位于深圳市南山区东北部，龙珠大道以北，留仙大道以南，西起红花岭，东止于福田区与南山区交界
Taoyuancun metro (line 7) exit D
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