Cingjing Farm

Cingjing sits at around 1,750 metres on the road up to Hehuanshan, on a shoulder of pasture that was cleared for farming and is now largely given over to visitors. The core is the Green Green Grasslands, a stretch of mown slope where a flock of sheep grazes and where shearing and sheepdog demonstrations are put on to a timetable. Above and along the road runs the Cingjing Skywalk, an elevated walkway of more than a kilometre built beside the hillside so that people can walk with the valley falling away rather than along the traffic. In the right conditions the cloud sits below the plateau and the ridges stand out of it, which is what most people come up for.

The landscape

• The Green Green Grasslands - mown pasture with a grazing flock, open to walk across.
• The sheep shearing show - timed demonstrations of shearing and sheepdog work on the slope.
• The Cingjing Skywalk - an elevated walkway over a kilometre long above the valley.
• The cloud sea - ridges standing out of low cloud, most reliable early and late in the day.

When to go

Autumn to spring gives the clearest air and the best chance of cloud below rather than around you; cherry trees flower in February. Cloud usually builds in the afternoon, so mornings are better. Weekends and public holidays fill the road, the car parks and the guesthouses, and shows are far more crowded then.

Before you go

It is a commercial farm attraction, and the pricing reflects that: entry, skywalk and parking are separate charges. The hillside above the road is packed with guesthouses in a jumble of European styles that many people find incongruous. The mountain road is slow and prone to weekend queues, and cloud can shut the view down entirely. Sheep shows are firmly aimed at children.

Nearby

Hehuanshan is higher up the same road and Puli sits in the valley below.

Key facts