Step into the legendary Qinling Mountains, the great range just south of Xi'an, on this easy, fully private day trip. Your English-speaking guide and private driver collect you from your hotel and drive about ninety minutes to the quiet Chepaoyu valley, gateway to a gentle, beginner-friendly mountain walk rich in scenery and folklore.

Entering the valley past old temple ruins, you follow a winding, shaded path beside a clear stream for the first stretch, climbing slowly through peaceful woodland. After about two hours you reach the Dragon King Temple, passing the Fayin Temple on the hillside with its dignified relic pagoda. Though these are foothills rather than high peaks, the valley is famous for its sea of clouds: when mist rises after rain it wraps the slopes in a dreamy, immortal-mountain atmosphere.

The day's highlight is the natural rock at the summit, shaped uncannily like a human head, which gives the mountain its name. From the viewing platform the landscape opens wide, and the rock, framed by drifting cloud, has an almost storybook quality. At the hilltop Yuzu Pavilion you stop for a lunch provided on tour, with open mountain views all around, then enjoy free time to relax, photograph the scenery and take in the pine-scented air.

In the early afternoon you make the gentle descent, reaching the foot of the mountain in the later afternoon before your private car returns you to your Xi'an hotel. It is an unhurried, scenic way to experience the wild beauty and quiet temples of the Qinling Mountains in a single comfortable day, with no strenuous climbing required.