春湾石林 Chūnwān shí lín is a stone forest in the hills of 阳春市 Yángchūn shì, the northern county of 阳江 Yángjiāng, and it is the strangest landscape in the region. Around the small town of 春湾镇 Chūnwān zhèn, the flat country of fields and orchards is broken by towers of limestone that stand straight up out of the ground – sheer grey pillars and blades of rock, some of them tens of metres high, packed together in a grove like the trunks of trees, which is why it is called a forest. It is karst country at its most theatrical, and it has been used as a backdrop for films for decades.
The rock is the same limestone that hollows into caves and rises into peaks all through 阳春, and here it has been left as isolated towers where the softer stone around them has worn away. The result is a set of narrow slot canyons and shaded passages between the pillars, with paths and steps winding through them, and the scale is intimate rather than vast: you walk in among the stone, looking up at the sky between the blades. Some of the rock walls are hung with vines and ferns, and the ground between them is green and damp, so the whole place feels older and quieter than the open plain around it.
Beside the stone forest are the other sights of the 春湾 hills, and they are usually seen together. The 龙宫岩 Lónggōng yán, the Dragon Palace rock, is a cave in the same belt of limestone with chambers and formations of its own; and the hills above the town have viewpoints over the plain and the rock towers. The town itself is small and unhurried, with a market and a few eating houses, and 阳春 is the county of 春砂仁 chūn shā rén, the fragrant amomum, so the farmhouse kitchens nearby will cook the local amomum chicken. It is country for a slow day and a long look.
What makes 春湾 worth the drive is that it is a landscape you can walk into rather than only look at. The paths take you down between the pillars, where the light comes in thin and the air is cool, and then out again onto the plain with the towers standing all around. It is not a long visit – a couple of hours does it – and it combines naturally with the cave at 凌霄岩 in the same hills. Come in the cooler months for the clearest walking and the greenest fields, and bring shoes with grip, because the stone and the steps can be damp.
Practicalities
Tickets. The stone forest charges an entrance ticket, in the region of ¥40 to ¥70, which covers the paths between the pillars; the nearby 龙宫岩 cave is usually a separate ticket of similar size.
Opening hours. The stone forest is open roughly 08:30 to 17:30, with the last entry in the mid-afternoon. It is at its best in the morning and late afternoon, when the light rakes across the rock and the coaches have not yet arrived.
Getting there. 春湾石林 is at 春湾镇 in 阳春市, reached by road from 阳春 town in about forty minutes and from 阳江 city in about an hour and a half. There is no rail station at the stone forest; 阳春站 Yángchūn zhàn is the nearest, from which you hire a car or a taxi.
Closing day. The stone forest is open every day of the year with no weekly closing day. The paths between the pillars may be closed for safety in heavy rain, when the rock is wet and the ground slippery.
flowcloud would say that a plain of ordinary fields, interrupted by blades of limestone standing out of the ground for no reason a farmer can use, is the sort of landscape that reminds you the earth has its own ideas, and that walking among it is better than photographing it.
Getting there: 阳春 town is the base, about forty minutes by road, and 阳春站 Yángchūn zhàn is the rail gateway; from there a car or a taxi out to 春湾镇 is the way in.