Why Go
Cliff Country in the Three Gorges Hills
1. The cliffs
Yunyang sits in the hills above the Yangtze in the north-east of Chongqing, and the geopark shows the limestone landscape of the Three Gorges region at a larger scale than the river itself. Pale cliff bands run along the ridges, and green forest covers every slope below them.
The viewpoints are the point of the visit. From them the cliffs stack away into the distance, with the haze in the valleys softening each layer.
2. A basin and a river bend
The park includes a deep basin in the rock, a classic karst feature where the ground has dropped into a steep-sided hollow. In the lower ground a river fills a bend between wooded slopes, the water held back by reservoir works downstream.
Stone watchtowers stand on a forested ridge in the pictures, and a visitor centre with a sphere sculpture stands at the entrance plaza.
