If you're a casual visitor to Yantai, there's a spot that you aren't likely to find much information on. In fact, I'd only seen parts of it in passing while riding the bus up until recently.
After living in Yantai for so long, you'd think I'd seen most of the local tourist attractions. Although I've seen many, there are a few that I've still not gotten to yet - but I WILL get to them. Yuhuangding ( http://asiatravel.freechinalink.com/Yuhuangding_Park.htm ) was one of those places up until 2016. I'd heard of it and knew generally where it was - but because it was off the beaten path and I really didn't have any idea what was there I never felt the urge to go there.
During Spring Festival 2016 a dear friend arranged for a car to take me and my travel partner to Yuhuangding. We went there, cameras in hand, not knowing what to expect. And we were VERY impressed with what we saw.
Since we knew we had plenty of time to kill, we took our time taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. There was also added decor due to the Lantern Festival.
There were lanterns hanging from everything. And the general activity level was bustling. There were not excessive people like some tourist areas, but due to the holidays many people were on school or work break so there were a good amount of people visiting Yuhuangding while we were there.
As you can see, people were taking their time and enjoying the peace just like we were. These men were playing a card game on the steps up to one of the buildings.
We had such a wonderful time in 2016, that when we brought 2 newbies to China in 2017 we made sure to take them there. And all 4 of us came armed with cameras and ready for fun.
Although the architecture is beautiful and everything is well taken care of, there's seemingly little information on Yuhuangding that is easily found. If you do a Google search for it, the majority of your top results will be for the hospital that's just outside the main entry to the park OR say something about it but show pictures of Penglai Pavilion.
On the path from the entry gate to the different buildings, you will most likely find vendors selling souvenirs and toys for children. We decided to buy some bubbles to play with along the way. This often attracted people, mostly children, to engage with us. It was a lot of fun meeting new people despite language barriers.
And of course, taking pictures was lots of fun. From these Google results, you can see we weren't the only ones to enjoy taking pictures. https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x35906390fc871e1d:0xf22e236649c975f2!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4shttps://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipM2Eoioi_ZTe-cUPXVnE9Z_LKR7Y9_Oj42rNB9F%3Dw266-h200-k-no!5syuhuangding+park+-+Google+Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipM2Eoioi_ZTe-cUPXVnE9Z_LKR7Y9_Oj42rNB9F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj45tPM1pviAhUBuZ4KHSX2A7YQoiowDnoECA4QBg
I hope one day you'll be able to visit this beautiful place and share your pictures here with me. Staged, artistic, scenery and architectural - they ALL turn out wonderfully.
The most amazing part is that although it's "off the beaten path" it's VERY accessible. You walk out the gate and you're at a main thoroughfare that's just a few blocks away from bustling downtown Yantai. You can see how near to Nan Da JIe (South St) it is on this map https://www.google.com/maps/@37.536715,121.3847523,17z . It's even within walking distance of Bei Ma Lu (Beina Rd) where you can find Joy City and the train station.
And if you're lucky, you might also see a bride getting her hair & make-up done for her photoshoot!
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