Wulong is a mountainous county southeast of Chongqing where limestone laid down in the Paleozoic has been dissolved and reshaped by water into a karst landscape. The South China Karst was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007, and the Wulong component includes the Three Natural Bridges, the Houping Tiankeng and the Furong Cave system.
The cave
The cave is roughly 2.7 kilometers long and is divided into a series of large chambers. Its most distinctive feature is the variety of formations: massive stalactites and stalagmites, long curtains of flowstone, and unusually thin translucent calcite fins known as cave shields, which are rare elsewhere. A network of walkways and lighting makes the whole sequence accessible, and the scale is genuinely large; some chambers are dozens of meters high.
The surrounding karst
The nearby Three Natural Bridges are three huge natural limestone arches spanning a gorge, visible from the road, with a walkway down into the valley beneath them. The Houping Tiankeng is a very large collapse depression with near-vertical walls. Together they make Wulong one of the best karst landscapes in China.
Practical notes
Wulong is about 130 kilometers southeast of Chongqing, roughly two and a half hours by road; high-speed rail has shortened the journey to around one hour plus a transfer from the station. Many visitors stay one or two nights, since the main sites are spread out. The cave is a constant cool temperature and can be wet underfoot, so bring a light jacket and shoes with grip. Guided tours of the main sites are the easiest way to cover them, and the area is very busy on weekends and holidays.
