One of China's four Buddhist mountains, the five flat peaks of Wutai Shan – the name means "Five-terrace Mountain" – rise around 3000m above sea level in the northeastern corner of Shanxi province, near the border with Hebei. The long bus ride here is rewarded with fresh air, superb scenery, some fascinating temple architecture and a spiritual (if not always peaceful) tone.

Though increasingly accessible today, the mountain's formerly remote location has always given it a degree of protection, and many of Wutai Shan's forty temples have survived the centuries intact. The monastic village of Taihuai is the focus, which sits in a depression surrounded by the five holy peaks; highlights are the ninth-century revolving bookcase of the Tayuan Si and the twoancient temples, the Song-dynasty Foguang and the Tang-dynasty Nanchan. All the temples today are working and full of resident clergy, despite an escalating number of tour groups trudging around them in peak season – though it must be said, you'll also see a surprising number of ordinary Chinese people here as pilgrims, thumbing rosaries and prostrating themselves on their knees as they clamber up the temples' steep staircases.