Day Trip to China’s Abandoned Ghost Village: A Guide to Houtouwan
There’s a village a few hours off the coast near Shanghai where nature simply took the whole place back. Houtouwan was once home to thousands of fishermen — now it’s vine-choked houses, collapsed roofs buried in green and one of the most surreal places I’ve been to in China. If you’ve seen the photos online and wondered where on earth it is, this is everything you need to know before you go.
Houtouwan sits on Shengshan Island, part of the Zhoushan archipelago — the same island chain I covered in my Zhoushan Guide, so if you’re building a longer island-hopping trip out of this, start there.
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Why is Houtouwan abandoned?
Houtouwan was established in the 1950s and, at its peak in the 1980s, was home to around 3,000 people who made their living from fishing. Through the 1990s, that started to unravel — as fish stocks became scarcer, locals had to travel further to the mainland for work, which meant longer days and a lower quality of life. Combine that with the island’s remote, hard-to-reach location and limited access to schools and services, and families gradually made the move to the mainland or nearby islands with better infrastructure. By 2002, the village had been completely abandoned.
What happened next is the reason it’s famous today: with no one left to maintain the buildings, local vines, ferns and moss crept in and slowly swallowed the entire village whole. A set of photos of the overgrown ruins went viral online in 2015, and Houtouwan went from forgotten fishing village to one of China’s most photographed abandoned places almost overnight.
How to get to Houtouwan
This isn’t a spontaneous day trip — plan for it properly, and ideally build in a buffer day either side. From Shanghai, the route looks roughly like this:
- Bus or transfer to Shenjiawan Pier, on the outskirts of Shanghai
- Ferry to Shengsi Island, then a connecting ferry to Gouqi Island — the combined commute alone takes around four to six hours and ferries can be cancelled at short notice due to weather or fog, so plan in advance
- Cross the short bridge from Gouqi to Shengshan Island, where Houtouwan is actually located — Gouqi and Shengshan are technically two islands, connected
- Taxi from the port to Houtouwan — around 10–15 minutes, and it’s worth grabbing your driver’s contact for the return trip since taxis aren’t always waiting around
- Entrance fee to the village itself, plus a small extra fee if you want access to the viewing platform overlooking the whole site runs at around 55rmb and can be purchased here.
Be aware:
Ferry tickets usually can’t be booked online in advance, schedules change with the seasons and weather, and boats do get cancelled. Because of this, most visitors stay a night on Gouqi or Shengshan rather than trying to do it as a single-day round trip from Shanghai — treat it as a two-day trip at minimum. Summer brings the lushest greenery but also the biggest crowds; spring and autumn are quieter with still-decent foliage.
Full details in the Zhoushan Guide including accomodation.
What else to do around Houtouwan
Once you’ve explored the village itself (an hour or so is enough for most people, longer if you’re taking a lot of photos), there’s more worth building into the trip:
- The Buddhist temple on the hilltop near the village entrance, worth a stop on your way out
- The viewing platform, for an overview shot of the whole vine-covered valley from a distance
- Dawangcun village on Gouqi Island, where most visitors base themselves — seafood restaurants, a beach, and a small rooftop bar
- The cliffs on Shengshan’s eastern edge, if you’ve got a driver willing to take you further out
- Berry picking on Gouqi Island in season, plus swimming at the beaches nearby
Good to know before you go
- Stick to marked paths and don’t enter the crumbling buildings — the structures are genuinely unstable
- Bring cash, snacks and water, since options on the island are limited and card payment isn’t a given
- Pack for changeable weather — misty, overcast days actually make for some of the most atmospheric photos
Essential Apps to Download Before You Go
Looking for the essential travel tips for China as a whole – the apps, the gadgets and everything else you’re gonna need to optimise your time? You can read my first-timer guide here.
Final Note
Houtouwan isn’t a quick add-on, but it’s one of the strangest and most beautiful places I’ve visited in China, and genuinely worth the ferry-hopping to get there. If you’re planning to combine it with more of the archipelago, my Zhoushan Guide covers the wider area in more depth. If you’re planning a longer trip and want to combine a few of these, check out my 2-week or 3-week itineraries for how they all fit together.
Where to Next? Your China City Guides
To help you decide your next Chinese adventure, I’ve written detailed guides for every city I’ve loved and hated from my very own archives. Including where to stay, the best hotels, top things to do, eat and a 3 day itinerary, check them out below.
