Red Leaves Festival at Fragrant Hill in Beijing 2025

Fragrant Hills, or Xiangshan Park, is an imperial garden where emperors of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasty came for hunting and to seek relief from the summer heat. Nowadays, this place is famous for its autumn leaves. The park is home to many kinds of red-leaf trees, the majority of them — sumac and maple trees.

When is the Red Leaves Festival

The leaves in the park start to take on the hues of red and amber from about mid-October. Due to the different altitudes and temperatures, the color depth increases from the northwest mountainous areas to the southeast plain. The Red Leaves Festival is held at Fragrant Hill from mid-October through early November. Marveling at vibrant foliage is the primary theme of this event

The Red Leaves Festival in Xiangshan Park is devided into three viewing periods. The first lasts from mid-October to late October. At that time, the leavesare not totally red, so the hill looks mostly green with a few red accents. The second period is from late October to early November. At that time, the leaves get darker, and the scenery looks more saturated. The last period runs roughly from mid-November to late November when the temperatures drop, the wind blows off all the leaves from the trees, and visitors can see the red forest full of fallen leaves.

Scenic Locations

The park features various outlooks and scenic spots for viewing red leaves. Jingcui Lake is the most easily accessible place for you to view the foliage, thanks to its proximity to the east gate. Yuhua Villa provides an excellent panorama of the entire park. Xianglu Peak hike might be a little hard, but it's worth it because of the view from the highest peak, At the Sweat Mist Cave, you will be inside the deep-dyed woods and have a close view of the red leaves, but this route also requires some hiking.

The Ancient Royal Road across Heshun Gate to Badachu Park is where you can get the closest to the red leaves while passing by recently planted smoke trees. The last popular spot is called the Fragrant Hill Temple. Here, you can both learn the history of the Fragrant Hill and appreciate the beauty of autumn.

How to get to Fragrant Hills

The park is located in Haidian District, about 12 miles (20 km) from downtown Bejing. It can be reached by subway line 10 to Bagou Station (transfer to the Western Suburban Line and exit at Xiangshan Station). Alternatively, you can take line 4 and exit at Beigongmen Station, and take the bus 563 to Xiangshan Gongyuan Dongmen.