Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area

More than 3,000 sandstone pillars — many rising over 200 metres — crowd the 26,000-plus hectares of Wulingyuan in Hunan, a stone forest cut by gorges and ravines where streams gather into pools and cascades. Roughly 40 caves and a pair of huge natural stone bridges complete the labyrinth, which shelters a number of endangered plants and animals. UNESCO inscribed the scenic area in 1992 for a landscape of singular, otherworldly beauty.