Maps are available at the mountain, and visitors are free to travel around and enter the monasteries. The mountain is big, but the monasteries offer cheap accommodation 10Y to 50Y per person; this information may be outdated, as some monasteries have asked upwards of ¥200/person. To comfortably see the whole mountain, you'll need at least three days, though you can reach the summit in a day. The more interesting spots are the secluded ones away from the tourist areas.
There are buses that will take you halfway up the mountain ¥40 or to near the top ¥50. From the top bus station, you can also take a cable car ¥60 up, ¥55 down the rest of the way to the summit. If you want to go down by bus after hiking up, ticket from Leidong Terrace to Baoguo temple cost ¥50. Restaurants are located at convenient intervals so there is little need to carry food. If you do, be aware of the thieving monkeys, have lost their fear of humans due to unregulated handouts of junk-food from Chinese tourists and note that they can be VERY AGGRESSIVE and dangerous more so than cute. Caution is strongly advised. Some people take sticks for their defense.
Hiking the mountain is a strenuous endeavor; although there are paved step paths to the summit, the trails are very steep in places, and hiking from Wannian Monestary to the Golden summit is about 30 km. Distances between accommodations can be large, so be sure that you'll be near one at sundown. Snow covers much of the top 18 km well into spring, so invest in a bamboo hiking pole and some crampons.
