City guide · Anhui
Anhui's 2,000-year-old capital: the hometown of China's model judge, a moat-turned-garden ring, and the fast rail gateway to Huangshan.
Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10
The short version
City guide
Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.
Anhui felt like a child playing by the sea who stumbles on treasure — a catch so unexpected and so complete that I could hardly believe it.
Traveller note — 'Memories of Dashu Hill'
I love Hefei not only for its taste of technology, but for the way it keeps learning and moving forward; and for its long history, its generosity, its embrace.
Traveller note — 'Hefei, Through Many Springs'
Hefei has been a regional capital for most of two thousand years, and for most of that time it was a place to be defended rather than admired: a river junction behind a ring of water, guarding the road from the north China plain down into the Yangtze delta. That ring is still there — as a moat-turned-park that loops the old centre — and almost everything you came to see sits inside it.
Its two defining figures come from opposite ends of its history. Bao Zheng, the Song-dynasty official who became the nation's enduring symbol of the incorruptible judge, was born just outside the city and is buried here; Li Hongzhang, the late-Qing statesman who founded the Beiyang Fleet, built his family mansion on what is now the main shopping street. Between them they anchor the whole old town.
Hefei likes to call itself a garden city, and for once it is not just marketing. The moat ribbon park, the city lakes and the two forested hills on the outskirts — Dashu in the west, Zipeng further south — give it a genuinely green, unhurried feel, and locals treat the Huancheng park as their living room, walking it at dusk in their thousands.
And it is a gateway. Lake Chao, one of China's five largest freshwater lakes, lies on the city's southern edge; the water town of Sanhe is a short drive out; and the high-speed line to Huangshan puts the Yellow Mountains and the Hui villages of Hongcun and Xidi about an hour and a half away. Many travellers make Hefei the first stop of a Huangshan trip.
Hefei
Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.
Highlights
The shrine of Bao Gong, the Song-dynasty official remembered as China's model of an incorruptible judge, on its own island inside the Baohe moat park. White walls, grey tiles and a hall that holds his seated statue — the whole old-town core is built around his story.
The family mansion of the late-Qing statesman who founded the Beiyang Fleet, sitting mid-way along the Huaihe Road pedestrian street. It is the city's largest surviving notable's house, and its halls now hold a life-of-Li exhibition and the story of the Huai Army.
A free water-and-green park on the site of the 215 AD battle in which the Wei general Zhang Liao routed Sun Quan's far larger army. Today it is a lake, a boat pavilion and broad lawns — the city's favourite place to do nothing at all.
A large exhibition-and-leisure park that gathers a landmark building from every one of Anhui's regions, with Hui-style shopfronts in the south and a northern royal-garden style in the east. The quickest single primer on the whole province before you head out.
A 2,500-year-old water town 40 km southwest where three rivers meet, with the classic 'eight old things' — old street, old bridge, old wharf, old tea houses and more. Less theme park than working village, and best in the early morning.
An isolated 284-metre hill 10 km west, ringed by a forest park and gardens, plus the provincial museum's bronzes, Han relief stones and Huizhou carving. Between them they cover the city's landscape and its history in a single day.
Suggested itineraries
The two-day plan stays inside and around Hefei. The four-day route uses Hefei as the northern gateway to the Yellow Mountains and the Hui villages.
The old-town core on day one, a day trip on day two.
Start at Bao Zheng's memorial shrine, then walk a stretch of the moat park. Continue to Li Hongzhang's mansion on Huaihe Road and eat lunch on the pedestrian street.
In the afternoon, take in Xiaoyaojin Park and the Anhui Museum, then finish with a wander and dinner in the old town. If you have energy left, the moat ring at dusk is the city at its best.
Stops: Bao Zheng Memorial ShrineHuancheng ParkLi Hongzhang's ResidenceXiaoyaojin ParkAnhui Museum
Choose the water town of Sanhe — old streets, bridges and tea houses, with the six-sight combined ticket — or stay closer in and do Dashu Hill with its forest park, botanical garden and wildlife park.
Back in the city for the evening, eat on Ruzi-style food streets or, in summer, at the crayfish taverns around Ningguo Road.
Stops: Sanhe Ancient TownDashu HillShushan Forest ParkNingguo Road
The classic northern-Anhui route, using Hefei as the rail gateway.
Use the two-day city plan and compress it: the old-town core in a full day — Bao Zheng's shrine, Li Hongzhang's mansion, Xiaoyaojin and the Anhui Museum.
Stops: Bao Zheng Memorial ShrineLi Hongzhang's ResidenceXiaoyaojin Park
Take the high-speed train to Huangshan North, then transfer to the Yellow Mountains scenic area at Tangkou. Settle in and walk an easy valley or a cable car in the afternoon.
Stops: Huangshan NorthTangkouHuangshan Scenic Area
Spend a full day on the mountain — the Bright Summit, the Flying-Over Rock and the Greeting Pine. The next day, come down to the Hui villages: Hongcun's Moon Pond and South Lake, and the lanes of Xidi about 30 minutes away.
Stay a night in Hongcun if you can, then return north to Hefei or continue on the high-speed network.
Stops: Bright SummitGreeting PineHongcunXidi
Sights
Ticket prices in China change without much notice. Treat these as a guide and confirm on arrival.
History · ¥20
Properly the Shrine of Lord Bao Xiaosu, dedicated to Bao Zheng, the Song-dynasty official whose name became shorthand for an honest judge. It sits on a small island in the Baohe moat park, a walled three-sided courtyard of white walls and grey tiles; the main hall holds his seated statue and a black stone portrait, and the whole complex is a monument to the ideal of the incorruptible official.
Tip Come in the morning, when the island and the moat are quiet and the neighbouring Baohe park is full of locals doing tai chi. It pairs naturally with a walk along the moat ring.
History · ¥20
The family home of Li Hongzhang, the late-Qing statesman, general and founder of China's modern navy, and the largest surviving notable's residence in Hefei. A late-Qing Jianghuai courtyard house with fine carved beams, it now holds a life-of-Li exhibition in the front hall and a display on the Huai Army clique he led through the front hall and the east wing.
Tip It is right on the pedestrian street, so combine it with lunch and shopping rather than making a separate trip. The carvings and the courtyard are as much the draw as the exhibition.
Park · Free
A former three-kingdoms battlefield that became a city park. In 215 AD the Wei general Zhang Liao, heavily outnumbered, routed Sun Quan's ten-thousand-strong army here; the site is now a lake with a pavilion, boats, and lawns full of families, and one of the 'new ten sights of Hefei'.
Tip It is a five-minute walk from the Ming temple of Jiaonu Tai, so do them together. Rent a small boat or just find a bench — this is where Hefei relaxes.
Theme park · ¥20
A large park that presents a landmark building from each of Anhui's regions side by side, laid out as a Hui-style shopping street in the south and a northern royal-garden style in the east, with a modern 'century bridge' in the middle. Contrived, but an efficient way to see the whole province's architectural range in an hour or two.
Tip Go if you are not already heading into the Hui villages, or if you want an easy half-day with kids — it is green, flat and uncrowded on weekdays. If Hongcun is on your route, you can skip it.
Museum · Free
The provincial museum, and the best single primer on Anhui before you head to the villages. Its collections are strong on Shang and Zhou bronzes, Chu-state currency, Han relief stones, Huizhou carving, ink and paper, and Ming and Qing painting — arranged across ancient-civilisation and palaeontology galleries that are free to enter.
Tip Closed on Mondays — plan around it. Two hours does the highlights; the Huizhou carving and the bronzes are the sections not to miss, especially if Hongcun and Xidi are next on your list.
Hill · Free
An isolated 284-metre hill about 10 km west of the centre — 'shu' means alone, for its lone peak — ringed by a forest park of 200-odd species, plus the botanical garden and a wildlife park nearby. Paths wind to the summit, and from the top you get a clear view back over the city and its plains.
Tip The south face of the hill borders a police academy and a training base, and you may see groups of officers drilling on the slopes — give them a wide, respectful berth and keep to the marked paths.
Water town · ¥70
A 2,500-year-old water town 40 km southwest, named for the three rivers that meet here — the Fengle, Hangbu and Xiaonan. It has kept its 'eight old things': old river, bridges, dykes, streets, houses, tea houses and battlefield, and because it sits at the meeting of three counties it was once said that one crowing rooster could be heard in all three.
Tip Go early, before the tour groups, and walk the riverside and the bridges first — the lanes get busy by late morning. The combined ticket only pays off if you plan to go inside the houses; the streets themselves are free to walk.
Eating
Hefei's Anhui kitchen is heavier and more savoury than coastal Chinese food — braises, cured meats and river fish, with a strong tradition of banquet dishes.
The city's signature dish, also called 'Xiaoyao chicken' after the nearby park. A whole chicken cooked with Chinese herbs added to the pot, said to have been made for the ailing warlord Cao Cao by his cook — the skin turns yellow, the meat white and tender, quite unlike a roast chicken.
A famously improvised dish: a mixed braise of whatever the kitchen has, traditionally seafood and leftovers combined. It is named for the Qing statesman who, the story goes, invented it to feed unexpected guests at a banquet abroad — and it has been a Hefei staple ever since.
Carp from the Baohe moat, with dark backs — hence the nickname 'Bao Gong's fish'. Braised slowly with vinegar and seasonings until the bones go soft and the flesh stays sweet, and famously served cold. A banquet dish with a following.
A Sanhe speciality: dumplings with a skin made from rice flour rather than wheat, filled with minced pork and seasonings, then deep-fried until golden. Crisp at the edge, savoury inside, and around a century old.
Once a dish of the imperial court, and Hefei's most famous export dish. The duck is selected and processed carefully, roasted to crisp skin and tender flesh, savoury and not too rich. Buy it by the bird, with the duck-fat pastries it is eaten with.
From June, all Hefei eats crayfish: boiled or spiced, eaten outdoors with cold beer. The Ningguo Road crayfish street is the local institution, and the city even runs a crayfish festival. Messy, cheap and enormous fun.
Where to eat
Phone numbers are local landlines; add +86 and drop the leading 0 if calling from abroad.
Chicken soup · Cheap
Hefei's best-known Chinese fast-food chain, and effectively a local answer to KFC. Its chicken and chicken soup are the draw — a small pot of soup is right for two, rich and fragrant. Clean, quick, filling and reliable, which is exactly the point. Around ¥19 a head.
Roast duck · Cheap
A Hefei old name that locals all know. It started with roast duck and duck-fat pastries, and the pastries are still excellent — crisp, fragrant and sold to a permanent queue. Beyond the duck, it runs a Huaiyang menu that is quietly very good. Around ¥21 a head.
Crayfish · Mid-range
A Hefei institution that always seems to be full. Prices are on the higher side, but the crayfish are worth it, and a summer night with a cold beer and a table of them is the whole point. It is close to the Ningguo Road crayfish street, so you can graze the district. Around ¥70 a head.
Anhui cooking · Mid-range
Tucked into the Shushan forest park, with a rustic, refined look and a calm setting that makes the food taste better. The cooking is good and the room is busy; it is the place to eat a proper Anhui meal while looking out at the hill. Around ¥73 a head.
Food streets · All day
Two eating districts worth knowing. Huaihe Road pedestrian street, on the old town's spine, mixes malls and snacks and is at its best after shopping; Ningguo Road is the summer crayfish and night-food street, where the tables spill into the road once the heat comes.
Sleeping
The city centre suits most travellers — near Huaihe Road for the pedestrian street, or by the old-town lake. For Sanhe, staying in the town itself lets you see it after the day-trippers leave.
Hostel · from ¥35
A hostel in Hefei's university district, between the Guogou plaza and the Huaihe Road commercial zones. Quiet despite the location, with clean, comfortable beds and a relaxed common area. The obvious pick for students and solo travellers on a budget. Beds from ¥35.
Riverside · from ¥144
A hotel in Feixi county, built along the river in Sanhe, with pleasant, well-equipped rooms and windows onto the water. It is the best base for a night in Sanhe Ancient Town, letting you see the town after dark once the day-trippers have gone. Rooms from ¥144.
Established · from ¥328
Anhui's state-guesthouse, set on three sides of water in grounds of trees, bamboo and birdsong — locally nicknamed the 'urban bird island' and the 'natural oxygen bar'. It has hosted national leaders and foreign heads of state, so expect quiet, space and formality. Rooms from ¥328.
Upscale · from ¥420
A curved landmark hotel on Swan Lake in the government and cultural district, with gardens running down to the water and a 26th-floor viewing restaurant over the lake. It is the city's smart, comfortable luxury option, a short ride from the central sights. Rooms from ¥420.
Boutique · from ¥128
A small hotel with more personality than its size suggests, facing Xiaoyaojin Park and beside the Huaihe Road pedestrian street. It is built around duplex room types with a simple, contemporary look — clean, comfortable and good value for the location. Rooms from ¥128.
Getting around
Buses run at ¥1–2 and reach nearly every sight; the metro and BRT cover the main axis. For Sanhe, a car or the tourist-bus minibus is the practical choice.
Hefei Xinqiao International Airport (HFE) is the city's main airport, about 30 km northwest of the centre, with a dense domestic network and routes across East and Southeast Asia.
Hefei is one of the four great railway hubs of the Yangtze delta, which is why it is such a convenient starting point. Hefei South takes the high-speed services; the older Hefei station covers the traditional lines.
If you are heading to Huangshan and the Hui villages, Hefei South is the station you want — the direct service is quick, and the Huangshan North end links straight onto buses for Hongcun and Xidi.
A growing metro network threads the centre, and BRT bus services run along the main boulevards, with free transfers between some central stops. Together they are the cheap, traffic-proof way across town.
A dense bus network of 80-odd routes reaches almost every sight in the city, at a flat ¥1 a ride, or ¥2 on air-conditioned and longer routes. Most are no-change pay-on-board, so keep small notes and coins.
Metered and cheap, with a flagfall around ¥6 for the first 2.5 km; a 20% night surcharge applies from 22:00 to 06:00. Hailing one at rush hour can be slow, which is why ride-hailing apps are the local habit.
Shared and rental bikes are set up across the city, free for the first hour and cheap after that — good for the flat central streets and the lakeside parks. Intercity coaches leave from several stations for the surrounding counties and beyond.
Shopping
Crafts cluster in the old-town shops and the Cheng Huang Miao market; Anhui's provincial specialities — tea, ink, paper and brushes — are all stocked in the city as well.
A Jianghuai folk craft: a special high-heat iron pen is used like a Chinese brush to burn landscapes, birds and figures into bamboo or wood, with light and shade built up stroke by stroke. Distinctive and hard to find elsewhere.
A traditional Sanhe handicraft, made mostly from goose feathers in two kinds — white and wild-goose, the latter rarer and more prized. Light, elegant and very Anhui — a small, packable souvenir.
Slips of bamboo veneer are pressed flat, glued to a wood panel and carved with flowers, birds, figures and landscapes. The surface is smooth and ivory-toned, and the effect is quietly decorative — a classic provincial gift.
As the provincial capital, Hefei gathers Anhui's famous products: Huangshan Maofeng and Taiping Houkui tea, Shexian ink sticks, Jingxian paper and brushes, and Gujinggong liquor. The craft and department stores around Huaihe Road are the place to look.
Practical
Staffed English help is not guaranteed. Save these before you need them.
| Emergency (police / ambulance / fire) | 110 · 120 · 119 |
|---|---|
| First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University | 218 Jixi Road · 0551-62922406 |
| Anhui Provincial Hospital | 17 Lujiang Road · 0551-62283114 |
| Post office | Hefei postcode 230000 |
| Tourism bureau | City government centre, 100 Dongliu Road · 0551-3537736 |
| Cash & cards | WeChat Pay and Alipay accepted almost everywhere; carry coins and small notes for buses |
| Tipping | Not expected and often politely refused — do not add a tip to the bill |
| Visa | Many nationalities now enter China visa-free for short stays — confirm your passport's status before booking |
Tips
Bao Zheng's shrine, Li Hongzhang's mansion and Xiaoyaojin sit close together inside the moat ring, with the Anhui Museum a short ride away. Walking the ring rather than hopping between taxis is both cheaper and better.
The Anhui Museum closes on Mondays, as do several other state-run sights. If your only free day is a Monday, move it — the museum is the best single primer on the province before Huangshan and the Hui villages.
The water town is only an hour out, but the tour coaches arrive late morning. Get there early, walk the riverside and the bridges first, and the lanes will still be yours.
Hefei's taxis can be hard to hail at peak times, which has bred unlicensed cars and motorbike taxis around the stations. Use the official stand or a ride-hailing app instead, and agree the meter or the app price.
The south face of Dashu Hill borders a police academy and a training base, and you may see groups drilling there. Keep to the marked paths and do not photograph them.
From June, Hefei's evenings move outdoors to the crayfish streets, and Ningguo Road is the capital of it. Go late, order by the kilo, and expect to get your hands dirty — it is the city's best night out.
Background
Hefei sits in the middle of Anhui, between the Yangtze and the Huai River and on the shore of Lake Chao, which puts it at the meeting point of north and south China — a landscape of low hills, terraces and river plains. Its name is a description: 'Hefei' means the meeting of the Fei waters, where the eastern and southern branches of the Fei River converge.
The climate is humid subtropical, in transition between the warm temperate north and the subtropical south, with an average of about 16°C and around 1,000 mm of rain a year. It has four distinct seasons, a pronounced plum-rain period in May and June, and hot, wet summers. Spring and autumn are the seasons to come.
Hefei has around two thousand years of history and has been an administrative seat for most of them — under the names Hezhou, Luzhou and others, it was a prefectural capital guarding the routes between the north China plain and the Yangtze delta. It was a place of strategic weight: 'the lips and teeth of Jiangnan, the collar and throat of the Huai'. In 215 AD the battle of Xiaoyaojin, in which Zhang Liao beat a vastly larger Wu army, was fought here.
In the Ming and Qing it was the seat of Luzhou prefecture, which is why locals still call the city Luzhou. It became Anhui's provincial capital in the twentieth century, first under the Republic and then, from 1952, under the People's Republic. Its two great figures, Bao Zheng and Li Hongzhang, come from opposite ends of that span — the honest official and the modernising statesman.
The modern city is a different animal: one of China's leading centres of science and technology, home to the University of Science and Technology of China and a cluster of national laboratories. Locals like to point out that the city that produced China's model of an incorruptible judge now produces some of its most advanced research — and that both, in their way, are about doing things properly.
Travel with them
Not guides — films, books and music made here or about here, that show the city the way the people in it see it.
Hefei Television
A drama set at the very start of reform and opening-up, when households around Bashang Street began contracting land to families. It follows a cast of ordinary Hefei characters through the years that changed the city, and it was the first major series Hefei made about itself.
Liu Zhengping
A collection of essays about the city by an author who grew up in it — its history, its building, the people who live there, and his own and his family's stories. Plain, warm and closely observed, it is the book to read if you want the city's voice rather than its sights.
Piaoband (Drifting Band)
The song that made a Hefei band's name, written about the city its members grew up in. Their singer has described their music as coming from real life, from happiness that carries sweat and difficulty — and this track is exactly that: plain, local and honest.
The questions visitors ask us most about Hefei, answered plainly.
Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.
Two days for the city: day one for Bao Zheng's shrine, Li Hongzhang's mansion, Xiaoyaojin Park and the Anhui Museum, all inside the old-town ring; day two for Sanhe Ancient Town or Dashu Hill. A third day lets you add Lake Chao and slow down. Many people use it as a one-night stop on the way to Huangshan.
April to October, with spring and autumn the best of it. Spring is warm and blooming; autumn is clear and dry. Summer is hot and humid, with the plum-rain season dumping most of the year's water in May and June. Winter is cold but dry, around 0–8°C, with plenty of clear skies.
Yes, with the right expectations. It is not a preserved ancient capital, but it has a real old-town core — Bao Zheng's shrine, Li Hongzhang's mansion, the moat-ring parks — a strong and distinctive regional kitchen, and the Anhui Museum. And it is the natural first stop before Huangshan and the Hui villages of Hongcun and Xidi.
Anhui's Hefei kitchen is heavier and more savoury than the seafood-led cooking of the coast. Try Cao Cao chicken, Li Hongzhang's hodgepodge, braised Baohe carp, Sanhe rice dumplings and Luzhou roast duck. In summer the whole city turns to crayfish — the Ningguo Road crayfish street is where locals go.
Sanhe Ancient Town, 40 km southwest, a 2,500-year-old water town of old streets, bridges and wharves; Dashu Hill with its forest park, botanical garden and wildlife park; and Lake Chao on the city's southern edge, one of China's five largest freshwater lakes. Farther out, Huangshan and the Hui villages are a rail ride away.
By high-speed rail. Hefei South station connects to Huangshan North in about 90 minutes, and from there it is roughly an hour by road to Hongcun and Xidi in Yixian county. Hefei is the main northern gateway to the Yellow Mountains, so a night here before heading south is a common and sensible plan.
Mostly. Buses are ¥1–2 and reach the sights, the metro is bilingual, and taxis are metered and cheap. BRT runs along the main boulevards. English is thin outside hotels, so keep a translation app and your destination written in Chinese. Ride-hailing apps work well and often beat hailing on the street.
Plan this trip
The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.
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Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.
Guangxi
City guide · 12 tours
One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.
Huizhou
City guide · 12 tours
A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.
Beidaihe
City guide · 12 tours
Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.
Shanhaiguan
City guide · 12 tours
The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.
Baiyangdian
City guide · 12 tours
The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.
Qinhuangdao
City guide · 12 tours
126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.
Yesanpo
City guide · 12 tours
Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.
Zhuhai
City guide · 12 tours
The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.
Wuyi Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.
Jiuzhaigou
City guide · 12 tours
108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.
Mount Siguniang
City guide · 12 tours
Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.
Hailuogou
City guide · 12 tours
A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both.
Daocheng Yading
City guide · 12 tours
Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan.
Shunan Bamboo Sea
City guide · 12 tours
Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo.
Dujiangyan
City guide · 12 tours
Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years.
Qingcheng Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven.
Qingdao
City guide · 12 tours
Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea.
Mount Tai
City guide · 12 tours
1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.
Jinan
City guide · 12 tours
A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.
Weihai
City guide · 12 tours
1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.
Qufu
City guide · 12 tours
One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.
Penglai
City guide · 12 tours
China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.
Changdao
City guide · 12 tours
32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.
Nanjing
City guide · 12 tours
Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.
Suzhou
City guide · 12 tours
Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.
Zhouzhuang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.
Tongli
City guide · 12 tours
Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.
Wuxi
City guide · 12 tours
Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.
Yangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.
Zhenjiang
City guide · 12 tours
Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.
Changzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.
Wuzhen
City guide · 12 tours
A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.
Xitang
City guide · 12 tours
Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.
Hangzhou
City guide · 12 tours
A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.
Xixi Wetland
City guide · 12 tours
Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.
Ningbo
City guide · 12 tours
A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.
Mount Putuo
City guide · 12 tours
A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.
Qiandao Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.
Shaoxing
City guide · 12 tours
Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.
Zhoushan
City guide · 12 tours
1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.
Hengdian
City guide · 12 tours
A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.
Yandang Mountain
City guide · 12 tours
A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.
Zhejiang
City guide · 12 tours
One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.
Hong Kong Outlying Islands
City guide · 12 tours
Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.
Hong Kong Shopping
City guide · 12 tours
A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.
Macao
City guide · 12 tours
Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.
Urumqi
City guide · 12 tours
The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.
Hong Kong SAR, China
City guide · 11 tours
A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.
Taiwan, China
City guide · 11 tours
Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.
Qinghai Lake
City guide · 12 tours
A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.
Mount Emei
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.
Beijing
City guide · 11 tours
Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.
Taipei
City guide · 11 tours
A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.
North Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.
Lanzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.
Mount Hua
City guide · 11 tours
Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.
Dunhuang
City guide · 11 tours
A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.
Gannan
City guide · 11 tours
433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.
Sichuan–Tibet Highway
City guide · 11 tours
2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.
Kangding
City guide · 11 tours
The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.
Lhasa
City guide · 12 tours
A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.
Nyingchi
City guide · 11 tours
Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.
Namtso
City guide · 11 tours
A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.
Chongqing
City guide · 12 tours
A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.
Qiandongnan
City guide · 11 tours
A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.
Libo
City guide · 11 tours
Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.
Guiyang
City guide · 11 tours
China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.
Zhenyuan
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.
Huangguoshu
City guide · 11 tours
Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.
Harbin
City guide · 11 tours
Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.
Yunnan
City guide · 11 tours
Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.
Shanghai
City guide · 11 tours
A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.
Zhangjiajie
City guide · 11 tours
Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.
Guangzhou
City guide · 11 tours
A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.
Guilin
City guide · 11 tours
Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.
Shenzhen
City guide · 11 tours
A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.
Chengdu
City guide · 11 tours
A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.
Xinjiang
City guide · 11 tours
Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.
Xi'an
City guide · 14 tours
Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.
Qinghai
City guide · 11 tours
China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.
Tibet
City guide · 11 tours
A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.
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