City guide · Guangxi

Nanning travel guide: Qingxiu Mountain, the food streets, and day trips to Detian Falls and the Vietnam border

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.

Known forGreen city, food, Guangxi gateway
Typical spend¥1,000–1,800 / person
Ideal length2 days (city)
PaceEasy-going — eat and stroll

Plan this trip Nanning tours

Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10

The short version

Nanning is the capital of Guangxi and the gateway most travellers pass through, and 2 days is the right amount of time for the city itself: one for Qingxiu Mountain, the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities and Nanhu Park, one for the food streets and the riverside. It is a hinge for Beihai (3h), the Detian Falls (4h) and overland Vietnam, but treat it as more than a train change and it rewards you.

Two unhurried days beat a two-hour transit stop.
Nanning is the rail hub for Beihai (3h), Guilin (2.5h) and the Vietnam border.
Its food is the main event — laoyou noodles, suan ye, and the Zhongshan Road night market.
October to November brings the International Folk Song Festival and cooler weather.
Detian Falls, Asia's largest waterfall, is a four-hour day trip to the south-west.

City guide

First impressions

Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.

Before I came I changed my status to 'I'm going to Nanning' and everyone asked me where that was. I felt like I'd been posted to the middle of nowhere — and then I found a world painted in ink and wash.
A traveller's note, 'Ink-Wash Guangxi, the Hibiscus in Bloom'

The driver told me about Nanning all the way — the city's history, the new districts, where the locals actually eat at night. It was the best orientation I got.
A traveller's note, 'Seeing Lingnan with My Mother'

Nanning has four nicknames — the Green City, the Yong City, the Phoenix City, the City of Five Elephants — and it earns them the way a subtropical city should: with trees. Ringed by hills and cut through by the Yong River, it is one of the greenest provincial capitals in China, and forest covers more than two-fifths of the prefecture.

Most travellers treat it as a hinge: the place you change trains on the way to Beihai and the sea, or to the Detian Falls on the Vietnamese border, or the overland route to Hanoi. That is a mistake if you do it too quickly. The city has Qingxiu Mountain and its cycad gardens, the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities, the riverside parks, the 58-storey Diwang Tower, and above all a food culture that runs from a five-yuan bowl of noodles to a whole night market's worth of grilled oysters.

This is Zhuang country — Guangxi is the Zhuang Autonomous Region, and Nanning is its capital. Zhuang culture shows in the museums, in the folk festivals and in the March Third holiday, when the city fills with song contests, throwing-embroidered-ball games and lion dances performed on stacked benches.

It is also a modern, subtropical capital of nearly nine million, hot and humid in summer, mild and green in winter, and always relaxed. Give it two unhurried days and it will quietly outdo your expectations of a transit stop.

Nanning

Don't leave without

Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.

Eat a bowl of laoyou noodles at a decades-old street shop
Climb Qingxiu Mountain for the view over the Yong River
Spend an evening grazing the Zhongshan Road night market
See the bronze drums and costumes at the Museum of Nationalities
Wander the old lanes of Shimizu Street and the riverside
Day-trip to Detian Falls, straddling the Vietnam border

Highlights

What not to miss

Qingxiu Mountain

The city's signature park: 13.5 km² of hills, pagodas and cycad gardens above the Yong River. The Sago Palm Garden is the largest ex-situ conservation centre of its kind in China, and the Ming-style Longxiang Pagoda tops the view.

Guangxi Museum of Nationalities

The best single introduction to the Zhuang and the other peoples of Guangxi — costume, architecture, bronze drums and festival culture. Free, and closed on Mondays.

Zhongshan Road night market

Not a slick food street but a long, loud, genuinely local one, when the pavement fills with tables after dark. Grilled oysters, luosifen, suan ye and rolled noodles — Nanning's food scene in a single kilometre.

Laoyou noodles

The city's signature bowl — sour, spicy, rich with fermented bamboo and black beans, and a story that goes back a century. Five yuan at a street shop, and the thing locals miss most when they leave.

Detian Falls

The largest waterfall in Asia and the fourth-largest border waterfall in the world, straddling the China–Vietnam line near Daxin, about four hours from the city. One of the great day trips of the south.

Nanhu Park and the riverside

Nanhu, the South Lake, is three-quarters water, with boating, lotus in summer and a long green rim. With the Yong River embankment and People's Park, it is where Nanning spends its evenings.

Suggested routes

Ways to spend your days

The two-day Green City

2 days days

The city itself, at the pace Nanning actually runs at.

Day 1

Mountain, museum and market

Morning on Qingxiu Mountain for the view and the cycad gardens, then the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities. Afternoon at Nanhu Park, and the evening on the Zhongshan Road night market.

Stops: Qingxiu MountainMuseum of NationalitiesNanhu ParkZhongshan Road
Day 2

Parks, tower and food streets

People's Park and the Zhenning Fort for the city view, then the Diwang Tower for the panorama. Spend the rest of the day eating through the old streets and the riverside.

Stops: People's ParkDiwang TowerOld streets

The Detian Falls day trip

1 day days

A long day to the border and Asia's largest waterfall.

Day 1

Nanning to the falls and back

Leave early for the four-hour drive south-west through Daxin's karst scenery. Lunch at Shuolong, then the falls and the No. 53 border marker, with views across to Vietnam's Ban Gioc Falls. Return in the evening.

Stops: DaxinDetian FallsBorder marker 53

The Vietnam link

1–2 days days

For travellers continuing overland to Hanoi.

Day 1

Nanning to the border

Train or bus to Pingxiang and the Friendship Pass, the largest border gate on the China–Vietnam line, then across to Dong Dang and on by road.

Stops: PingxiangFriendship Pass
Day 2

Into Vietnam

The crossing formalities, then the onward journey toward Hanoi — or, if you prefer the sea route, the tour boats to Halong Bay from the Beihai direction.

Stops: Dong DangHanoi

Sights

Where the time actually goes

Park & viewpoint

Qingxiu Mountain

Nanning's signature scenic area, 13.5 km² of hills along the Yong River, described as 'mountains not high but elegant, water not deep but clear'. Within it: China's largest cycad conservation garden, the Ming-style Longxiang Pagoda, an ASEAN friendship garden and more than fifty smaller sights.

Ticket: ¥20; students ¥10; shuttle ¥5
Getting there: Buses 10, 32, 33, 62 to the main gate
Best time: Morning, for the clearest view

Tip The park is big — use the shuttle for the long climbs and save your walking for the ridge and the pagoda.

Museum

Guangxi Museum of Nationalities

The best place to understand Guangxi's peoples: the Zhuang and eleven other indigenous groups, their costume, architecture, bronze drums and festivals, all under one roof. Free, air-conditioned and the ideal first stop.

Ticket: Free
Open: Tuesday–Sunday 09:30–16:30; closed Mondays
Getting there: Bus 71 from the Qingxiu Mountain area, then a short walk or taxi

Tip There is no direct bus — from Qingxiu Mountain, a ¥15 taxi is the easy way over.

Park & history

People's Park and the Zhenning Fort

The 'White Dragon' park of the old Yongzhou eight sights, built around a lake and a hill, with 141 steps up to the Zhenning Fort and its 1890 German Krupp cannon. From the fort you get the whole city laid out below.

Ticket: Free
Getting there: Buses 14, 17, 38, 218
Best for: A city panorama and a slice of local history

Tip Climb to the fort in the late afternoon — the light on the city is best then, and the steps are cooler.

Observation

Diwang Tower

At 276 m and 58 floors the tallest building in south-west China, with a 54th-floor 'city living room' showing a satellite panorama, and a 59th-floor open observation deck. The 'air canyon' is a glass platform that juts out of the tower — not for the faint-hearted.

Ticket: ¥50
Open: Weekdays 09:00–22:00; weekends to 23:00
Getting there: Buses 6, 16, 25, 34 and others to Jinhu Plaza

Tip Go for dusk: you get the daylight panorama and the city lights in one visit.

Old town

Yangmei Ancient Town

A thousand-year-old riverside town 30 km out, once a trading hub on the Zuo River and a base for the 1911 revolutionaries. Its Qing-dynasty street, Ming houses, Kuixing Tower and Huang family mansion survive, and the 'Dragon Pool sunset' is one of its eight classic views.

Ticket: About ¥10; student discounts
Getting there: The dedicated tourist bus from Huaqiang Road, at 09:00, 10:00 and 11:00
Best for: A quiet half-day of old streets by water

Tip Return buses are few — roughly 14:00 and 16:00 — so plan your stay around them or arrange a car.

Waterfall

Detian Falls (side trip)

The largest waterfall in Asia and the fourth-largest border waterfall in the world, straddling the China–Vietnam line near Daxin. The Guichun River feeds it year-round, and the clear emerald water of the Mingshi pastoral scenery on the way makes the drive as good as the destination.

Ticket: ¥80
Best season: Spring and summer, when the water is strongest
Getting there: Direct tourist bus from Langdong, or bus to Daxin then onward

Tip This is a four-hour drive each way — an overnight near Daxin beats a rushed same-day return.

Food

What to eat

Laoyou noodles (老友粉)

The city's signature: sour, spicy and rich with fermented bamboo and black beans. Usually about ¥5 a bowl, and best at a no-frills shop that has made it for decades.

Rolled rice noodles (卷筒粉)

Steamed rice sheets rolled around pork, corn, beans and pickles, served with a yellow-peel sauce — the key is the tenderness of the noodle, not the filling.

Sheng zha fen (生榨米粉)

Noodles pressed fresh and fermented for a faint, distinctive sourness — the taste of the rice itself.

Lemon duck (柠檬鸭)

A Nanning staple: duck braised with lemon, pickled chilli and garlic, sour-sweet and impossible to stop eating.

Suan ye (酸嘢)

Pickled fruit and vegetables — papaya, radish, lotus root, pineapple — in vinegar, chilli and sugar. Sour, sweet, crunchy and everywhere.

Grilled oysters (烤生蚝)

The night-market standard: oysters on the half shell with garlic and chilli, cheap and best eaten standing up.

Where to eat

The food streets and the old favourites

Noodles

Shuji laoyou noodles

One of the city's best-known laoyou noodle shops — generous, punchy and the kind of place people miss after a few days away. Do not come for the decor; come for the bowl.

Where: 44 Qixing Road, Qingxiu district
Average spend: About ¥15 / person
Best for: The definitive laoyou noodles

Local speciality

Ganjiajie lemon duck

A well-known restaurant for Nanning's lemon duck — the citrus and chilli cut the duck's richness, and even people who do not usually eat duck come back for it. Popular, so arrive early.

Where: 12-2 Yuanhu South Road, Qingxiu district
Average spend: About ¥60 / person
Best for: The dish that defines Nanning cooking

Street shop

Tangjia rolled noodles

A tiny, narrow shop that fills fast, rolling rice-noodle sheets around corn, beans, pork and pickles. Proof that the best food is often the hardest to get a seat for.

Where: Jianzheng Nan Road, Qingxiu district
Average spend: About ¥10 / person
Best for: An authentic rolled-noodle breakfast

Pickled snacks

Suanpin Wang

The best-known suan ye shop in the city, with many branches and a huge range — fruit, vegetables and even some meat, all pickled to a precise balance of sour, salt and crunch.

Where: Qixing Xinmin Road, Qingxiu district
Average spend: About ¥15 / person
Best for: Suan ye, the snack Nanning is proud of

Night market

Zhongshan Road night market

The street Nanning people mean when they say 'food street'. By day a road, by night a wall of tables — grilled oysters, suan ye, laoyou noodles, rolled noodles, fried snacks and more, north and south Chinese food all together.

Where: Zhongshan Road, near the city centre
Average spend: ¥30–50 / person
Best for: One very long, very cheap dinner

Where to stay

Two good bases

International brand

Nanning Marriott Hotel

A full-service international hotel in the convention-centre district near Langdong station — a practical base for a short city stay, with a pool, garden and spa for unwinding after a day of walking.

Where: 131 Minzu Avenue, Qingxiu district
Price: Deluxe rooms from about ¥600 / night
Best for: Comfort and an easy link to Langdong

Business, central

Phoenix Hotel

A four-star business hotel opposite the airport-bus stop, five minutes' walk from the railway station — newly renovated, with the best value in the railway-station area.

Where: 63 Chaoyang Road, near Nanning Station
Price: Deluxe doubles from about ¥310 / night
Best for: Arriving by train and staying central

Hostel

Nanning Heyi Hostel

The city's first backpacker hostel, a small two-floor place with a bar and coffee lounge on the ground floor, and a reputation for helping travellers with onward Vietnam and Cambodia visas.

Where: 64 Shanghai Road, Xingning district
Price: Standard double from about ¥120 / night
Best for: Backpackers heading onward

Hostel

Washa International Youth Hostel

A hostel built from recycled materials on the oldest arcade street in the city centre, close to the Yong River, the riverside park and the Minsheng Road pedestrian street.

Where: 3 Jiefang Road, 3rd floor, Xingning district
Price: Dorms from about ¥50; doubles from ¥130
Best for: A central, characterful, budget base

Budget

City Comfort Inn (Xida branch)

A clean, cheap chain hotel by the main gate of Guangxi University, surrounded by banks, malls and restaurants — the pick if you want a university-district base with easy food.

Where: 1 Huoju Road, Xixiangtang district
Price: Standard double from about ¥200 / night
Best for: Budget comfort near the university

Getting around

How to reach Nanning and move on

By air

Nanning Wuxu International (NNG) is 32 km south-west of the city, with 38 domestic routes and several international ones, mainly to ASEAN destinations.

Airport: Nanning Wuxu International (NNG)
Airport bus: Two lines, about ¥20; city bus ¥3
Taxi: About ¥100 to the centre

By high-speed rail

Nanning Station and Nanning East Station are the hubs, linking the city to the rest of Guangxi and the south.

To Beihai: About 3 hours
To Guilin: About 2.5 hours
Main stations: Nanning Station and Nanning East

By coach

Six main coach stations cover the region; Langdong handles the long-distance and international departures.

To Detian Falls: Morning tourist bus from Langdong
To Pingxiang: Frequent buses from the coach stations
To Vietnam: Direct buses to Hanoi from Langdong

By city bus

Cheap and comprehensive, with the air-conditioned 'cold bus' lines as an upgrade. The double-decker sightseeing bus covers the main sights in 90 minutes.

Fare: ¥1, or ¥2 on air-conditioned lines
Sightseeing bus: ¥10, 35 km, 90 minutes, from the tourism centre
Best for: Getting across the city cheaply

By taxi

Meters start at ¥7, then ¥1.6 per km, plus a ¥2 fuel surcharge beyond 2 km. Rides are easy to find and cheap for a city of this size.

City fare: Usually ¥10–20
To the airport: About ¥100
Note: Use the marked taxi ranks on the main streets

To Vietnam

Nanning is the main overland springboard into Vietnam, by bus, train or a combination of the two to the border.

By bus: Direct Langdong–Hanoi services, border formalities at the crossing
By rail: Trains to Pingxiang, then road to the Friendship Pass
Paperwork: Passport and visa, or a valid e-visa

Shopping

What to take home

Qixing Road

The brand-shopping street, with everything from department stores to small stalls, all within a few blocks.

Chaoyang Road

The main retail centre by the railway station and coach station, with department stores, supermarkets and plenty of small shops.

Xingning Street

The gold and jewellery street — fine work, new designs and relatively low prices, if you know what you are buying.

Guangxi specialities

Zhuang brocade, embroidered balls, luohanguo (monk fruit) and its throat-soothing tea, dried longan, and huangpi sauce, the sour-sweet fruit jam that goes with everything.

Practical

The things that trip people up

Nanning is an easy city with one real planning question: whether you are using it as a gateway or actually stopping. If you stop, everything above is simple.

Best months	October–November, for the Folk Song Festival and cooler weather; spring is also pleasant
Summer	July–August is hot and humid, averaging 28°C and passing 35°C, with heavy rain
Vietnam crossing	You need a passport and a visa, or a valid e-visa; the land crossing at Pingxiang is straightforward
Payments	Mobile payment is universal; carry cash for markets and small noodle shops
Language	Standard Mandarin works everywhere; Zhuang is spoken in the villages, and there is a Zhuang romanisation used on some signs
Getting to Detian	Four hours each way — go with a fixed-return tourist bus or a private car, not ad hoc public transport
Food hygiene	Street food is generally fine in the city; drink bottled water outside it

Tips

Small things that make a big difference

Stop for two days

The city is a gateway, but it is a good one. A rushed train change gets you none of it.

Eat early, eat old

Go to the shops that have been making the same bowl for decades — that is where Nanning's food identity lives.

Do Zhongshan Road at night

The food street is at its best after dark, when the tables take over the road.

Start at the museum

The Museum of Nationalities is free and makes the rest of the region make sense.

Plan Detian properly

It is four hours each way — an overnight near Daxin beats a rushed return, especially with the karst scenery on the way.

Check your documents for Vietnam

If you are crossing overland, have your passport, visa or e-visa ready before you leave Nanning.

Background

Why Nanning is the way it is

A name meaning 'southern calm'

Nanning was known in the Tang dynasty as Yongzhou, which is why the city is still abbreviated to 'Yong' and why its river is the Yong. In 1314 the Yuan court renamed Yongzhou Road as Nanning Road — literally 'southern peace' — to signal the pacification of the frontier, and the name stuck.

Through the twentieth century it moved twice as the provincial capital, finally settling as the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1958. Its position as the region's commercial and transport centre was established long before, which is why it grew into the capital it is today.

Green, wet and Zhuang

Nanning sits south of the Tropic of Cancer, in a basin around the broad valley of the Yong River, with a humid subtropical monsoon climate: an average of about 21.6°C, a January mean of 12.8°C, a July mean of 28.2°C and roughly 1,300 mm of rain, concentrated in summer. The mild, wet climate keeps it green all year — hence the nickname.

It is a Zhuang-majority, multi-ethnic city, and the Zhuang year shows in its festivals: the March Third song festival, the firecracker-grabbing games, the board-shoe dances and the lion dances stacked to the height of a hill. The season to feel it fully is late October and early November, when the International Folk Song Festival turns the city into a stage.

Travel with them

Nanning in book, song and theatre

Book

Old Matters of Nanning (南宁旧事)

Xuan Huang

A novel that follows one man's life through the half-century from the late 1800s to the war, and with it the changes of Nanning itself — family, war, love and a city learning to face the modern world.

Music

'Pogo不如跳舞'

Turtle Giant (海龟先生)

The debut album of a band born in Nanning and now on a national label — indie rock with a southern edge, the sound of the city's younger side.

Theatre

Yong opera (邕剧)

Local opera tradition

Guangxi's own opera form, dating to the Ming dynasty, performed in the old Yongzhou dialect at the Xinhui Academy — a weekend-morning window into Nanning's cultural roots.

The questions visitors ask us most about Nanning, answered plainly.

Frequently asked questions

Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.

How do I get from Nanning to Beihai?

The fastest way is high-speed rail, about three hours from Nanning to Beihai; there are also frequent express buses, roughly every 20 minutes from the coach station, taking about three hours for around ¥60. Both leave you close to Beihai's centre and its bus route 3.

Is Nanning worth staying in, or just a stopover?

Worth two days. It is a gateway to Beihai, the Detian Falls and Vietnam, but on its own it has Qingxiu Mountain, the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities, river parks and one of the best food scenes in the south. Treating it as a two-hour train connection undersells a genuinely green, relaxed capital of nearly nine million.

What is the best time to visit Nanning?

October to November, when the annual International Folk Song Festival fills the city with performances and the heat has broken. Spring is also pleasant. July and August are hot and humid, with averages of 28°C and highs pushing past 35°C, plus heavy rain — pack sun protection and an umbrella if you come then.

What should I eat in Nanning?

Start with laoyou noodles, the city's signature sour-spicy bowl, then try rolled rice noodles, the fermented noodles known as sheng zha fen, lemon duck and suan ye, the pickled fruit and vegetables sold all over town. Save an evening for the Zhongshan Road night market, where grilled oysters and luosifen are the standards.

Can I go to Vietnam from Nanning?

Yes. There are direct buses from Langdong coach station to Hanoi, with the border formalities handled at the crossing, and trains and buses run to Pingxiang for the Friendship Pass. You need a passport and a visa, or a valid e-visa; the overland crossing is straightforward if your paperwork is in order.

How do I get to the Detian Falls from Nanning?

The falls are about four hours from Nanning by road, so it is a long day trip or an overnight. There are direct tourist buses from Langdong station in the morning, with a fixed return time, or you can go via Daxin. Given the distance and the changing transport, a private car or a small tour is the least stressful way to do it.

Plan this trip

Prefer it arranged for you?

The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.

Nanning Guangxi · 0 tours Nanning is the capital of Guangxi and the gateway most travellers pass through on the way to somewhere else — Detian Falls, Beihai, or Vietnam. It des

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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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Two unhurried days beat a two-hour transit stop.
Nanning is the rail hub for Beihai (3h), Guilin (2.5h) and the Vietnam border.
Its food is the main event — laoyou noodles, suan ye, and the Zhongshan Road night market.

Nanning travel guide: Qingxiu Mountain, the food streets, and day trips to Detian Falls and the Vietnam border

Qingxiu Mountain

Guangxi Museum of Nationalities

Zhongshan Road night market

Laoyou noodles

Detian Falls

Nanhu Park and the riverside

Mountain, museum and market

Parks, tower and food streets

Nanning to the falls and back

Nanning to the border

Into Vietnam

Qingxiu Mountain

Guangxi Museum of Nationalities

People's Park and the Zhenning Fort

Diwang Tower

Yangmei Ancient Town

Detian Falls (side trip)

Laoyou noodles (老友粉)

Rolled rice noodles (卷筒粉)

Sheng zha fen (生榨米粉)

Lemon duck (柠檬鸭)

Suan ye (酸嘢)

Grilled oysters (烤生蚝)

Shuji laoyou noodles

Ganjiajie lemon duck

Tangjia rolled noodles

Suanpin Wang

Zhongshan Road night market

Nanning Marriott Hotel

Phoenix Hotel

Nanning Heyi Hostel

Washa International Youth Hostel

City Comfort Inn (Xida branch)

Qixing Road

Chaoyang Road

Xingning Street

Guangxi specialities

Stop for two days

Eat early, eat old

Do Zhongshan Road at night

Start at the museum

Plan Detian properly

Check your documents for Vietnam

A name meaning 'southern calm'

Green, wet and Zhuang

Old Matters of Nanning (南宁旧事)

'Pogo不如跳舞'

Yong opera (邕剧)

Frequently asked questions

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Nanning trips and tickets

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Combine Nanning with

Sort out before you fly

Understand the place

Tell us your dates.We'll do the rest.

Tell us your dates.
We'll do the rest.