Weihai · Shandong
Weihai is Shandong's green seaside garden city: Liugong Island and the 1894 naval war, a free bathing beach, a 1,000 km coastline and Siberian swans every winter.
The short version
The place itself
Weihai sits at the far eastern tip of the Shandong peninsula, sea on three sides and Korea closer than from anywhere else in China. It is small by Chinese standards — you can drive around it in an afternoon — and it is clean to a degree that startles people arriving from elsewhere: new housing here must be at least 50% green by law, and the city took a UN Habitat award in 2003.
Its older name is Weihaiwei, the guard that awes the sea, given when the Ming planted a garrison against Japanese pirates in the 14th century. The first unit of the Qing dynasty's Beiyang Fleet was raised here, and Liugong Island in the harbour became its base and then the main theatre of the 1894 Sino-Japanese naval war; Britain held the town on a lease from 1898. That is the serious half of the place.
The other half is a beach town. The international bathing beach west of the centre is free, open all hours and shelves gently enough for children; the coastal parks run one into another along a flat bike path; and the seafood is cheaper and plainer than in Qingdao. Come in July or August to swim, in May or September for the light and the empty sand, and in January if you want the swans.
Above all, Weihai is easy. Buses are ¥1, a taxi starts at ¥5, a bike costs ¥30 a day, and almost nothing is more than half an hour from anything else. There is no great museum complex here and no UNESCO old town. There is a city people move to.
Pins are plotted from real latitude and longitude on a 5° graticule. This is a schematic orientation diagram, not a political map — no boundaries are drawn.
The island in Weihai harbour was the Beiyang Fleet's base and the place the 1894 war was decided. Its naval guns, iron pier and gun emplacements are held in the Museum of the Sino-Japanese War; the fleet's headquarters still stands; and 28 war sites are scattered over the island. It is also, awkwardly, beautiful — sea cliffs on the north side, sand on the south.
The headland that pushes farthest east into the sea on China's mainland, and therefore the first place in the country to see dawn. Qin Shi Huang came twice and had Li Si cut a stele reading 'where heaven ends, the eastern gate of Qin'. Cliffs, spray, and a temple to the First Emperor below the summit. ¥160, open all day.
Fine sand, a gentle slope, room for 40,000–50,000 people and, unusually, small fish you can scoop up in the shallows. Free to walk in, free to stay all day, and the reason half the city heads west in summer. Buses 7, 12 and 19, about 10 km from the centre.
Between November and March several thousand wild swans arrive from Siberia to winter on the lagoon behind a 100-metre sand bar at Chengshanwei. Sea and lake are separated by that bar alone, and the birds have grown used to people. Entry is ¥20; dawn is the hour; bring a long lens and a warm coat.
Xingfu Park, Weihai Park and Haishang Park sit on the same flat shelf of coast with almost no gradient and almost no traffic: rent a bike — ¥30 a day for a standard one, ¥60 for a mountain or road bike — and the three take about an hour, with a moving view the whole way. The 20 km coastal drive past Putao Beach and Jinhai Beach is the motorised version.
Weihai is one of the founding kitchens of Lu cuisine, and the cooking is cleaner and lighter than further south: hand-rolled seafood noodles, giant mackerel dumplings, sea cucumber braised with scallion, whelk salad, abalone with chicken feet. In the fishing villages mind the taboos — never say 'turn the fish', call dumplings 'boiled' rather than 'dropped', and never lay your chopsticks across the bowl.
Weihai Dashuibo International (WEH) sits at Dashuibo in Wendeng, about 30 km from the centre, with direct flights to Seoul and Busan as well as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Harbin, Taiyuan, Dalian and Jinan; the airport coach runs into the city for ¥20 and takes about 90 minutes. The railway station, out in the economic development zone, runs trains to Beijing, Jinan and Qingdao with buses 1 and 12 into town, and the long-distance coach station beside it sends a departure to Qingdao every 20 minutes and to Yantai every 70 minutes.
The port is a working international one: two sailings a day to Dalian, three a week to Incheon in Korea, and further passenger routes from Longyan port and Shidao New Port in Rongcheng. Inside the city, more than 20 bus routes cover the sights at ¥1 on a full-size bus and ¥1.5 on a minibus, taxis start at ¥5 for 2 km (¥7 in a deluxe car, with a 20% night surcharge), and hiring a bike is the right way to do the coastal parks.
| Month | Weather | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4°C / -4°C · dry, cold | Quiet | Avoid |
| February | 6°C / -1°C · dry, cold | Very busy | Avoid |
| March | 14°C / 5°C · dry, cold | Moderate | Good |
| April | 21°C / 12°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| May | 27°C / 18°C · clear and mild | Busy | Best |
| June | 31°C / 23°C · hot, humid | Moderate | OK |
| July | 32°C / 25°C · hot, humid | Busy | OK |
| August | 30°C / 24°C · hot, humid | Busy | OK |
| September | 26°C / 19°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| October | 20°C / 12°C · clear and mild | Very busy | Best |
| November | 12°C / 4°C · dry, cold | Quiet | Good |
| December | 5°C / -2°C · dry, cold | Quiet | Good |
Three days fits Weihai: day one for Liugong Island and the naval museum, day two for Huancui Tower, the CCTV film city and the bathing beach, day three for Chengshantou and the silver beach at Rushan. A fourth day in winter buys the swans at Rongcheng and an afternoon in a hot spring at Wendeng (¥158); a fifth lets you slow down properly, or follow the coast west to Yantai and Penglai.
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July to September for swimming — the sea is warm and the city is at its busiest. May, June, September and October are cooler, clearer and emptier, and are the best months if you want to walk the coast. Come between November and March only if you want the swans: it is cold, but the lagoons at Rongcheng hold thousands of them.
Yes, for one specific thing. Several thousand wild swans winter on the lake at Chengshanwei from November to March, and the sight of them on the water at dawn is worth a cold morning. Pair it with a hot spring at Wendeng — Tianmu and Tangbo both run ¥158, with Tangbo's water coming out of the ground at 78°C — and a winter day here becomes a good one.
Passenger boats leave from Weihai's tourist harbour on the north side of the bay and the crossing is short. The island ticket is ¥100 and covers the Museum of the Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Fleet headquarters, the forest park and the Liugong temple, with the island open 07:00–17:00. Allow half a day; a morning is usually enough and the light is better.
Seafood, and the plainer the better. Start with hand-rolled noodles topped with shrimp, clam and squid, then mackerel dumplings the size of a small bun, sea cucumber braised with scallion, cold-dressed whelk and abalone stewed with chicken feet. Finish with the local roast fish and a plate of jujube-studded steamed buns. Prices are noticeably lower than in Qingdao for the same catch.
The fishing villages along this coast keep a set of taboos worth respecting. Do not say 'turn the fish' at the table, because turning suggests capsizing; ask for dumplings to be 'boiled' rather than 'dropped'; and never lay your chopsticks across your bowl, which suggests a mast laid down. Locals also call coal something other than its usual name for the same superstitious reason.
Easily by coach — departures to Qingdao run about every 20 minutes and to Yantai about every 70 minutes from the long-distance station, and the coastal road between the three cities is one of the best drives in Shandong. Trains connect Qingdao, Jinan and Beijing. From Jinan, Shandong's capital, allow about 4 hours by road or rail.
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