Nanjing
Nanjing is three capitals on one piece of ground — the Six Dynasties, the early Ming and the Republic — and they sit closer together than the layers of Beijing or Xi'an: one afternoon takes you from a museum built over a third-century palace site to a Ming gate you can climb, then to the compound three governments used in turn. The Ming wall is still the frame you walk in and Purple Mountain the backdrop you look up at; it is also the city with the densest free museums and the hardest bookings.
The Districts
Purple Mountain: Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the Ming Tomb and Nanjing Museum
11 placesTwo dynasties' tombs in one forest - the first Ming emperor's and Sun Yat-sen's - with the temple hall, villa and observatory around them, and Nanjing Museum and the Ming palace ruins on the way back into town.
The Old South City: Confucius Temple, the Qinhuai River and Zhonghua Gate
11 placesThe river of the old poems, the Confucius Temple and the exam hall, the Ming wall's south gate, and the old south city's lanes — some real, many rebuilt.
Xuanwu Lake, Jiming Temple, the Taicheng Wall and the Presidential Palace
10 placesA temple on the hill, the Ming wall above the lake, the compound three governments used in turn, and the museum built over the Six Dynasties city — all within walking distance, and mostly closed on Mondays.
Gulou, Yihe Road and Xinjiekou
10 placesThe plane-tree villa streets of Republican Nanjing, the Rabe House, the Ming drum tower and a bookshop in an air-raid shelter - then the malls, the tax refunds and a museum open till midnight.
The City West: the Memorial Hall, Stone City and Hexi
8 placesThe Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, Mochou Lake and Chaotian Palace on one street, the Stone City cliff and Qingliang Hill above them, and the new river town of Hexi.
Xiaguan and the Yangtze: the Bridge, Yuejiang Tower and Pukou Station
9 placesThe Yangtze edge: Yuejiang Tower, the treaty temple, the 1968 bridge, and the 2-yuan ferry to the old Pukou railway terminus.
Day Trips: Niushou Mountain, Qixia Mountain and Tangshan
10 placesThree separate day trips - the new relic palace at Niushou, the Southern-dynasties cliff and autumn maples at Qixia, the giant unfinished Ming stele and the 350,000-year-old cave at Tangshan - plus the airport and the high-speed station you arrive at.
Browse by theme
🥟 Must-eat Nanjing
Theme36 dishes by shelf — start with these, at the table, street and breakfast, in season, tea, coffee and imports, souvenirs, vegetarian and halal — each with where to get it.
📅 What to eat this month
By monthRiver wormwood stir-fried with smoked dry tofu in Feb, 'seven tops and one brain' — the spring greens nanjing waits for in Mar, hairy crab from gucheng lake in Sep, plum-blossom cake and begonia cake — cooked in a flower-shaped iron mould in Nov — eat what the season is eating.
⚖️ Which of Nanjing's Four "Nanjing" Stations?
DecisionWork out which 'Nanjing' station your ticket actually means before planning the transfer.
⚖️ Purple Mountain in a Day: Which Sites, in What Order?
DecisionChoose the two Purple Mountain sights that matter most instead of trying to exhaust the whole ridge.
⚖️ Which Nanjing Museum First?
DecisionChoose the Nanjing museum that matches both your historical interest and your ability to get in.
⚖️ Xuanwu Lake and the Presidential Palace in Half a Day
DecisionDecide whether Xuanwu Lake and the Presidential Palace can share your half-day.
Getting by in Nanjing
Tap any line for the details.
Three choices for a first visit, and one warning about station names. (1) Xinjiekou and Gulou - the commercial centre and the metro hinge. Xinjiekou is where Lines 1 and 2 cross and Gulou is where 1 and 4 cross, so nearly everything in this guide is one change away: Line 2 east to Purple Mountain and Nanjing Museum, Line 3 south to the Confucius Temple and north to Jimingsi, Line 2 west to the Memorial Hall at Yunjin Road. It is also where the tax-refund shops are, and where the hotel stock is deepest at every price. The trade-off is that the district itself is malls and traffic, and the pavements around Gulou are narrow. (2) The old south city around the Confucius Temple and Qinhuai - the river at night, the snack lanes, the Ming south gate and the wall museum on your doorstep. Stay here if the evening is the point. Two things to know: this is the busiest tourist precinct in the city and priced like it, and on Chinese public holidays and from 20 July to 20 August the core block inside the 'three gates, two bridges and one road' boundary is booking-only from 14:00 to 22:00. If your hotel is inside that boundary, though, your booking confirmation gets you through the green lane without a reservation, which is one of the few exemptions a foreign visitor can actually use. (3) Xuanwu Lake and Changjiang Road - quieter, greener, and within walking distance of the Presidential Palace, the Six Dynasties Museum, the Jiangning Silk Museum and the Ming wall at Jiefangmen, with the lake as your morning walk. Nanjing Station is on the north shore, which helps if you are coming in on a slow train, and Lines 2 and 3 meet at Daxinggong. The trade-off is that almost every roofed thing in this area closes on Monday, so a Monday arrival here wastes a day. Now the warning: Nanjing South Station is not Nanjing Station. South is the high-speed station, out in Yuhuatai District at 98 Yulan Road, and it is where the airport metro line S1 terminates; Nanjing Station is 13 km north at 111 Longpan Road by Xuanwu Lake. Book a hotel 'near the station' without checking which one and you will pay for the mistake in taxi fares. Two more names not to book beside: Pukou Station and Nanjing West Station both look like stations on a map and neither handles passengers. Finally, seasons: if you are coming between mid-June and mid-July you are coming in the plum rain, and an air-conditioned room close to a metro entrance is worth more here than a view.
