Travelling in China: Cities

As part of a series on Travelling in China, this is one of three posts about places to travel in China - cities, natural places, and destinations for art, history & culture.


Major Cities

Hangzhou - Hangzhou is where I lived on my year abroad, so I guess I have the most to say about it. Hangzhou has a nice mix of city and countryside, new and old. Some of the highlights are Lingyin Temple, the Longjing Tea Village, hiking in the mountains in the city, the Xixi Wetlands, and West Lake, of course.

Shanghai - Since Shanghai is only an hour away from Hangzhou by train, I got the chance to go to Shanghai a few times. My favorite things I did in Shanghai include the M50 Art District, the Propaganda Museum (a must!) and going to the top of one of the tallest buildings. I really think I could have explored more, but I'm not a huge city person. That said, I really do love Shanghai!

Beijing - I went to Beijing for five days and didn't even remotely get to see and do everything I wanted to do. Obviously, I went to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, but I also really liked the art district, the National Museum (especially the Road to Rejuvenation exhibit if you are a fan of propaganda), the Lama Temple, getting hot pot and Beijing roast duck, and the Summer Palace.

Xi'an - Xi'an was one of the first places I went outside of Hangzhou on my year abroad, so it has a special place in my heart. There's not a whole lot to do there - a few days is enough to see everything. But I maintain that Xi'an has the best food in China. Aside from the Terracotta Warriors, the best things are (to eat in) the Muslim Quarter, the cultural center at the smaller of the Wild Goose Pagodas, the artist district, and cycling around the old city wall. You could also easily take a day trip or overnight trip to Huashan. I went once in winter and once in summer, and my impressions were very different. Unsurprisingly, it's much nicer and less polluted in summer. My top tip is to try the potato jiamo (stuffed baked rolls) - picture below!

 

Nanjing - I went to Nanjing, but sadly didn't see that much. I went to the mountains in the middle of the city, but didn't get to see Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum or the Nanjing Massacre museum, because I was visiting a friend primarily. But I did like it and I had the best 混沌 in my life there.

Qingdao - I went to Qingdao in June, which was so nice. We even made it to the beach one day. Qingdao has a really nice atmosphere and a lot of residual German architecture. I really liked walking around. We found this cool market where we tried fried maggots, which were surprisingly good. We also found some really nice cafes.

Chengdu - I went to Chengdu as a base to travel to Jiuzhaigou and Leshan, but ended up spending quite a bit of time there. My favorite thing by far was seeing the pandas. Aahhhh they're so cute! I also liked Jinli temple, which happened to be right across the street from my hostel.

Kunming - Kunming was also a base for further travel to Dali and Lijiang, but I actually really liked it there. My favorite thing is the provincial museum, which has some good exhibits on Yunnan's ethnic minorities. There are also some really nice parks to walk around in. There's also an area called Culture Alley (文化港), which has a nice cafe called Salvadors and a really nice bookshop around the corner. One thing I didn't have enough time to do was go to the petrified/stone forest. That looks really cool!