[Nanjing Free Travel] How to enjoy a 3-day and 2-night trip to Nanjing, a comprehensive itinerary planning guide!

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This guide carefully plans a perfect 3-day and 2-night trip in Nanjing for you. Covering local attractions, authentic food and popular shopping areas, you can easily travel around Nanjing and enjoy a worry-free holiday. Whether it is an in-depth exploration of history and culture or a fashionable check-in in a modern metropolis, this guide can meet your needs. Come and start your wonderful trip to Nanjing!

Walk on the Ming Dynasty bricks along the city wall, see Chinese and Western architecture in the Presidential Palace, eat duck blood vermicelli while mooring at Qinhuai overnight, and explore the stone statues along the cemetery road.
Dive into the underground palace at Niu Shou Mountain to see the Buddha's skull, take Zen movies at the Buddha's Head Palace, and enjoy the vegetarian restaurant on the mountainside and the Buddhist bell on the mountaintop. These are the most photographed secret places in Jinling.

The Nanjing City Wall was built in the early Ming Dynasty (1366-1386). It is 10 kilometers long from north to south and 5.67 kilometers wide from east to west. What makes Nanjing City Wall different from other city walls in my country is its irregular shape. There were originally 13 city gates in Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty, but only a few remain today. Among them, the Zhonghua Gate Barbican is worth visiting.

Address: Next to the East Gate of Jiuhuashan Park, Xuanwu District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Opening hours: 08:30-17:00

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The Presidential Palace in Nanjing has a long history and a distinguished reputation. In the Qing Dynasty, it was the Jiangning Weaving Bureau and the Governor-General's Office of Jiangnan. On New Year's Day in 1912, Sun Yat-sen took office as the provisional president here. Later, Sun Yat-sen used this place as his presidential office and meeting room, and it has been the official residence of the President of the National Government ever since. The architecture is a combination of Chinese and Western styles, grand and intriguing. Take a stroll in Xuyuan to find the footprints of Sun Yat-sen and feel the changes and vicissitudes of history.

Address: No. 292, Changjiang Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province

Transportation: Take Metro Line 2 or 3 and get off at Daxinggong Station.

Business hours: Open from 08:30-18:00 tomorrow (ticket sales stop at 17:00; admission stops at 17:00)

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The Confucius Temple Qinhuai Scenic Area refers to the Qinhuai River area with the Confucius Temple as its center, including the streets and lanes on both sides of the river, residential houses, and nearby historical sites and scenic spots. The lines from Liu Yuxi's "Wuyi Lane" "The swallows that used to live in front of the Wang and Xie halls now fly to the homes of ordinary people" refer to this place. Visiting the Confucius Temple, taking a boat trip on the Qinhuai River, eating delicious food, and watching the night view are all must-do things when visiting Nanjing.

Address: No. 53 Gongyuan West Street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing

Opening hours: 24 hours a day, all year round

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Nanjing Museum is located at the southern foot of Purple Mountain and on the north side of Zhongshan Gate. It is one of the earliest museums established in China. Here you can see ancient cultural relics such as the golden brocade clothes in "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", appreciate exquisite calligraphy and painting or the temple's treasure, the Ming gilded Tibetan pagoda, or even take a walk on the streets of the Republic of China and take a journey through time.

Address: No. 321, Zhongshan East Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province

Business hours: Open from 09:00 to 18:00 tomorrow (no admission at 17:00)

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The Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is located in the Zhongshan Scenic Area. It is the tomb of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. The mausoleum is magnificent and represents the achievements of early Ming architecture and stone carving art. It also directly influenced the shape of the imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Cemetery distribution
The overall layout of the mausoleum area is divided into two parts: one is the winding mausoleum sacred road, and the other is the main building of the mausoleum, which is the burial place of Zhu Yuanzhang. The main buildings of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum include the Wenwu Square Gate (i.e. the main gate), the Xian Hall, the Fangcheng, the Ming Tower, and the Baoding (i.e. Chongqiu), all of which are arranged according to the traditional central axis and surrounded by walls. The Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum's layout design of "front court and rear bedroom, front square and rear round" and its architectural forms such as square city and bright tower, treasure city and treasure roof, pioneered the construction regulations of imperial mausoleums of Ming and Qing dynasties in China, and is hailed as a milestone in the history of the development of Chinese imperial mausoleums.

Shinto

The sacred road runs from Xiamafang to the main gate of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. It is 2,400 meters long, winding and deep, a change from the straight pattern of the sacred roads in traditional Chinese imperial tombs. The sacred road is divided into two sections: Stone Elephant Road and Weng Zhong Road. The stone carvings on both sides are a highlight, with 12 pairs of tall stone beasts and 2 pairs of civil officials and military generals. The stone carvings are carved from a whole piece of stone, with simple shapes, clear patterns and exquisite craftsmanship. Every autumn, the ginkgo and red maple trees here are a sight to behold, attracting a large number of tourists who love photography.

Hall of Worship

The Hall of Xian, also known as the Xiaoling Hall, was originally the place where the tablets of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were enshrined. The original hall has been destroyed, but there are still a three-story Sumeru pedestal and six large stone steps with relief carvings of clouds, dragons, mountains and waters. Now it is the Ming Xiaoling Historical Materials Exhibition Hall.

Fangcheng

Fangcheng is a huge building in front of the top of the Xiaoling Mausoleum. The exterior is built with large stones, and the base is a Sumeru pedestal. The Ming Tower is located on top of the Fangcheng Tower. Its original large yellow-tiled roof was destroyed but was later restored. You can climb up to the Ming Tower by following the trails on both sides of Fangcheng.

Baoding

To the north of Fangcheng is Baoding, also known as Baocheng, which is about 400 meters in diameter and was the bedroom of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma. Enter from the archway in the middle of the square city. There is a round arch tunnel inside. Climb 54 steps out of the tunnel, and outside is the south wall of Baoding. On the wall, there is an inscription by later generations saying, "This mountain is the tomb of Ming Taizu". You can't go any further after here. Below the pagoda is the underground palace of Zhu Yuanzhang's tomb, which has not been excavated.

Plum Garden and Cherry Blossom Garden

Plum Blossom Mountain is located just south of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and is planted with plum blossoms. There is a Plum Blossom Valley at the foot of the mountain with more than 13,000 plum trees. The Wintersweet Garden of the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is distributed on both sides of the central axis from Jinshui Bridge to Ming Tower, covering an area of ​​more than 80 acres. There are more than 3,000 winter sweets planted, covering three major variety groups and more than 60 varieties. The winter sweets viewing period is from December of each year to late February of the following year.

You can also see Sun Quan’s tomb on Meihua Mountain. There is a cherry blossom garden near the Shinto Shixiang Road. Every late March and early April, there are many tourists coming here to enjoy the cherry blossoms. The Red Mansion Art Garden is a garden landscape that embodies the Red Mansion culture and rich Jiangnan style. The Zixia Lake in the north is a great place to escape the summer heat and cool down.

Address: Zhongshan Scenic Area, Dulongfu, south of Zhongshan Mountain, Xuanwu District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Transportation: Take Metro Line 2 and get off at Ming Xiaoling Muxuyuan Station.

Opening hours: 06:30-18:30

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The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Scenic Area includes buildings such as the Philanthropy Arch, tomb passage, mausoleum gate, stele pavilion, sacrificial hall and burial chamber. The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is the tomb of Sun Yat-sen. At the entrance of the mausoleum, there are two golden characters "博爱" written by Sun Yat-sen. The entire building complex is built according to the mountain terrain and arranged on a central axis from south to north. The overall pattern of the cemetery is in the shape of a "warning bell".

Address: Zhongshan Scenic Area, Shixiang Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing

Transportation: Take Metro Line 2 and get off at Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Xiamafang Station.

Business hours: Open from 08:00 to 17:00 tomorrow

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Niu Shou Mountain is also known as Tianque Mountain because the twin peaks on the top of the mountain resemble the head and horns of a bull. Niu Shou Mountain Cultural Tourism Area has beautiful scenery and is known as "Spring Niu Shou". In ancient times, there were beautiful scenes of Jinling such as Niu Shou Yanlan and Zutang Zhenxi. There are also many historical sites left, such as Yue Fei's anti-Jin fortress and Zheng He Cultural Park.

Buddha's Peak Palace

The Buddha's Crown Palace is themed on the enshrinement of the Buddha's skull relics and is divided into two parts: the large dome and the small dome, symbolising external offerings and internal offerings. The Buddha's Crown Palace was built using the original mine pit. It has six floors underground and three floors above ground, and is very solemn and imposing. In recent years, the skull relic of Sakyamuni Buddha has been enshrined in Niu Shou Mountain for a long time. Visitors can go to the Buddha's Head Palace to pay homage to it during special Buddhist festivals. For the specific time to pay homage to the relic, please call the scenic spot for consultation.

Millennial History

Niu Shou Mountain Cultural Tourism Area is a Buddhist holy place. The Foku Temple, built by Sikong Xu Du in the second year of Tianjian in the Liang Dynasty (503 AD), was the first temple on Niu Shou Mountain. It was renamed Hongjue Temple by Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty once dreamed of a Pratyeka Buddha from Niu Shou Mountain coming to see him", so there is a Pratyeka Pagoda. In the Tang Dynasty, the Zen Master Fa Rong, who was known as the "Dharma of Dongxia", founded the Niutou Zen Sect in Niu Shou Mountain, which was called "Jiangbiao Niutou" in ancient times. The establishment of the Niutou Zen Sect played an important role in bridging the transformation of Indian Zen into Chinese Zen!

Peach Blossom Creek

Taohua Creek is located at the eastern entrance of Niu Shou Mountain, covering a total area of ​​14.87 hectares, or about 220 acres. 26 peach varieties suitable for growing in Nanjing have been selected. It is a new landscape created by the Niu Shou Mountain Scenic Area. A stream meanders down from Yinlong Lake, the water of the stream gurgles, and both sides are planted with peach blossoms. In spring, the flower buds gradually bloom, and the sea of ​​flowers is intoxicating.

Address: No. 18 Ningdan Avenue, Jiangning District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Opening hours: 08:30-17:30 (no admission after 16:30)

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