[Nanjing Free Travel] How to enjoy a 2-day and 1-night trip to Nanjing, a comprehensive itinerary planning guide!

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This guide carefully plans a perfect 2-day and 1-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!

You can find the Ming Dynasty gilded pagoda in the museum, climb the 392 steps to overlook the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, count the stone statues on the Shinto Path in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, and feel the royal aura of Nanjing.
Take photos of the beautiful dome of the Buddha's Head Palace on Niu Shou Mountain, try the duck blood vermicelli soup in Confucius Temple, take a night tour of Qinhuai River on a painted boat, and take in the bright lights of the market.

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 Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Scenic Area includes buildings such as the Philanthropy Arch, the tomb passage, the mausoleum gate, the stele pavilion, the sacrificial hall and the tomb chamber. 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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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 three-story Sumeru pedestal and six large stone steps with relief carvings of clouds, dragons, and 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 the left and right 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 the 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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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, symbolizing 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 will be 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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The Confucius Temple was first built in the Song Dynasty. It is located next to Gongyuan Street on the north bank of the Qinhuai River. It was originally a place to worship Confucius. It was later destroyed and rebuilt many times. It is the main attraction of the Confucius Temple Qinhuai River Scenic Belt. In the main hall of the Confucius Temple, Dacheng Hall, you can admire the giant portrait of Confucius over 6 meters high and 38 colorful stone inlaid murals "The Holy Traces of Confucius", which reflect the life and deeds of Confucius.

Address: Intersection of Gongyuan West Street and Gongyuan Street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province

Transportation: Take Metro Line 1 and get off at Sanshan Street Station; or take Metro Line 3 and get off at Confucius Temple Station.

Opening hours: 24 hours a day, all year round

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