Three days in Nanjing: the capital China keeps coming back to

Two nights in the old city: the Nationalist palace and the Qinhuai lanes on arrival, the tombs on Purple Mountain the next day, and the memorial before you leave.

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Length
3 days, 2 nights
Where you stay
Nanjing
Places
7 across 3 days
OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap

Nanjing has been the capital of China six times and has lost the job six times, usually violently. The Ming dynasty started here, the Taiping rebels held it for eleven years, the Republic governed from it, and in 1937 the Japanese army took it and killed a large part of the population.

That history is the reason to come, and it is not all grim. A Ming emperor's tomb sits under the trees on Purple Mountain at the end of a stone avenue lined with elephants and camels, and it is one of the most beautiful walks in eastern China.

The city is also comfortable in a way the bigger ones are not. Wide streets under plane trees, a serious university, a lake in the middle, and enough tree cover that summer is survivable. Two nights is enough; three if you want the wall as well.

Highlights

  • The Sacred Way to the Ming tomb, half a mile of stone elephants, camels and mythical beasts under plane trees
  • The tomb of Sun Yat-sen at the top of 392 granite steps, with the whole city spread out on the way back down
  • The Qinhuai River after dark, lit up along a canal that made the city's reputation for pleasure and scandal
  • The Presidential Palace, where Nationalist China governed and the Taiping kings held court before it
  • The massacre memorial, which is unbearable and is the reason this city is not just another provincial capital

Where to stay

Nanjing, two nights

Stay around Xinjiekou or between there and the Confucius Temple. Xinjiekou is the commercial middle with two metro lines crossing under it; the Fuzimiao end is older, noisier and closer to the water.

Avoid basing yourself at Nanjing South station, which is fast to arrive at and a long way from anything worth walking to.

Day by day

Day 1 in Nanjing

Where the Republic governed, and where the city went out at night

The Presidential Palace is not one building but a compound that has been the seat of whoever was in charge for six hundred years: a Ming princely mansion, then the palace of the Taiping Heavenly King, then the offices of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek.

It takes longer than you expect, so start there and do not rush it. The garden at the back was laid out in the Ming dynasty and is a good place to sit down halfway through.

In the evening go south to the Qinhuai. The area around the Confucius Temple was the entertainment district of imperial China, full of examination candidates, poets and courtesans, and it is now a lantern-lit market. It is unashamedly touristy and it is also where the city goes out.

  1. 09:30

    Presidential Palace

    Historic

    Six centuries of Chinese government in one walled compound, including the Taiping rebels' throne hall and the desk Chiang Kai-shek worked at. One of the very few places on the mainland that presents the Nationalist period at any length. Allow three hours.

  2. 16:00

    Confucius Temple

    Religious

    The old imperial examination complex, where candidates were locked into cells for three days at a time, now a small museum inside a very large market. Go for the setting rather than the exhibits, and stay until the lanterns come on.

  3. 19:00

    Qinhuai River

    Nature

    The canal that runs past the temple quarter, lined with restored teahouses and crossed by bridges, and lit up from dusk. Boats run from the temple steps and take about forty minutes. Touristy, pretty, and the correct way to end the first day.

With more time: The Gate of China at the south end of the old wall is fifteen minutes from the temple quarter and is the best preserved Ming gate in the country, with tunnels for three thousand soldiers inside it.

Day 2 in Nanjing

Purple Mountain: a Ming emperor, a republican one, and a general's wife

Everything on the mountain is within a couple of kilometres, and the walking between them under old trees is half the pleasure. Start early and go west to east, which means the Ming tomb first.

The Sacred Way is the part to see even if you skip the rest. A curved avenue lined with paired stone animals, lions, camels, elephants and mythical qilin, that leads to the burial mound of the peasant who founded the Ming dynasty in 1368.

Sun Yat-sen's tomb is the opposite: white and blue, monumental, and reached by nearly four hundred steps arranged so that the climb hides the terraces above and the descent hides the ones below. It was finished in 1929 and it is still a place of pilgrimage.

The mansion between them belonged to Chiang Kai-shek and is named after his wife.

  1. 08:30

    Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum

    Historic

    The tomb of the Hongwu Emperor, who was born a peasant and founded the Ming dynasty, approached along a mile of stone officials and animals. The burial mound itself has never been opened. Enter from the Sacred Way end and walk it in the right order.

  2. 12:00

    Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum

    Historic

    The resting place of the man who ended two thousand years of imperial rule, built into the hillside in blue tile and white granite and reached by 392 steps. Free, but you must reserve a slot in advance, and it closes on Mondays.

  3. 15:00

    Meiling Palace

    Historic

    Chiang Kai-shek's official residence in the 1930s and 40s, named for his wife Song Meiling, restored and open with its rooms laid out as they were. Small, quiet, and a useful corrective after two mausoleums.

With more time: The plum garden below the Ming tomb holds tens of thousands of trees and turns the mountain pink for two weeks in late February and March.

Day 3 in Nanjing

The memorial

In December 1937 the Japanese army entered Nanjing and spent six weeks killing civilians and prisoners. The Chinese figure is three hundred thousand dead. The memorial is built on one of the burial pits, and part of the excavation is left open with the remains where they were found.

It is not a comfortable museum and it is not trying to be. The exhibition is long, detailed and heavily documented, and it ends in a hall of names and a quiet garden that most people need.

Book ahead, go at opening, and give it two hours. Nanjing South station is twenty minutes away by metro, so an afternoon train is realistic, but leave a gap between the two.

  1. 08:30

    Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall

    Historic

    The memorial to the hundreds of thousands killed here in the winter of 1937, built over two excavated mass graves that are shown as they were dug. Free, capped numbers, booking required, and closed on Mondays. Two hours, and no photography in the burial halls.

With more time: John Rabe's house near the university is a smaller and quieter counterpart: the German businessman who used his Nazi party membership to shelter a quarter of a million people in a safety zone, and whose diaries are one of the main records of what happened.

Before you go

Getting there and around

High speed trains reach Nanjing South from Shanghai in about ninety minutes and from Beijing in three and a half hours. Nanjing South is on the metro and is enormous, so allow time inside it.

The metro covers every sight below except Purple Mountain, where line 2 gets you to the foot and a shuttle or a taxi handles the rest.

Purple Mountain is a hill with three separate sites strung across it and a lot of walking between them. There is a sightseeing bus and a small cable car, and both are worth the money.

Tickets and timing

The Sun Yat-sen mausoleum is free but needs a reservation through its WeChat account, made at least a day ahead. It closes on Mondays.

Ming Xiaoling charges, and the ticket includes the stone avenue, so start at the avenue and finish at the tomb rather than the other way round.

The massacre memorial is free and also needs booking. Numbers are capped, it closes on Mondays, and photography is restricted inside. Go in the morning and do not plan anything cheerful for afterwards.

When to come

Nanjing is one of China's furnace cities and July and August are genuinely punishing, hot and humid with no relief at night. Avoid them if you can.

March and April bring plum blossom on Purple Mountain, which the city takes very seriously. Late November puts the ginkgo and plane trees into colour and is arguably better.

Winter is cold and damp with occasional snow, and the tomb avenue under frost is a fine thing to see if you do not mind gloves.

Nanjing does not present itself as a beautiful city, though on Purple Mountain in November it is one. It presents itself as the place where things were decided and then undone.

Six times a capital, six times sacked or abandoned, and still the place where the Ming dynasty began and the empire finally ended. Give it two days and it explains more about China than a week somewhere richer.

Make it your trip

Every stop, day and place here lands in your account as an editable trip. Move the days around, swap a city, add your own bookings and costs, and share it with whoever is coming.

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Common questions

Is two nights enough for Nanjing?
For the essentials, yes. Two nights covers the Presidential Palace, the Qinhuai quarter, a full day on Purple Mountain and the memorial. A third night would add the city wall, which is the longest surviving city wall in the world, and the provincial museum, which is excellent.
Should I visit the massacre memorial?
Yes, and knowing what it is beforehand. It is graphic, it is long, and it is the single most important thing in the city. Go in the morning, go before the rest of your day rather than after it, and expect to want an hour afterwards doing nothing.
How do I get around Purple Mountain?
Metro line 2 to Muxuyuan or Xiamafang puts you at the foot. On the mountain, a sightseeing bus loops between the sites for a flat fare, and a short cable car runs up the eastern side. Walking the whole thing is possible and adds about five kilometres to the day.
Nanjing or Suzhou from Shanghai?
Different trips. Suzhou is gardens and canals in half an hour. Nanjing is ninety minutes away and is about history and politics rather than beauty, with more weight and fewer crowds. If you want one city that explains modern China, take Nanjing.
Can I change this plan?
Yes. Copy it into the planner, add a night for the city wall, or move the memorial to the first morning if the last day is short.