Jiangsu · China
Things to Do in Nanjing: A Plan You Can Actually Follow
Give Nanjing two full days. Put the Purple Mountain sites on day one (they close in the late afternoon), the old city — city wall, Confucius Temple and the river — on day two, and keep the museum and the memorial as flex slots, because both need a free advance reservation and both shut one day a week. Book your train out of the city before you book anything inside it.
Nanjing was the capital of six dynasties, then of the Ming, then of the Republic, and it wears those layers without sorting them out for you. The mistake almost every first visit makes is treating it as a stop between Shanghai and Beijing. It is not a half-day city, and its best sights are spread across three separate clusters that do not sit next to each other.
The two things you must book before you arrive
Two of Nanjing's headline sights are free, which sounds easy and is not, because free means rationed.
- The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum on Purple Mountain is free but requires a timed reservation made in advance through the official booking channel. Turn up without one on a weekend and you may be waved away.
- The Memorial Hall of the Nanjing Massacre is free and also requires an advance reservation. It is closed on Mondays. This is a heavy, quiet museum; budget two hours and do not schedule it right before something cheerful.
Reservations for both usually open a few days ahead and can fill within hours on holidays. Do them the moment your dates are fixed. Everything else in this guide can be decided on the day.
Day one: Purple Mountain and the Ming wall of tombs
Purple Mountain, just east of the city, holds the dynastic graves and the mausoleum, and the sites are strung along a single wooded ridge. You can walk it, but the distances are longer than they look, so use the shuttle bus that loops the mountain and pay per hop.
- Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. The long stairway up to the tomb is the point. Go early; both the light and the crowds are better before mid-morning.
- Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. The tomb of the first Ming emperor, part of the UNESCO-listed Imperial Tombs. The approach through the elephant avenue and the plum grove is the memorable part.
- Linggu Temple and the beamless hall. A quieter stop with a tall pagoda, often skipped and worth an hour.
Purple Mountain sites close through the late afternoon, so this is your first day, not your last. In spring the plum blossom on the mountain's south slope draws local crowds; in autumn the same slopes turn gold.
Day two: the wall, the old city and the river
Nanjing's Ming city wall is the longest surviving ancient city wall anywhere, roughly thirty-five kilometres of it, and large stretches are walkable on top. Two ways to use it:
- Zhonghua Gate is the biggest of the old gates, a fortress of hidden chambers built into the ramparts. Climb it, walk a section of wall, and you have the city's scale in your head.
- The wall by Xuanwu Lake gives you the best pairing: lake on one side, wall and modern skyline on the other. It is free and rarely crowded.
From the wall, drop into the old city around Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River. This is Nanjing's evening district: a rebuilt temple, a canal lined with lanterns, and boat trips on the water. It is touristy and it is also genuinely pleasant after dark. Nearby Laomendong, a restored lane quarter, is where to eat.
Where to stay
| Area | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Xinjiekou | Metro hub, shopping, easy to reach everything | Commercial and busy; little old-city atmosphere |
| Fuzimiao / Qinhuai | Evening river scene, food on your doorstep | Noisy at night; thinner hotel choice |
| Near Purple Mountain | Early start on the mountain sights | Far from the old city and the station |
If you have only two days, stay at Xinjiekou and treat the metro as your base. Nanjing's subway is cheap and reaches the mountain, the wall, the old city and both railway stations.
Getting there and around
Nanjing sits on the main Beijing–Shanghai high-speed corridor, so it is a stop, not a detour. High-speed trains reach Shanghai in about an hour and Beijing in a few hours. There are two main stations, Nanjing South for high-speed services and Nanjing Station for the north side; check which one your ticket uses. The airport, Lukou, is east of the city with a metro link, so you do not need a taxi.
Inside the city, the metro covers everything in this guide. The mountain cluster is the one place where a shuttle bus on top of the metro is worth the small extra cost.
When to go
Spring and autumn are the comfortable windows. Plum blossom fills the mountain in early spring and the city's plane trees shade the streets in autumn. Summer is hot and humid; winter is cold and grey but the sights are quiet. Public holidays bring heavy domestic crowds, especially at the mausoleum and the old city.
What to eat
Nanjing's signature is duck, in more forms than visitors expect: salted duck, roast duck, and duck soup. It is also a city of small snacks rather than grand meals — soup dumplings, duck-blood vermicelli, and sticky rice dishes. Eat dinner in the Laomendong or Fuzimiao lanes rather than in a hotel.
The mistakes first-timers make
- Treating Nanjing as a day trip. Two days is the honest minimum; one day means choosing between the mountain and the old city.
- Skipping the free reservations and losing the mausoleum or the memorial.
- Doing the memorial on a cheerful afternoon. Give it its own quiet slot.
- Assuming Purple Mountain is walkable end to end. Use the shuttle.
If you have one more day
The Nanjing Museum holds one of the country's best collections and is free with a reservation. A half-day trip to the Qixia area, north-east of the city, adds temples and autumn maples. And if you are moving on, Nanjing pairs naturally with Suzhou and Shanghai on the same rail line.
Where Nanjing fits in a China trip
Nanjing sits on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed corridor, which makes it one of the easiest places to add to a rail itinerary. The natural pairing is with Suzhou, a short hop away, and Shanghai, about an hour by high-speed train; together they make a compact eastern loop of old capitals, gardens and a modern skyline. Two nights in Nanjing is the honest minimum; three lets you slow down. If you are choosing between Nanjing and another secondary city on the line, pick Nanjing for history and layers, and leave the gardens to Suzhou.
A few things that surprise first-time visitors
- Almost everything is cashless. Mobile payment is the default, and though foreign cards now link to the major payment apps, carrying a little cash as a backup avoids awkward moments.
- Carry your passport. It is your ID for train tickets, museum bookings and hotel check-in.
- Metro signage, ticket machines and station screens are in English as well as Chinese, so getting around on your own is easier here than in many cities.
- Nanjing has two main railway stations. Check whether your train leaves from Nanjing South or Nanjing Station before you set off.