City guide · Liaoning

Dalian travel guide: beaches, tsarist squares and the best seafood in northern China

The Northern Pearl — China's most romantic coastal city.

Known forSea air, seafood, colonial squares
Typical spend¥1,200–2,000 for three days
Ideal length3 days
PaceRelaxed — this is a holiday, not a checklist

Plan this trip Dalian tours

Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-09

The short version

Dalian is a port city on the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, and it is the closest thing northern China has to a seaside holiday. Come for the 40 km Binhai Road coastal drive, the beaches at Bangchuidao and Jinshitan, the century-old trams, and seafood that most Chinese cities would envy. Three days is the right length; the sweet spot is May to early October.

Best time: May–early October. August is peak — book hotels weeks ahead.
Three days covers the coast, the two big ocean parks and a side trip to Lüshun or Bingyugou.
Dalian gave Russia its warm-water port in 1898 and Japan took it in 1905, so the architecture is genuinely European — not reconstructed.
Seafood here is cooked, not raw. Order the sea urchin, the abalone and the grilled squid.
Getting in is easy: daily flights to Zhoushuizi, high-speed rail from Shenyang, and ferries from Yantai and Tianjin.

City guide

First impressions

Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.

The Binhai Road traces twelve headlands along the coast

Xinghai Square — the great open square by the bay

Bangchuidao Island, off the eastern shore

By day I thought of Dalian as clean and cool. By night I understood that the seafood and the dumplings were the real reason I keep coming back.
Traveller note — 'A Glance at Dalian'

The sea breeze at night is cold. Three of us talked until eight without noticing, then hurried back to the hotel — some friendships don't change with time.
Traveller note — 'Dalian on Foot'

Walk the seafront at Dalian and the first thing you notice is how un-Chinese it feels. Gulls cross an open sky, the beaches are broad and pale, and horse-drawn-looking trams still clatter down streets laid out by Russian engineers in 1898.

That history is the point. A tsarist designer arrived with a plan modelled on Paris, and named the place Dalny — "far away". Japan took the city in 1905 and left its own layer on top. The result is a Chinese city whose central squares are ringed with European banks, whose cathedral is Russian Orthodox, and whose tram line has been running for over a century.

What that history buys you is a rare thing in China: a city that is genuinely for strolling. The 40 km Binhai Road threads twelve headlands along the coast. Bangchuidao is a pebble beach with cliffs behind it. Jinshitan is a geopark of pink and gold sea stacks. And inland, the old Russian and Japanese quarters are still lived in, not museum pieces.

It is also the best place in the north to eat. The Yellow Sea is cold and the shellfish are sweet — abalone, scallops, sea urchin, mantis shrimp. Locals cook them simply and eat them late.

Dalian

Don't leave without

Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.

Walk Xinghai Square at dusk, when the whole bay lights up
Ride tram 201 end-to-end, from Xinggong Street to Sea Rhyme Park
Watch the beluga and dolphin show at Laohutan — and go early for a front seat
Drive or cycle a stretch of Binhai Road, the 40 km coastal road
Eat grilled squid and sea urchin at a street stall, standing up
Photograph Zhongshan Square, where nine colonial banks face each other
Buy cherries or apples in season from a roadside stall

Highlights

What not to miss in Dalian

Swim from a northern beach

Bathing beaches are everywhere along this coast. They are not tropical, but on a summer afternoon the pebbles warm up, the water is bracing and the bay empties out after five.

See the mounted policewomen of Dalian

One of the very few female mounted-police units in China. They patrol the seafront on good horses, and they have become a sight in their own right.

Walk Russian Street

You do not need to fly to Moscow. Russian Street is a preserved strip of tsarist-era buildings, with souvenir shops selling lacquerware, chess sets and amber along it.

Watch the belugas at Laohutan

If you only do one ocean park, make it Laohutan. The beluga and dolphin show is the draw; the polar gallery next door is the surprise. Go early — the front rows go fast.

Eat a proper Japanese or Korean meal

Dalian sits an hour from Korea and has a long Japanese history. The result is Korean barbecue and Japanese sushi at a standard and price that surprises first-time visitors.

Feel the square culture

Dalian is a city of squares. The fashion festival, the sophora fair and the fireworks shows all happen in them, and on any summer evening the grass, the fountains and the pigeons are full.

Suggested itineraries

Two days, or three

Both plans assume you are staying near the centre. Trams, light rail and the tourist loop bus cover almost all of it.

The classic two days

2 days

Dalian packs a lot into a small area. Two days lets you see the coast and the two big ocean parks without rushing.

Day 1

Binhai Road → Laohutan

Start at Sea Rhyme Park in the morning and follow Binhai Road along the coast to Laohutan. The road itself is the attraction — twelve headlands, cliff paths and viewpoints, with the sea below on one side and wooded slopes on the other.
At Laohutan Ocean Park go first to the polar gallery for the marine animal show, then the coral hall, then Birds' Language Forest for the bird display. If you want something faster, the water-speedway ride is on the same site.
Lunch inside the park, finish mid-afternoon, and head back into the city.

Stops: Sea Rhyme ParkBinhai RoadLaohutan Ocean ParkCoral HallBirds' Language Forest
Day 2

Jinshitan → Discovery Kingdom

Take the light rail north in the morning to Jinshitan and spend the day at Discovery Kingdom, the big amusement park — coasters, drop towers and everything in between. Lunch inside.
By the time you finish it will be late afternoon. If you still have energy, walk down to the Jinshitan bathing beach and watch the sun go into the Yellow Sea before taking the light rail back.

Stops: JinshitanDiscovery KingdomJinshitan beachLight rail back to town

The three-day version

3 days

Give it three days and the city itself opens up — the old quarters, the trams, the squares and one long seafood evening.

Day 1

The city loop

Use the tourist loop bus (¥10, hop on and off all day) to get your bearings. Ride to the Forest Zoo stop, then walk to Xinghai Square — you can skip going inside the zoo, it is not worth the ticket.
From Xinghai Square take tram 202 to Jinhui Mall, and have lunch on Xi'an Road. Continue on tram 201 to Renmin Road, the financial district, and stop for coffee.
Walk back past Zhongshan Square, where the colonial banks face each other across the square, and Youhao Square with its crystal ball. Eat dinner in Zhongshan Square or on Tianjin Street.

Stops: Tourist loop busXinghai SquareTram 202Xi'an RoadRenmin RoadZhongshan SquareTianjin Street
Day 2

Laohutan → Bangchuidao

Laohutan deserves a full day rather than an afternoon: there is a lot to see and the queues are real.
From Laohutan you can take a boat across to Bangchuidao. If time is left, the loop bus also reaches Beida Bridge, Yanwoling and Xiu Yue Peak on the western side of the park.
In the evening, ride back into town for Qingniwa Bridge and Victory Square.

Stops: LaohutanBangchuidao (by boat)Beida BridgeYanwolingVictory Square
Day 3

Jinshitan → seafood dinner

Take the express rail to Jinshitan early. The morning water is cold, so start at the wax museum, then Jinshiyuan Park for the geology — the sea-carved rocks are the reason the area is called a sculpture park.
Spend the afternoon at Discovery Kingdom, or on the beach if coasters are not your thing.
Come back into the city in the evening and finish with a proper seafood dinner. Order too much, then walk it off along the seafront.

Stops: JinshitanWax museumJinshiyuan ParkDiscovery KingdomSeafood dinner

Sights

The places worth your time

Ticket prices in China change without much notice. Treat these as a guide and check on arrival.

Square · Free

Xinghai Square

One of the largest city squares in Asia, built to mark the return of Hong Kong. Nine dragons are carved into the central white-marble column — for the nine provinces — and nine bronze cauldrons stand around the edge, each inscribed with a wish for a united country. From the centre, 500 m north is the Xinghai Convention Centre and 500 m south is the sea.

Ticket: Free
Hours: Open 24 hours
Where: Shahekou District, southern coastal scenic area
Getting there: Bus 23, 16, 406, 711, 801 or tram 202 to Xinghai Convention Centre
Phone: 0411-84377400

Tip Dalian bans bicycles almost everywhere except here. Rent one on the square and ride the whole thing — it is far bigger than it looks.

5A · Ocean park

Laohutan Ocean Park

A national 5A attraction and the reason many people come to Dalian at all. It holds the largest coral hall in Asia, the only beluga and polar marine gallery in China, a walk-through bird forest with free-roaming species, and the granite tiger sculpture group that gave the place its name.

Ticket: ¥210 combined ticket
Hours: 06:00–22:00
Where: 9 Binhai Middle Road, Zhongshan District
From the station: Bus 524 direct; or taxi, about ¥14
From the airport: Bus 710 then 4 or 2; taxi about ¥35, 30 min
Phone: 0411-82399398
Best months: April–October

Tip Work the show schedule backwards. Watch a performance first from a front seat, then tour the galleries while everyone else queues for the next one. The coral hall's diving show lasts only a few minutes — plenty of visitors skip it and nobody regrets it.

4A · Aquarium

Sun Asia Ocean World

Inside Xinghai Park, and home to Asia's longest underwater viewing tunnel at 118 m. It splits into three parts — the main ocean hall, a polar hall and a coral hall. The polar section is the most themed, and the dolphin show is the one people talk about afterwards.

Ticket: ¥110 ocean world · ¥160 ocean + polar · ¥190 all three
Hours: Apr–Oct 08:30–17:00 (Jul–Aug to 18:30); Nov–Mar 09:00–16:00
Where: 608–618 Zhongshan Road, Shahekou District (500 m west of Xinghai Square)
Getting there: Bus 23, 16, 406, 711, 801 or tram 202 to Xinghai Convention Centre
Phone: 0411-84581113

Island · Beach

Bangchuidao

A headland of cliffs, pebble beach and pine on the eastern stretch of Binhai Road. The name means 'wooden laundry bat island' — 500 m offshore a single rock stands up out of the sea looking exactly like the bat used for washing clothes. The main peak is 53.1 m and the view from the top takes in the whole coast.

Ticket: ¥20 per person
Hours: Summer 08:00–17:00, weekends to 21:00; closed in winter
Where: 1 Yingbin Road, Zhongshan District
Getting there: Bus 404, 703 or 712 to Daoyi Street, then taxi
Phone: 0411-84339970
Best months: May–September

Tip You do not have to get out of the car. Driving Binhai Road past Bangchuidao, the view over the sea from the ridge is most of the experience.

Coastal drive · Free

Binhai Road

Forty kilometres of coast threading twelve named headlands, running from the Sea Rhyme Park in the east to the Xinghai area in the west. It began as a military road in 1970, closed to the public until Deng Xiaoping suggested opening it in the early 1980s; in 1988 the State Council designated it, together with the Lüshun scenic area, a national key scenic spot. In spring the hillside is red with azaleas and the sea below is full of reefs.

Ticket: Free
Hours: Always open
Where: Jinzhou District, Dalian
Getting there: Bus 529 to Sea Rhyme Park, then walk or drive the road

Tip Jellyfish drift into the Jinshitan bathing area. If you see a pale translucent shape in the water, do not touch it — the sting is genuinely painful.

Geopark · Resort

Jinshitan (Golden Pebble Beach)

A resort area on three bays, known as the garden of strange rocks. The geology here is found nowhere else in China and is irreplaceable: pink reefs, gold stone and cracked-egg rock formations, all shaped by the sea rather than by anyone's hands. That is why it is nicknamed the sculpture park of divine workmanship. The beaches, the wax museum and the international yacht club are all here.

Hours: 08:30–17:30
Where: Jinshitan National Tourist Resort
By light rail: From Dalian station direct to Jinshitan, 52 min, ¥8, every 20 min 06:00–18:30
Combined tickets: ¥120 with park shuttle · or geopark ¥80 + speedboat ¥60 · or ¥90 with eight sights
Phone: 0411-87900700
Best months: May–September

Tip Sea urchin and scallop boats run from the beach — ¥50–60 per person to go out to the rocks. Agree the price before you get on, and expect to bargain.

Architecture · Free

Zhongshan Square

The square the Russians drew at the centre of their Paris-inspired plan, later renamed by the Japanese and today ringed by nine colonial-era buildings — banks, a hotel and the old city hall. It is the single best place to read Dalian's history off the facades, and at night the lighting on the stone is excellent.

Ticket: Free
Hours: Always open
Where: Zhongshan District, city centre
Nearby: Youhao Square with its crystal ball, 10 minutes on foot

Tip Come twice — once in daylight for the architecture, once after dark for the lighting. The walk from Renmin Road back through Zhongshan and Youhao squares is the best short walk in the city.

Theme park

Discovery Kingdom

Dalian's big amusement park, next to Jinshitan. The theming is genuinely well done — the shopfronts at the entrance are modelled on European streets, right down to the lettering — and the ride line-up runs from gentle to genuinely frightening. It is also the city's spa, hot-spring and sports-tourism centre.

Ticket: Day ¥160, students ¥135 · Night ¥100, students ¥75
Season: Late March to early November; closed in winter. Night sessions May–September
Hours: 09:30–18:00 (until 21:00 when night sessions run)
Where: 36 Jinshi Road, Jinshitan
Getting there: Light rail to Jinshitan (¥8), then shuttle bus (¥1), about 1 hour
Best months: April–October
Suggested time: 5–8 hours

Tip It is one ticket for everything except food and a few paid attractions, and each person may buy only three tickets per day. Queues are long — budget the whole day, and check the height and age rules before letting children on the big rides.

Activities

Things to do, not just see

¥30

Visit the mounted police base

The base is a few kilometres from Xinghai Square, and you can watch the unit train or ride out. A group of six usually goes out on patrol, sometimes splitting into twos and threes; the horses are lifted out of the transport truck one by one and mounted in the street.

Ticket: ¥30
Hours: 08:00–17:00
Where: 9 Zhongqing Street, Zhongshan District
Getting there: Bus 524, 703 or 712 to Haigang Hospital; taxi about ¥20
Phone: 0411-82883866

Tip When there is a major event on, the base closes to visitors. Ring ahead the morning you plan to go.

July–August

Drink through the beer festival

Every July and August, Xinghai Square hosts the city's beer festival — brewery stages, beer-culture displays, drinking competitions and photography contests. Entry is ¥5 by day and ¥10 at night, with three days free. It is a genuinely local crowd rather than a tourist show.

When: July and August
Where: Xinghai Square
Ticket: ¥5 daytime · ¥10 evening · three days free

Tip Locals will tell you the same thing: pace yourself. The point is the company, not the volume.

Late April–May

Catch the cherry and sophora blossom

Cherry blossom opens in late April and early May, when the city sits at a comfortable 15–20°C and everyone moves outdoors to walk, photograph and picnic under the trees. Locals assume April is the best month; it is not — the double-petalled varieties peak in early to mid May, fuller and more layered, and the fall of the petals at the very end is its own spectacle.

Best place: Longwangtang Cherry Garden, Lüshunkou
Ticket: About ¥15 per person
Where: 1 Guoshui West Road, Lüshunkou District
Getting there: Lüshun South Road bus to Longwangtang Shuishang Renjian, then 400 m on foot

Summer

Spend an afternoon at a bathing beach

Dalian has bathing beaches all along the coast, most of them gently shelving with clean water, and several with beach volleyball, water rides and pedal boats. At low tide you can pick up shells. Five worth knowing, from nearest to furthest out: Fujiazhuang, Xinghai, Bangchuidao, Jinshatan and Heishijiao.

Fujiazhuang: 450 m of beach, free, bus 702/5/541
Bangchuidao: Best of them, ¥20, pebble beach, take a speedboat over
Jinshatan: ¥5, fine sand, good at night, bus 702/5
Sea Rhyme Park: Free since 2013, bus 31/24 then 59 or tram 201
Heishijiao: ¥8, 30 km out, quiet even in peak season

Tip Sea Rhyme Park bans vehicles, climbing on the sculptures and littering. Wear sandals — the beaches are pebbles, not sand.

Eating

What Dalian tastes like

Dalian cooks seafood rather than serving it raw, and the northern habit of more oil and more salt is real. Order too much; portions are generous.

Grilled squid

Dalian's most famous dish, and the smell reaches you from a long way off. Fresh squid over charcoal, done in minutes, sold from stalls that stay open past midnight.

Swimming crab

Two local varieties, the flying crab and the red-armoured crab. Sweet, dense meat and high in protein. Autumn is when they are at their best.

Oysters (hailizi)

The most everyday dish in the city. Eaten cooked, or stewed with pickled cabbage and glass noodles in the Dongbei way — a combination that sounds wrong and tastes excellent.

Chao menzi

A street dish of fried starch cake, the thing Dalian people grew up on. Not glamorous, deeply familiar, and worth trying once.

Where to eat

Restaurants worth the address

Phone numbers are local landlines; add +86 and drop the leading 0 if calling from abroad.

Seafood

Pin Haixian (品海鲜)

A local favourite rather than a tourist one — the seafood is fresh, the cooking and service are consistently good, and prices stay reasonable. Order the scallops and the sea urchin soup.

Order: Scallops, sea urchin soup
Where: 46 Beidou Street, Zhongshan District (Erqi Square, near Lu Xun Road)
Phone: 0411-82719688

Northern

Dadi Chunbing (大地春饼店)

A pancake-roll restaurant where you discover that an entire table of dishes can be wrapped and eaten by hand. Good beer, warm rooms, a lot of locals.

Order: Spring pancakes, Dalian smoked pork, shredded pork in Beijing sauce
Where: 696 Huanghe Road, Shahekou District (near Xi'an Road)
Phone: 0411-84611688

Hotpot

Cuifengyuan (翠峰苑)

A Dalian hotpot chain with a strong local following and a good price-quality ratio — one of the few chains here that locals actually recommend.

Order: Half-and-half pot, shrimp paste, cheese beef balls
Where: 391 Huangpu Road, Ganjingzi District
Phone: 0411-84676888

Korean

Seongdo Korean BBQ (圣道烤肉)

Dalian is close enough to Korea that the Korean food is genuinely authentic, and this chain has branches all over the city. Grilled meat, cold noodles and pumpkin porridge.

Order: Honey beef, pork belly, seafood pancake, pumpkin porridge
Where: 3F Fujia Xintiandi Plaza, 99 Xi'an Road, Shahekou District
Phone: 0411-83893736

Sleeping

Where to stay

Dalian has 166 star-rated hotels. Outside peak season, mid-range rooms are good value; guesthouses in the surrounding villages are cheaper still.

Hostel · from ¥45/bed

Dalian Meili International Youth Hostel

A YHA hostel in a quiet villa district with a warm, sociable feel and a wall covered in guests' graffiti. Easy public transport to Laohutan, the forest park, Fujiazhuang and Victory Square.

Price: Beds from ¥45
Where: 8A Zhongxia Garden, 133 Bayi Road, Xigang District
Phone: 0411-82470837

Hostel · from ¥49/bed

Dalian Tiantian International Youth Hostel

Mixed and single-sex dorms, a self-catering kitchen, laundry, billiards, internet and a reading room. Close to Xi'an Road and handy for both Xinghai Square and the shopping district.

Price: Beds from ¥49
Where: 235 Banbei Road, Shahekou District (near Dunhuang Road)
Phone: 0411-84442458

Hostel · from ¥50/bed

Dalian Nanshan International Youth Hostel

Minutes from Zhongshan and Youhao squares, in a district of century-old villas — you occasionally share the street with a film crew. Japan Street is a fifteen-minute walk.

Price: Beds from ¥50
Where: 114 Mingze Street, Zhongshan District
Phone: 0411-82631189

Hotel · from ¥100

GreenTree Inn (station branch)

Reliable, clean and cheap, with branches near most of the city's commercial districts. Facilities are complete and transport, shopping and dining are all within walking distance.

Price: Rooms from ¥100
Where: 76 Jianshe Street, Xigang District (station branch)
Phone: 0411-83676555

Hotel · from ¥320

Dalian Furaha Nanshan Garden Hotel

Set at the foot of Nanshan, backed by the botanical garden and facing Mingze Lake. Western architecture meets a Japanese-style royal garden, and the glass-roofed pool sits in the courtyard.

Price: Rooms from ¥320
Where: 56 Fenglin Street, Zhongshan District
Phone: 0411-82715555

Hotel · from ¥382

Jiuzhou Ramada Hotel

In the heart of the commercial district, walking distance from the railway station and a short drive from Xinghai Bay. Good value, good breakfast, well located.

Price: Rooms from ¥382
Where: 18 Shengli Square, Zhongshan District
Phone: 0411-82808888

Getting around

Arriving, and moving about

Dalian's public transport is good enough that you do not need a car.

By air

Zhoushuizi International Airport is one of China's main trunk airports and has scheduled international services.

Airport: Dalian Zhoushuizi International (DLC)
Where: 100 Yingke Road, Ganjingzi District
To the centre: Taxi 20 min, about ¥30 · bus 516/532/701/710/9, ¥1–2, 40 min
City check-in: 143 Zhongshan Road, Xigang District — airport shuttle, ¥10
Phone: 0411-83886699

By rail

Dalian station sits in the city centre at Qingniwa Bridge, at the end of the Shenyang–Dalian line, and connects to the whole northeastern network as well as Beijing and Shanghai. There are dedicated tourist trains to Shenyang, Changchun and Harbin.

Station: Dalian Railway Station, Qingniwa Bridge
To Shenyang: High-speed rail, roughly 2 hours
To Lüshun: N129/N130 express, 58 min, ¥7 · 6331 local, 1 h 44 m, ¥4.50
Getting away: Bus 7, 13, 31, 101, 201, 203, 408, 414, 522, 524, 531
Phone: 0411-82603331

Ignore anyone at the station offering a tour car to Lüshun. Take the train.

By sea

Dalian port has passenger links to over 150 ports. There are daily sailings to Yantai, Weihai, Penglai, Tianjin New Port and the Changhai islands, high-speed passenger ferries to Yantai and Changhai, and a scheduled service to Incheon in Korea.

Dalian port: 0411-82634241
Pikou port: 0411-83400316
Changhai / Zhangzi island ports: 0411-89885000 · 0411-89882493
Bringing a car: Tianjin–Dalian roll-on/roll-off, small car about ¥300 — cheaper than the motorway

The passenger terminal is at the north end of Wuwu Road, 30 minutes' walk from the centre. Arrive half an hour early — the dockside is large and there is a shuttle from the waiting room to the berth.

Long-distance bus

Five main coach stations. Jianshe Street and Gangwan Bridge handle long-distance routes; Liujiaqiao and Heishijiao mostly run to Lüshun, and Beigangqiao serves Liaoning province and Lüshun.

Jianshe Street: 36 Jianshe Street, Xigang District · 0411-83763369
Beigangqiao: 20 Anshan Road, Xigang District · 0411-83628681
Gangwan Bridge: 124 Changjiang Road, Zhongshan District · 0411-82823173
Liujiaqiao: 1 Zhoushui Street, Ganjingzi District · 0411-86645107

Trams & light rail

Dalian runs the only surviving tram network in China, built by the Russians in 1898 and still going after more than a century. Tram 201 runs west to east from Xinggong Street to Sea Rhyme Park, no transfer needed, ¥1 or ¥2 depending on the car. The light rail has four lines from the main station — Jinshitan, the bonded zone, Jiuli and KaiFaQu — from ¥1, ¥8 end to end.

Tram 201: Xinggong Street → Sea Rhyme Park, ¥1–2
Tram 202: Xicheng District → high-tech zone, mostly commuters
Light rail: Four lines from Dalian station, ¥8 maximum
Buses: 100+ routes, ¥1–2, every 3–8 min (1–2 min at peak), roughly 04:00–23:50

Taxi

Plenty of taxis and honest meters, though drivers will refuse fares and pick up extra passengers in rain or snow, which locals treat as normal. Give yourself extra time and expect hills.

Day rate: 05:00–22:00, ¥8 for the first 3 km, then ¥2/km
Night rate: 22:00–05:00, ¥10.80 for the first 3 km, then ¥2.34/km
Roof light: Blue = state, white = collective, yellow = private
If you are four: Send one person to hail — drivers want the extra fares

Local transport

Dalian's public transport is very good and easy to use independently.

Tourist loop: Day ticket ¥10, hop on and off, mid-April to late October, every 30 min
Day route: 08:00–17:00, station → Xinghai → Fujiazhuang → Laohutan → Zhongshan Square
Night route: 18:30–20:30, adds the lit-up Xinghai Square
Note: The loop re-fares each time it passes the station — keep your ticket

Shopping

What to take home

The eight sea treasures

Sea cucumber, abalone, scallop, prawn, clam, mussel, ark shell and oyster. Dalian's five-row sea cucumber is prized above all others; the abalone is called the soft gold of the sea.

Dalian apples

The city's signature fruit — crisp, sweet and large. Also worth buying in season: cherries, grapes, yellow peaches and strawberries.

Shell carving

Dalian's coast supplies the raw material for carved shell ornaments, from jewellery to animal figures to wind chimes. Light, cheap and easy to pack.

Amethyst

Liaoning produces some of China's best amethyst, and Dalian is where it is sold. Look for clarity rather than size, and buy from a proper shop.

Where to shop

Shopping districts

Central

Qingniwa commercial district

South of the railway station and the busiest shopping area in the city, mixing large malls with shops a century old.

Malls: Dalian Mall, Walmart, New Mart, Shengli underground street
Where: Around Dalian railway station
Bus: 2, 5, 15, 16 to Dalian Station

Underground

Victory Square

A five-star complex in layers below the square — shopping, entertainment and food, and the place young people go when the weather is bad. Dalian's answer to a city under the city.

Where: Qingniwa Bridge, in front of the station
Best for: Under-30s, fashion, rainy days

Market · cheapest

Dacai Market

The city's cheap-food and general-goods market. Whatever you are looking for, it is in here somewhere, and it is the cheapest place in Dalian to buy it.

Where: North square of the station, beside the light rail stop

Historic street

Tianjin Street

A hundred-year-old shopping street where the old buildings have been kept and newer ones blended in around them.

Malls: Tianbai Building, Guotai Tower, Paris Spring
Where: Zhongshan District
Bus: 30 to Zhongshan Square, then walk

Expect to bargain to roughly half the asking price — and keep an eye out for fakes.

Practical

Things that go wrong, and how not to

Save these numbers before you need them. Staffed English help is not guaranteed.

Tourist complaints (city)	0411-83769989
Tourist complaints (province)	024-86230222
No.2 Hospital, Dalian Medical University	467 Zhongshan Road, Shahekou District · 0411-84671291
Zhongshan Hospital, Dalian University	6 Jiefang Street, Zhongshan District · 0411-62893015
Dalian No.3 People's Hospital	40 Qianshan Road, Ganjingzi District · 0411-86507500
Post office (main)	10 Zhongshan Square · 0411-82806379
Cash & cards	Banks and ATMs on every main street; WeChat Pay and Alipay are accepted almost everywhere
Wi-Fi	Free public Wi-Fi at Xi'an Road, Heping Square and Qingniwa Bridge; most cafés and hotels too

More routes

If you have an extra day

Day trip · Limestone gorge

Bingyugou (Ice Valley)

Dubbed the Guilin of Liaoning — an hour and a half of river running through limestone cliffs, with a national forest park next door that shelters more than a thousand species of plant and animal. The valley has enough of both northern mass and southern delicacy to have collected three nicknames: Little Guilin of the South, Jiuzhaigou of the Northeast, Little Switzerland of the East.

Best time: July and August, when the hills are green and the gorge is cool
Ticket: ¥120 including three sightseeing boat rides · students and over-70s ¥95
Time needed: One day
Getting there: Coach from Beigangqiao to Zhuanghe, then change for Bingyugou; or the direct bus from 07:20, ¥45–50

Tip Eat at one of the farm restaurants outside the scenic area — the vegetables are picked that morning and the local big-bone chicken is the reason to come.

Day trip · History

Lüshun

'One Lüshun harbour is half of modern Chinese history.' The town sits at the very southern tip of the peninsula, facing the Yellow Sea east and the Bohai Sea west, 45 km from central Dalian. It is a national scenic area, nature reserve and historic city, and it is where both the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War were decided.

Baiyushan: ¥38 · go at dawn or after dark and you may slip in free
Lüshun naval port: ¥5
Best months: April–October
Train: From Dalian station, N129/N130 58 min ¥7, or 6331 local 1 h 44 m ¥4.50
Bus: Lüshun South Road, 40 km, every 6–9 min
Taxi: About ¥8 flagfall, same as Dalian; a day charter ¥60–100

Tip Do not miss the Japanese-built railway station — it is the station from the TV drama Romance in the Rain. The Russo-Japanese prison site and the 203 Metre Hill are the other two stops worth making.

Tips

Small things that save a trip

Bring a windproof layer

Dalian is a windy city. A close-fitting hat and a jacket that does not flap will make more difference than an extra jumper.

The weather turns fast

Temperatures swing between morning and evening. Carry a long-sleeved layer even in summer.

Watch your belongings

Dalian is a safe city, but the sea front, the squares and the tram stops are where pickpockets work.

Leave the contact lenses at home

Days at the beach, water rides and dusty cliffs make lenses uncomfortable at best and risky in the water.

Bring your student card

Most of the big attractions here are not cheap, and student rates are often 30 % off. It is the single best-value thing in your bag.

Background

Why Dalian looks like this

Geography and climate

Dalian sits at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, with the Bohai Sea to the north-west and the Yellow Sea to the south-east. Two hundred and sixty islands belong to it, it is one of China's fourteen open coastal cities, and it is the second-largest city in Liaoning — the province's main sea gateway, and its international shipping, logistics and regional financial centre.

The climate is warm-temperate monsoon with a strong maritime character: no severe cold in winter, no fierce heat in summer, and four clear seasons. The annual average is 10.5°C, with extremes of 37.8°C and about −19°C. That mildness is why the peninsula is fertile — over 1,700 species of wild vascular plant grow here, along with apples, hawthorn, grapes and yellow peaches.

History

People have lived here for at least 17,000 years, and the area was being developed 6,000 years ago. From the Warring States period, when the Yan king established Liaodong Commandery, it stayed under Chinese administration through the Qin and Han, was renamed several times, and by the Ming and Qing was known as Sanshan Haikou and then Qingniwa.

The Qing dynasty closed the north-east and the place emptied out. It only became a town in the 1880s, when a harbour pier, gun batteries and a mine depot were built on the north shore of what is now Dalian Bay. In 1897 Russia began building the city proper: a tsarist designer arrived with a plan based on Paris, intending to reproduce a square-centred European city in the East. He named it Dalny — 'far away', a place remote from Moscow and St Petersburg.

Japan took the city in 1905 and transliterated Dalny into Chinese as Dalian. Russian and Japanese rule layered architecture, railways and industry on top of each other, and that layered fabric — European squares, an Orthodox cathedral, a Japanese-built station, and Chinese streets threading between them — is still what you walk through today.

Travel with them

Dalian on screen and in print

Not guides — things made here, that show you the city the way people who live in it see it.

Television

Thirty-Seven Meets Twenty-One

Dir. Ma Xiaogang

A petty theft on a bus ties two strangers' fates together. A middle-aged bachelor on his way to a blind date and a recently divorced woman who has just lost her wallet end up married. It broke the family-drama mould with dialogue so ordinary it hurts, and finds the comedy and the ache in the same scene.

Television

The Hard Love of a Rich Bachelor

Dir. Tian Youliang

Adapted from a Dalian novelist's bestseller and shot in the city — the name of the city in the script was changed to Xinghai. A huge ratings success when it aired, built on the question of whether a very ordinary woman can marry into a very unordinary life.

Book

Impressions: Old Dalian Places

Dalian Evening News weekly

Grown out of the newspaper's 'Landmark Dalian' series, this collects the city's old landmarks and old streets into one book. Shengli Bridge, Sier Gou — places locals know by heart — come alive under detailed reporting. It is the city's most affecting cultural document precisely because it refuses to resolve anything.

Book

Layers of the City: The Aesthetics of Old Dalian Houses

Tuo Tuo

An architectural album of Dalian's surviving old residential buildings, mostly photographs with commentary. It shows what a century of Russian and Japanese occupation did to the building stock — mixed styles, grafted ornament, hybrid tolerance — and it is a primary source for anyone studying modern Chinese architecture.

Music

Love of Dalian

Yang Daoli / Liu Huan

Written in 1994 for the opening of the sixth Dalian International Fashion Festival and later used as the city's CCTV image song. For the city's centenary it was voted one of the three most influential songs ever written about Dalian.

Music

Journey

Sun Nan

A whole album built on the idea of the musician as traveller, and of life as a journey. Its argument is simple: at the speed everyone is now moving, somebody has to stop and look at the view.

The questions visitors ask us most about Dalian, answered plainly.

Frequently asked questions

Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.

What is the best time of year to visit Dalian?

May to early October. The season opens with the sophora blossom fair in late May and the export fair, and runs to the international fashion festival in early September. August brings the beer festival to Xinghai Square and the biggest crowds. September and October are quieter: the water is cooler, the crowds thin out, and sea fishing is at its best. Winter is genuinely quiet — the coast freezes over socially rather than literally, and the ocean parks shut early.

Best time to visit China →

Is Dalian busy in high season? Do I need to book hotels ahead?

July and August are peak, and hotels are both expensive and hard to find — book weeks ahead, not days. May, June and September are far easier and cheaper, and in those months serviced apartments offer the best value. Students and backpackers should look at the city's youth hostels, several of which are genuinely good.

What is the food like, and will I like it?

Dalian cooks northern-style — more oil, more salt, more frying than the south — and the sea supplies almost everything else. Expect abalone, scallops, sea urchin, crab and mantis shrimp, plus the city's signature grilled squid. If you have grown used to Cantonese cooking you will find this richer and saltier. One reassurance: unlike the south, Dalian cooks its seafood. Almost nothing is served raw.

Is Dalian expensive?

No, not for a Chinese coastal city. Street-side restaurants serving Dalian specialities are plentiful, cheap and generally clean, and even the mid-range hotels sit well below Beijing or Shanghai prices. A comfortable three days including seafood dinners is realistically ¥1,200–2,000 per person excluding flights.

How cold does it get, and what should I pack?

Dalian is milder than the rest of Dongbei: winter lows are around −14 to −17°C at the coldest, spring averages about 15°C, summer peaks at 30–32°C, and autumn sits at 16–20°C. Pack a down jacket, gloves and warm trousers for winter; light knitwear and long sleeves for spring and autumn; T-shirts, shorts and sun protection for summer. Bring a windproof layer whatever the season — the coast is windy.

Is the sea clean enough to swim in?

Yes, Dalian's water is reasonably clean, though it is northern water: expect pebbles rather than fine sand, so bring sandals. Choose a recognised bathing beach with good facilities — Fujiazhuang, Xinghai and Bangchuidao are the closest to the centre, Jinshitan the furthest and the best equipped. Swim in summer, when the water is actually warm.

What is there to do around Dalian?

Two classic day trips. Bingyugou (Ice Valley) is 200 km north-east and nicknamed 'the Guilin of Liaoning' for its limestone gorge and river boats. Lüshun, 45 km west, is where the Russo-Japanese War was fought — a naval port, a Russian-built station and a 203 Metre Hill. In winter both give way to hot springs at Anbo, Minghu and Laotieshan.

Will I be able to understand people? Does anyone speak English?

Dalian people speak Mandarin with a strong northern accent and a distinctive local twang, but they understand standard Mandarin without difficulty, and hotel and ticket staff in tourist areas usually manage basic English. If you are used to southern China, the notable difference is the volume — it is a habit, not an argument.

Plan this trip

Prefer it arranged for you?

The same places, with a driver, an English-speaking guide and the tickets already bought.

Dalian Liaoning · 0 tours Dalian is Liaoning's port city at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, and the closest thing northeast China has to a beach holiday. The 30 km Binhai Ro

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Lianyungang City guide · 12 tours A working Jiangsu port with a myth in the middle of it — the Flower-Fruit Mountain of Journey to the West, a sea causeway to a big island beach, and some of the cheapest seafood on the coast.

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Tianjin City guide · 12 tours Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China.

Datong City guide · 12 tours A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China.

Taiyuan City guide · 12 tours Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province.

Pingyao City guide · 12 tours China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates.

Wutai Mountain City guide · 12 tours China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m.

Hulunbuir City guide · 12 tours China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down.

The Forbidden City City guide · 12 tours Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth.

Sanya City guide · 12 tours China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north.

Haikou City guide · 12 tours Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture.

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Nanning City guide · 12 tours Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down.

Guangxi City guide · 12 tours One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south.

Huizhou City guide · 12 tours A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend.

Beidaihe City guide · 12 tours Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.

Shanhaiguan City guide · 12 tours The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea.

Baiyangdian City guide · 12 tours The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat.

Qinhuangdao City guide · 12 tours 126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea.

Yesanpo City guide · 12 tours Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off.

Zhuhai City guide · 12 tours The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea.

Wuyi Mountain City guide · 12 tours Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name.

Jiuzhaigou City guide · 12 tours 108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you.

Mount Siguniang City guide · 12 tours Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of.

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Mount Tai City guide · 12 tours 1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document.

Jinan City guide · 12 tours A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles.

Weihai City guide · 12 tours 1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter.

Qufu City guide · 12 tours One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong.

Penglai City guide · 12 tours China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands.

Changdao City guide · 12 tours 32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat.

Nanjing City guide · 12 tours Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth.

Suzhou City guide · 12 tours Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five.

Zhouzhuang City guide · 12 tours Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning.

Tongli City guide · 12 tours Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here.

Wuxi City guide · 12 tours Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta.

Yangzhou City guide · 12 tours A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China.

Zhenjiang City guide · 12 tours Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past.

Changzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it.

Wuzhen City guide · 12 tours A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside.

Xitang City guide · 12 tours Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living.

Hangzhou City guide · 12 tours A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right.

Xixi Wetland City guide · 12 tours Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat.

Ningbo City guide · 12 tours A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands.

Mount Putuo City guide · 12 tours A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place.

Qiandao Lake City guide · 12 tours A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China.

Shaoxing City guide · 12 tours Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free.

Zhoushan City guide · 12 tours 1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth.

Hengdian City guide · 12 tours A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real.

Yandang Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas.

Zhejiang City guide · 12 tours One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano.

Hong Kong Outlying Islands City guide · 12 tours Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them.

Hong Kong Shopping City guide · 12 tours A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit.

Macao City guide · 12 tours Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia.

Urumqi City guide · 12 tours The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine.

Hong Kong SAR, China City guide · 11 tours A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon.

Taiwan, China City guide · 11 tours Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres.

Qinghai Lake City guide · 12 tours A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China.

Mount Emei City guide · 11 tours A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you.

Beijing City guide · 11 tours Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth.

Taipei City guide · 11 tours A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it.

North Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds.

Lanzhou City guide · 11 tours A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets.

Mount Hua City guide · 11 tours Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start.

Dunhuang City guide · 11 tours A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up.

Gannan City guide · 11 tours 433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet.

Sichuan–Tibet Highway City guide · 11 tours 2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees.

Kangding City guide · 11 tours The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa.

Lhasa City guide · 12 tours A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all.

Nyingchi City guide · 11 tours Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon.

Namtso City guide · 11 tours A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags.

Chongqing City guide · 12 tours A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong.

Qiandongnan City guide · 11 tours A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang.

Libo City guide · 11 tours Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove.

Guiyang City guide · 11 tours China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops.

Zhenyuan City guide · 11 tours A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story.

Huangguoshu City guide · 11 tours Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away.

Harbin City guide · 11 tours Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home.

Yunnan City guide · 11 tours Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province.

Shanghai City guide · 11 tours A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork.

Zhangjiajie City guide · 11 tours Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown.

Guangzhou City guide · 11 tours A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops.

Guilin City guide · 11 tours Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China.

Shenzhen City guide · 11 tours A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing.

Chengdu City guide · 11 tours A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act.

Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride.

Xi'an City guide · 14 tours Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes.

Qinghai City guide · 11 tours China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world.

Tibet City guide · 11 tours A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.

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Dalian trips and tickets

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Understand the place

Tell us your dates.
We'll do the rest.

Free itinerary design, a revised plan within one working day, and nothing charged until you approve the final version.

Best time: May–early October. August is peak — book hotels weeks ahead.
Three days covers the coast, the two big ocean parks and a side trip to Lüshun or Bingyugou.
Dalian gave Russia its warm-water port in 1898 and Japan took it in 1905, so the architecture is genuinely European — not reconstructed.

Dalian travel guide: beaches, tsarist squares and the best seafood in northern China

Swim from a northern beach

See the mounted policewomen of Dalian

Walk Russian Street

Watch the belugas at Laohutan

Eat a proper Japanese or Korean meal

Feel the square culture

Binhai Road → Laohutan

Jinshitan → Discovery Kingdom

The city loop

Laohutan → Bangchuidao

Jinshitan → seafood dinner

Xinghai Square

Laohutan Ocean Park

Sun Asia Ocean World

Bangchuidao

Binhai Road

Jinshitan (Golden Pebble Beach)

Zhongshan Square

Discovery Kingdom

Visit the mounted police base

Drink through the beer festival

Catch the cherry and sophora blossom

Spend an afternoon at a bathing beach

Grilled squid

Swimming crab

Oysters (hailizi)

Chao menzi

Pin Haixian (品海鲜)

Dadi Chunbing (大地春饼店)

Cuifengyuan (翠峰苑)

Seongdo Korean BBQ (圣道烤肉)

Dalian Meili International Youth Hostel

Dalian Tiantian International Youth Hostel

Dalian Nanshan International Youth Hostel

GreenTree Inn (station branch)

Dalian Furaha Nanshan Garden Hotel

Jiuzhou Ramada Hotel

The eight sea treasures

Dalian apples

Shell carving

Amethyst

Qingniwa commercial district

Victory Square

Dacai Market

Tianjin Street

Bingyugou (Ice Valley)

Lüshun

Bring a windproof layer

The weather turns fast

Watch your belongings

Leave the contact lenses at home

Bring your student card

Geography and climate

History

Thirty-Seven Meets Twenty-One

The Hard Love of a Rich Bachelor

Impressions: Old Dalian Places

Layers of the City: The Aesthetics of Old Dalian Houses

Love of Dalian

Journey

Frequently asked questions

Explore next

Dalian trips and tickets

More city guides

Combine Dalian with

Sort out before you fly

Understand the place

Tell us your dates.We'll do the rest.

Tell us your dates.
We'll do the rest.