City guide · Guangdong

Huizhou travel guide: the free West Lake, Luofu Mountain and the bays of Huidong

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

  • Known forFree West Lake, Luofu Mountain, bays
  • Typical spend¥700–900 / person / 2 days
  • Ideal length2–3 days
  • PaceEasy — one lake, one mountain, one bay
Plan this trip Huizhou tours

Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10

The short version

Huizhou is an easy 2-day city break on the north-east edge of the Pearl River Delta, and its centrepiece — West Lake, five linked lakes threaded by six bridges — costs nothing to enter. Add a day for Luofu Mountain, a 1,296 m Taoist peak with a cable car, and a second for the white-sand bays of Huidong, and two people can do the whole lake-mountain-sea set for well under ¥1,600.

  • West Lake is free and genuinely lovely — five lakes, six bridges, eighteen named scenes, all walkable from the centre.
  • Luofu Mountain, the 'first mountain of Lingnan', packs 432 peaks and 980-plus springs and waterfalls into one day out; a cable car saves the climb.
  • The coast is a separate trip: Xunliao Bay and Shuangyue Bay are 1.5 to 2 hours from the city — give them a full day or an overnight.
  • Huizhou eats Dongjiang Hakka: salt-baked chicken, stuffed tofu and mei cai pork, the local 'three treasures'.
  • High-speed rail makes it trivial: about 1 hour from Shenzhen and 1.5 from Guangzhou, with trains through the day.

City guide

First impressions

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

Dawn over West Lake and the Su Causeway
Dawn over West Lake and the Su Causeway
Luofu Mountain rising above Boluo county
Luofu Mountain rising above Boluo county
White sand and calm water at Xunliao Bay
White sand and calm water at Xunliao Bay
Bamboo and forest trails on Nankun Mountain
Bamboo and forest trails on Nankun Mountain

Huizhou is beautiful, clean and easy-going. I fell for it within a day, and half wished I could just move here.

A traveller's note, 'Two Lazy Days in Huizhou'

I never expected a coastline like Xunliao Bay in Guangdong. The best things were on my own doorstep all along.

A traveller's note, 'Hiding from the City at Xunliao Bay'

Huizhou is the delta city that people visit by accident and then recommend on purpose. It sits on the East River on the north-east rim of the Pearl River Delta, and it has been a river port of consequence for 1,400-odd years. What makes it worth the train ticket is a rare thing in this part of Guangdong: a real city centre wrapped around a lake, with hills behind it, a proper mountain an hour away and the sea two hours beyond that.

The lake is the story of the centre. Huizhou's West Lake — not Hangzhou's, though the two were once named together as two of China's three great West Lakes — is a shallow string of five basins the city has grown around, stitched by six bridges and dotted with pavilions. Locals call their town 'half a city of hills, half a city of lake', and on the Su Causeway at dawn, with egrets working the shallows, the boast holds up. The whole thing is free.

Out of town the city changes character fast. North-west is Luofu Mountain, the Taoist 'first mountain of Lingnan' that Su Dongpo praised in the poem about eating three hundred lychees a day. West of it, in Boluo county, someone has built a full-scale replica of the Austrian lakeside town of Hallstatt — kitsch, and weirdly photogenic. And south-east, past the hot-spring resorts of Longmen and the forests of Nankun Mountain, the city runs out into the sand: Xunliao Bay and Shuangyue Bay on the Huidong coast, where the water is the cleanest for hundreds of kilometres.

Come October to April, when the delta is at its driest and coolest, and eat like the Hakka ancestors of this city intended: slowly, and mostly braised.

Huizhou

Don't leave without

Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.

  1. Walk the Su Causeway on West Lake before 8 am
  2. Ride the cable car up Luofu Mountain to the Feiyun summit
  3. Go barefoot on the white sand at Xunliao Bay
  4. Stand on the beach at China's only sea-turtle reserve
  5. Eat all three Hakka treasures: salt-baked chicken, stuffed tofu, mei cai pork
  6. Soak in a Longmen hot spring after a day in the Nankun forests

Highlights

Six reasons to get off the train

A West Lake that costs nothing

Five linked lakes, six bridges and eighteen named scenes — the 'half hills, half lake' the locals boast about. Dawn on the Su Causeway, with the morning tai-chi crowd and the egrets, is the best free hour in the delta.

Luofu Mountain

The 'first mountain of Lingnan' and one of China's ten great Taoist mountains: 432 peaks, 980-plus springs and waterfalls, and the 1,296 m Feiyun summit. A cable car does the hard work; the herb market and sweet tea at its foot do the rest.

Xunliao Bay and Shuangyue Bay

The cleanest water on this stretch of coast, 1.5 to 2 hours south-east. White sand firm underfoot, banana boats and jet skis, and guided coral dives off the islets — this is Huizhou's seaside half.

Nankun Mountain and the springs

An 'oasis on the Tropic of Cancer' — 240,000 mu of prime forest and a sea of bamboo — ringed by three national 4A hot-spring resorts in Longmen county alone. Cool air even in August, and farmhouse food to match.

The Hakka three treasures

Salt-baked chicken, stuffed tofu and mei cai pork: Dongjiang cooking, one of the three great branches of Guangdong cuisine. Eat them in farmhouse kitchens out in the counties, where the chicken actually ran around.

An Austrian town, in Boluo

A full-scale replica of Hallstatt transplanted to a Guangdong hillside beside the Boluo gymnasium. Purists scoff; photographers turn up before ten and after four, when the light goes soft, and go home happy.

Suggested routes

Two weekends that cover Huizhou

The city classic

2 days days

The lake-and-mountain pair that makes Huizhou worth the train ticket.

  1. Day 1

    West Lake and the old town

    Start early on the Su Causeway while the lake is still quiet, then work the six bridges between the five lakes — Pinghu, Fenghu, Nanhu, Linghu and Ehu — and the pavilions between them.

    Afternoon: a rowboat on the water, then the lanes and riverside behind Huancheng West Road. Dinner on Dongjiang Hakka cooking — salt-baked chicken, stuffed tofu, mei cai pork — within a short taxi hop of the lake.

    Stops: West LakeSu CausewayOld town

  2. Day 2

    Luofu Mountain, with a detour

    Coach or car out to Boluo for the Zhu Ming Cave core area. Cable car up, walk the ridge toward the Feiyun summit, come down past the springs, and buy sweet tea and herbal oil at the gate.

    On the way back, stop at the replica Hallstatt beside the Boluo gymnasium — forty minutes is plenty — and be back in the city for dinner.

    Stops: Luofu MountainZhu Ming CaveAustrian Town

Coast and hot springs

2 days days

The other Huizhou: white-sand bays one day, forest and springs the next.

  1. Day 1

    Down to the Huidong coast

    Direct bus from the Henan'an coach station to Xunliao Bay — about 2 hours, ¥30, every half hour from 7 am to 7 pm. Morning on the sand; sea sports, or a coral dive off the islets with a guide.

    Afternoon, push south past Shuangyue Bay to the sea-turtle reserve at Gangkou (¥15) and the 1385 Ming walled town of Pinghai. Sleep by the sea — a room at Bijia or anywhere on the front costs from about ¥160.

    Stops: Xunliao BaySea Turtle ReservePinghai Ancient Town

  2. Day 2

    Bamboo rafts and Nankun Mountain

    Back west into Longmen county: a two-hour bamboo-raft float down the Xiangxi River past the old fort, the ancestral halls and the bamboo groves — or straight to the hot springs if your legs vote against it.

    Finish in the Nankun Mountain forests — Stone River Wonder, Guanyin Pool and the Chuanlong waterfall — then a farmhouse dinner and a night in Xiaping, the little town at the park's heart.

    Stops: Xiangxi FortNankun MountainChuanlong Waterfall

Sights

What to actually go and see

City lake

Huizhou West Lake

A national 4A scenic area and the city's whole reason for being pleasant: five shallow lakes joined by six bridges, with eighteen named scenes from 'Su Causeway moon' to 'goose pagoda ripples'. Su Dongpo was exiled here and loved it, which tells you the lake has been winning people over for a thousand years.

Where
Huancheng West Road, Huicheng district — in the middle of the city
Ticket
Free
Hours
Summer 7:00–22:30, winter 6:30–22:00
Getting there
Buses 1, 2, 5, 7, 11 and 19 to the Fengshan junction stop

Tip Go before 8 am. The causeway at dawn — egrets, rowers, pensioners with swords — is a different lake from the midday one, and it costs nothing.

Taoist mountain

Luofu Mountain

One of China's ten great Taoist mountains and the 'first mountain of Lingnan': 432 peaks, more than 980 springs and waterfalls, 18 cave-heavens and 72 stone chambers. The main summit, Feiyun Ding, is 1,296 m; the cable car takes the sweat out of most of it. Ge Hong, the alchemist, worked here — hence the famous herb market.

Where
Boluo county, north-west of the city
Ticket
¥60 peak season, ¥48 off-season
Hours
8:00–18:00
Getting there
Coaches every 15 min from Huizhou (about 2h, under ¥20); direct coach from Guangzhou ¥40

Tip Buy the sweet tea and the Baicao herbal oil at the gate on the way out, not at scenic-area prices on the way in — and if you are coming from Guangzhou, the direct coach beats transferring.

Beaches

Xunliao Bay and Shuangyue Bay

The white-sand pair of Huidong. Xunliao Bay is the built-up one: 'strange rocks, clear water, white sand', water and air both at national grade one, sea sports lined up on the sand and coral dives off the islets with instructors. Shuangyue Bay, round the headland, is the quieter twin — two crescents of sand seen best from the hill above the turtle reserve.

Where
Huidong county, 1.5–2 hours south-east of the city
Ticket
Golden Bay ¥8; Deze Garden ¥10
Hours
8:00–18:00
Getting there
Direct bus from Henan'an station every 30 min, ¥30, about 2h; driving is easy on good roads

Tip Stay the night. The beach at 7 am, before the day-trippers arrive, is the single best hour of a Huizhou coast trip — and the turtle reserve and Pinghai old town are only reachable if you have a car or a full day.

Wildlife

Sea Turtle Reserve

China's only sea-turtle nature reserve, established in 1985 on the sand at Gangkou town beneath Daxing Mountain: four square kilometres of protected bay where green turtles still crawl ashore to nest in summer and autumn. A quiet, slightly scruffy, genuinely moving place — the turtle tanks are rescue and release, not表演.

Where
Gangkou town, Huidong — at the tip between the two bays
Ticket
¥15
Getting there
Taxi or chartered car from Huidong county seat; easiest folded into a Shuangyue Bay day

Tip Go with the right expectations: this is a working reserve, not an aquarium. Late summer, at hatching time, is the lucky draw.

Ming walled town

Pinghai Ancient Town

A walled garrison town built in 1385 to hold this coast against pirates, and called the 'living fossil of Lingnan coastal defence'. Four gate towers and much of the wall survive, along with the full cross-shaped old street, symmetric brick courtyard houses and a cluster of temples. Real residents, few tourists.

Where
Southern tip of Huidong, 53 km from the county seat
Ticket
Free
Getting there
Bus to the Pinghai middle-school stop; simplest as part of a coast day by car

Tip The cross street is the whole town — walk it slowly, look up at the gate towers, and combine it with the turtle reserve and Shuangyue Bay view in one loop.

Forest park

Nankun Mountain

The 'oasis on the Tropic of Cancer': a national forest park of 240,000 mu of old forest and 60,000 mu of bamboo, cool enough that delta families have been escaping here for a century. Stone River Wonder, Guanyin Pool and the Chuanlong waterfall are the set walks; the food — Guanyin vegetable, shankeng fish, free-range chicken, 'hundred-year tea' — is half the reason to come.

Where
Longmen county, 2–3 hours from the city
Hours
9:00–17:00; stay overnight
Getting there
Three direct buses a day from Longmen (about 2h) or Huizhou (about 3h); a car makes everything easier

Tip Sleep in Xiaping, the town centre, where you can eat and wander in the evening — and bring a layer: the day-night temperature swing is real even in summer.

Coast and harbour

Daya Bay and Aotou

The big island-studded bay between Huizhou and Shenzhen — nearly a hundred islets in a crescent, nicknamed the 'little Guilin of the sea'. Aotou, on its north-west corner, is the working harbour: a natural deep-water shelter that has been a trading port for centuries, and the place to eat squid and lobster straight off the boats.

Where
Huiyang district, west toward Shenzhen
Hours
Open all day
Getting there
K1/K2 buses from Huizhou station, about 2h; or the direct Xiayong service in about 1h 10m

Tip This is a half-day wander and a seafood lunch, not a beach day — the swimming beaches are on the Huidong side. Agree seafood prices before the kitchen starts cooking.

Oddity

The Austrian Town (Hallstatt)

A brick-for-brick replica of the Austrian lakeside town, complete with church and flower-hung iron bridge, dropped beside the Boluo gymnasium north of the city. Some find it soulless; others find the detail — painted signs, window boxes, the light off the lake — genuinely well done. Either way it is the strangest 90 minutes in Guangdong.

Where
Beside the Boluo gymnasium, Jiangbei
Ticket
Free
Getting there
Any Huizhou–Boluo or Huizhou–Shilong coach to near the sports centre, then 800 m on foot toward Tangquan

Tip Photographers go before 10 am or after 4 pm for soft light. Bring your own water — there is no shop in the town yet — and eat in Boluo county town afterwards.

Food

The Dongjiang Hakka table

Dongjiang salt-baked chicken

The first of the three treasures, created in the East River area 300-odd years ago: chicken buried in hot salt, arriving crisp-skinned, silky and deeply savoury. If a Huizhou kitchen can do one thing, it is this.

Stuffed tofu

Treasure number two — Hakka homesickness on a plate, the tofu standing in for the dumplings of the northern homeland. Pork paste tucked into cubes of tofu, pan-fried gold and braised. The 'mountain-water tofu' version in Futian town is famous.

Mei cai pork

Treasure number three, and the one with international fame: pork belly steamed then braised with Huizhou's preserved mustard greens — glossy, soft, sweet-salty, and not remotely as heavy as it looks. The mei cai itself is the souvenir to take home.

Shankeng fish

Small fish from the mountain streams of Nankun and Longmen, fed on waterweed and insects, pan-fried slow with ginger and spring onion until the bones go crisp. Best eaten within sight of the stream that produced them.

Guanyin vegetable

A leaf unique to Nankun Mountain, orchid-shaped and impossibly green. It tastes of spring onion, then garlic, then a bitter note, then sweetness — locals credit it with everything from detox to better skin. Chewing slowly is the point.

Hakka lei cha

Ground tea: tea leaves pounded with herbs, nuts and seeds into a paste, then whipped with hot water and served with puffed rice and vegetables. Restorative, herbal, and an acquired taste — order one bowl for the table and see who finishes it.

Where to eat

Four kitchens worth the drive

Farmhouse

Cuizhuyuan, Longmen

A small courtyard kitchen outside Dipai, tables looking over vegetable fields, and cooking that needs no MSG: shankeng fish, Longmen chicken, stuffed tofu, plain pork done properly. The owner picks the menu with you, and the bill is almost embarrassingly small.

Where
Xian 220 road, Dipai town, Longmen — near the hot springs
Average spend
About ¥29 / person
Best for
The honest farmhouse lunch of the Longmen leg

Hakka and lake fish

Xiaoyunlong, Futian

Bamboo-and-wood dining room with farmhouse energy, order from photos on the wall, lake fish and Hakka classics. Its reputation rests on the stuffed 'mountain-water tofu' — white tofu, pork centre, fried to a golden skin — worth the detour on the Luofu Mountain road.

Where
Beside the Zhongnan petrol station, Futian town, Boluo
Average spend
About ¥80 / person
Phone
0752-6889988

Seafood

Aotou harbour tables

At Daya Bay's Aotou harbour the kitchens cook what the boats brought in: the squid and three-gate lobster the port has shipped to Hong Kong and Macau for decades. Pick your fish from the ice, agree the price per jin, and let them steam it plain.

Where
Aotou harbour, Daya Bay, Huiyang
Average spend
Priced by weight — inspect the catch, agree first
Best for
Squid and lobster within sight of the boats

Mountain cooking

Nankun Mountain farmhouse kitchens

In and around Xiaping, the farmhouses of Nankun do one menu and do it well: Guanyin vegetable, red-back vegetable, free-range chicken in clay-pot soup, shankeng fish from the stream, and a pot of the mountain's 'hundred-year tea'. Order the chicken when you sit down — it takes time.

Where
Xiaping and the villages of Nankun Mountain, Longmen
Average spend
¥50–80 / person
Best for
Eating the mountain, on the mountain

Where to stay

Sleep in the right district

City base

Huicheng city hotels

The business hotels of the city centre — comfortable chains and independents from ¥138–260 — put you a five-minute taxi hop from West Lake and within 10–20 minutes of both rail stations. Boring, practical, and exactly what a lake-and-old-town first day needs.

Where
Huicheng district — Maidi, Xiabu or around Huancheng West Road
Price
¥138–260 / night
Best for
The West Lake and old-town evening

Beach stay

Bijia seaside resort, Xunliao

A resort with its own pocket of coast in the Bijia corner of Xunliao Bay: timber sea-view villas, a private beach, beach BBQ at night, and boats to Sangzhou and Sanjiaozhou islets opposite. Eight kilometres from the hot springs if the weather turns.

Where
Bijia, Pinghai town, Huidong
Price
From about ¥160 / night
Phone
0752-8399638

In the scenic area

Lianhu resort, Luofu Mountain

Inside the Luofu scenic area near White Lotus Lake — bright rooms, forest air, and the trailhead on your doorstep for a dawn start before the coaches arrive. The sensible base for a mountain day without a 6 am alarm in the city.

Where
Luofu Mountain scenic area, Boluo
Price
From about ¥250 / night
Phone
0752-6603683

Forest villas

Xintaoyuan villas, Nankun Mountain

European-style villas scattered through the Peach-Blossom Spring area of Nankun, with a natural swimming pool, streams, waterfalls and old trees on the grounds. There is a restaurant, courts and trails; at night the only sound is the water.

Where
Shangping, Nankun Mountain, Longmen
Price
From about ¥258 / night
Phone
0752-7691168

Apartments

Daya Bay holiday apartments

Modern managed apartments around Xin'ao Avenue, handy for the Xiayong shore and a seafood dinner at Aotou without driving back to the city at night. Clean, cheap and unglamorous — the bed at the end of a coast day.

Where
Xin'ao Avenue, Daya Bay
Price
From about ¥148 / night
Phone
0752-5536333

Getting around

How to reach Huizhou and move through it

By high-speed rail

The way most people arrive. The line puts Huizhou about 1 hour from Shenzhen and 1.5 hours from Guangzhou, with frequent services through the day into two stations — Huizhou (the old west station, closest to the centre) and Huizhou North.

From Shenzhen
About 1 hour
From Guangzhou
About 1.5 hours
Stations
Huizhou station and Huizhou North — check which one your train uses

By coach

Coaches still matter here: about 3 hours from Shenzhen for ¥56, with the city's bus terminal on Eling North Road threaded by a dozen bus routes. Roughly ten direct buses a day also run to and from Hong Kong.

Shenzhen → Huizhou
About 3 hours, ¥56
Main terminal
Huizhou bus station, 11 Eling North Road, 0752-2383336
To Hong Kong
About 10 direct services daily

By car

Everything in Huizhou is within a 3-hour drive of anywhere in the delta, and the coast genuinely rewards a car. From Guangzhou, the Guangzhou–Huizhou expressway's Luofu Mountain exit is 6.8 km from the Zhu Ming Cave core area; the coast roads to Xunliao are signposted off the Huidong routes.

To Luofu Mountain
Guanghui expressway, Luofu exit, 6.8 km to the core area
To the coast
Well-signposted via Huidong; 1.5–2 hours from the city
Delta drives
All three big areas within ~3 hours of Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Hong Kong

By city bus

Cheap, air-conditioned and good coverage: ¥2 flat, with routes 1, 2, 5, 7, 11 and 19 all dropping you at the Fengshan junction for West Lake. For the old town and the riverside you walk; for anything out of town you take the coach stations instead.

Fare
¥2 flat, air-conditioned
To West Lake
Routes 1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 19 — Fengshan junction stop
Coverage
All major city sights; the counties are served from the coach terminals

By taxi

Flagfall is low — ¥5 plus a ¥1 fuel levy, metered after 2 km — and city rides are short money: West Lake to the rail stations is ¥6–23. For longer hops out to the counties, agree the fare before you commit.

Flagfall
¥5 + ¥1 fuel surcharge, then metered
Lake ↔ stations
¥6–23 depending which station
Longer hires
Agree the price first — coast runs are quoted, not metered

To the coast and Nankun

The two big side trips have their own logic. Xunliao Bay: direct bus from Henan'an coach station every 30 minutes (7 am–7 pm), ¥30, about 2 hours. Nankun Mountain: three direct buses a day from Longmen or Huizhou (2–3 hours) — most visitors fold it into a hot-spring overnight with a car.

To Xunliao Bay
Direct bus from Henan'an station, every 30 min, ¥30, ~2h
To Aotou / Daya Bay
K1/K2 from Huizhou station, ~2h; or the Xiayong direct, ~1h 10m
To Nankun Mountain
3 buses daily from Longmen or Huizhou; easier with a car

Shopping

What to carry home

Luofu sweet tea and Baicao oil

The mountain's two signature products: a naturally sweet infusion tea that cools the system, and the herbal oil made from a hundred-odd mountain herbs by the pharmacy at the mountain's foot — moss-green, herbaceous, and the thing locals actually keep in the medicine drawer.

Aipi mei cai

The preserved mustard greens that made mei cai pork famous, grown around Tuqiao village in Aipi town where the Lu family planted the first crop back in the late Ming. Buy it vacuum-packed; it travels and keeps, and one bag is several dinners.

Nankun mountain goods

Honey, green-plum wine, mushrooms and herbs from the stalls of Xiaping. Genuinely good — but treat any stall claiming its lingzhi or roots are truly wild with polite scepticism, because the real thing is nearly impossible to source.

Boluo crisp candy and Longmen toothpicks

The quirky but classic pair: sesame candy made in Boluo to a traditional recipe — crumbly, fragrant, not too sweet — and the bamboo toothpicks Longmen has made famous, absurdly cheap and somehow always in the kitchen drawer of every family that visits.

Practical

The numbers you will actually need

Huizhou rewards low ambition done well: one lake morning, one mountain day, one coast night. The mistake people make is treating the coast as a quick detour — it is two hours each way, and it deserves its own night.

Best monthsOctober–April: cool, dry, comfortable; annual average is about 22°C
SummerJune–August is hot, humid and wet; the coast can catch typhoons, but the sea is warmest for swimming
Key ticketsWest Lake free; Luofu Mountain ¥60 peak / ¥48 off-season; Xunliao Golden Bay ¥8; turtle reserve ¥15
Rail timesAbout 1 hour from Shenzhen, 1.5 hours from Guangzhou on the high-speed line
City buses¥2 flat; routes 1, 2, 5, 7, 11, 19 reach West Lake (Fengshan junction stop)
Coast distancesXunliao Bay 1.5–2 hours, Daya Bay 1–2 hours — plan a full day or an overnight, not a detour
Nankun MountainCool nights even in summer — bring a layer; book Xiaping accommodation ahead; shops are small, stock snacks
ComplaintsTourism 12301, pricing 12358 — both national numbers

Tips

Small things that make a big difference

Book the coast first

Sea-view rooms at Xunliao sell out on summer weekends long before anything else in the city does. Fix the coast night, then fit the lake and the mountain around it.

Pack a layer for Nankun

The mountain runs noticeably cooler than the lowland, day and night. A light jacket turns a shivering evening into the best sleep of the trip.

Prep for the rafts

For Xiangxi Fort and any of the summer rafting runs: towel and change of clothes in a dry bag, no valuables on board, life jacket on before the boat leaves the bank. Non-negotiable, in that order.

Time the Austrian town

Before 10 am or after 4 pm, when the light is soft and the tour buses thin out. Bring water — there is no shop inside yet — and eat in Boluo afterwards.

Do not cram city plus coast

The maths never works: two hours out, two hours back, four hours left of beach. Give Huidong its own day and overnight, and keep the city days for the lake and Luofu.

Doubt the 'wild' label

At Nankun's stalls, the honey and plum wine are honest; the 'wild' lingzhi and rare herbs almost never are. Buy the edible, skip the medicinal, and you will not be cheated.

Background

Why Huizhou is the way it is

A 1,400-year river port

Huizhou sits where the East River meets the low hills on the delta's north-east rim, and it has been the political, economic and cultural centre of the East River basin since it was organised as a commandery more than 1,400 years ago — successively named Xunzhou, then Zhenzhou, before settling as Huizhou. The 'famous city of Lingnan' and 'key town of eastern Guangdong' are not tourist-board inventions; they are what the imperial geographies called it.

Its most famous involuntary resident was Su Dongpo, the Song dynasty poet exiled here in 1094, who found the city to his taste and wrote the lines every local can quote: 'Below Luofu Mountain it is spring all four seasons... three hundred lychees a day, and I would gladly stay a Lingnan man forever.' The West Lake he walked was later ranked with Hangzhou's and Yingzhou's as one of China's three great West Lakes — a fact Huizhou has never once stopped mentioning, and fair enough.

A Hakka city on the move

The Hakka families who define modern Huizhou arrived from eastern Guangdong, western Fujian and southern Jiangxi a little over four centuries ago, and built a culture that borrows gladly: customs carried from the central plains in the Tang and Song, folded into local custom, until 'ten li, one custom; a hundred li, another' became the honest description of the region.

It shows up everywhere. The Hanju opera troupe founded in 1963 stitched together musicians from Shantou, Shaoguan and Meizhou; the mountain songs run seven characters a line and four lines a song; the xiehouyu — two-part folk riddles — still get laughs in the market. And it shows up on the table: Dongjiang cooking, one of the three branches of Guangdong cuisine, is Hakka food done delta-smooth — salt-baked, stuffed, braised and slow.

Travel with them

Huizhou in print and song

Book

The Lü Family of Huizhou

Wang Leshui

A sweeping novel following three generations of one Huizhou family from the late Qing through to the reform era — the heaviest century of Chinese history told through a single household, and a good sense of the city's own long memory.

Music

It Starts Here

Teambravo (Baozhu band)

A love letter to their hometown by a Huizhou indie band, released with a self-shot MV of the streets and shore they grew up around. Play it on the Su Causeway at dawn and see if the lake does not do the same thing to you.

Film

The Eastern Campaign

Directed by Liang Hongfa, 2012

A war drama built on the 1925 Eastern Expedition, when the Whampoa student army fought its way to Huizhou with the help of the local peasant associations — the city as a strategic prize, which, standing at the delta's eastern gate, it long was.

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

Frequently asked questions

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

Is Huizhou worth visiting?

Yes — as a relaxed two-day city break, especially if you are already in Shenzhen or Guangzhou. West Lake is free and genuinely pretty, Luofu Mountain is a proper day out, and the Dongjiang Hakka food is a reason in itself. It is not a headline destination, and that is precisely its charm: everything costs less and queues less than the cities around it.

How do I get to Huizhou from Shenzhen or Guangzhou?

High-speed rail is the easy answer: about 1 hour from Shenzhen and 1.5 hours from Guangzhou, arriving at Huizhou station or Huizhou North. Coaches also run — roughly 3 hours from Shenzhen for about ¥56 — and about a dozen direct buses a day connect Huizhou with Hong Kong. Huizhou's own airport has a thin schedule, so most flyers land at Shenzhen or Guangzhou and connect by rail.

When is the best time to visit Huizhou?

October to April, when it is cool and dry — the annual average is about 22°C, but summer is a different, sweatier story. June to August is hot, humid and wet, and the coast can catch typhoon weather, though that is also when the sea is warmest for swimming. For the lake and the mountain, spring and late autumn are the sweet spots.

Is Huizhou's West Lake the same as Hangzhou's?

No — different lakes, different cities, though Huizhou's was historically ranked alongside Hangzhou's and Yingzhou's as one of China's three great West Lakes. Huizhou's is smaller, shallower and quieter: five connected lakes, six bridges and eighteen named scenes, free to enter, and best walked at dawn or dusk when the tour groups are eating.

What should I eat in Huizhou?

The three Hakka treasures of Dongjiang cooking: salt-baked chicken (300-plus years old, crisp-skinned and aromatic), stuffed tofu, and mei cai pork — pork belly braised with the preserved mustard greens the city is famous for. Add pan-fried shankeng fish from the mountain streams, the Guanyin vegetable unique to Nankun Mountain, and a bowl of Hakka lei cha if you find a village kitchen doing it.

Can I visit Xunliao Bay as a day trip?

You can, but you should not plan it that way. The bay is 1.5 to 2 hours from the city by road, so a day trip burns four hours in a bus for a few hours of sand. Go down for one night instead — sunset on the sand, seafood in a fishing village, and the beach to yourself at sunrise — and fold in the turtle reserve and Pinghai old town while you are down there.

Do people in Huizhou speak Mandarin?

Yes, comfortably. This is a Hakka city with heavy migration from all over China, and service-industry Mandarin is the default. You will hear Hakka and Cantonese on the street, but a Mandarin-speaking visitor has no practical language problem; English, as everywhere outside the big gateways, is thin on the ground.

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

Huizhou Huizhou Guangdong · 0 tours Huizhou is a 2-day city break on the eastern edge of the Pearl River Delta, and its centrepiece — West Lake — is free. Between the lake, the Taoist mo
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City guides

Dalian Dalian City guide · 15 tours The Northern Pearl — China's most romantic coastal city. Shenyang Shenyang City guide · 12 tours Where the Qing dynasty began — an imperial palace, a warlord's mansion and the cheapest good food in the northeast. Changbai Mountain Changbai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano on the North Korean border, a jade-green crater lake at 2,189 m, and hot springs on the way down. Kunming Kunming City guide · 12 tours China's Spring City — a mild plateau capital of flowers, markets and the Stone Forest, with gulls on the lake in winter. Dali Dali City guide · 12 tours A walled Bai town between a 4,000 m mountain and a great lake — wind, flowers, snow and moon, and life at a slower speed. Shuhe Shuhe City guide · 12 tours The quiet version of Lijiang — a Tea Horse Road village of canals, stone bridges and slow afternoons, 4 km from the crowds. Lijiang Lijiang City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO Naxi old town of canals and cobbles beneath a 5,596 m snow mountain — the cultural heart of north-west Yunnan. Xiamen Xiamen City guide · 12 tours A subtropical island city of temples, fishing-village lanes and the best street food in Fujian — with the car-free islet of Gulangyu a 20-minute ferry away. Gulangyu Gulangyu City guide · 12 tours A car-free island of colonial villas, pianos and cats, twenty minutes off Xiamen — and the one place where the trick is simply to stay the night. Fuzhou Fuzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,200-year-old capital of banyan trees and mountains-within-the-city, where the Ming lanes of Sanfang Qixiang meet the dockyard that built China's modern navy. Lugu Lake Lugu Lake City guide · 12 tours A 2,680 m lake on the Yunnan–Sichuan border, home to China's last matrilineal people, pig-trough canoes and a great deal of doing nothing. Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna City guide · 12 tours China's tropical south — rainforest, wild elephants, Dai villages and the Mekong, wrapped around the gateway city of Jinghong. Shangri-La Shangri-La City guide · 12 tours A Tibetan town at 3,300 m in Yunnan's Diqing prefecture — monasteries, grassland, prayer wheels and cold thin air. Nanchang Nanchang City guide · 12 tours Jiangxi's 'hero city' on the Gan River — one great Tang pavilion, a 160-metre Ferris wheel, and the best claypot soup you will eat in China. Hefei Hefei City guide · 12 tours Anhui's 2,000-year-old capital: the hometown of China's model judge, a moat-turned-garden ring, and the fast rail gateway to Huangshan. Hongcun Hongcun City guide · 12 tours A 900-year-old Hui village laid out as an ox, with water running to every door and a mirror-still crescent pond at its heart. Wuhan Wuhan City guide · 12 tours Three towns, two rivers and the best breakfast in China — a huge, blunt river city of bridges, lakes and cheap, brilliant street food. Changsha Changsha City guide · 12 tours Hunan's loud, young capital: a 3,000-year-old city that eats chilli-hot food, stays up all night and treats foot massage as a civic duty. Fenghuang Ancient Town Fenghuang Ancient Town City guide · 12 tours The stilt-house river town of Shen Congwen's 'Border Town' — glowing lanterns, stepping stones and the best two nights in western Hunan. Lushan Lushan City guide · 12 tours A cloud-wrapped granite mountain with a Victorian hill station on top, waterfalls in three tiers, and the mist that Su Shi said you could never see through. Wuyuan Wuyuan City guide · 12 tours China's 'most beautiful countryside' — dozens of white-walled Huizhou villages strung along streams and terraced into the hills, and two weeks a year of gold. Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan) Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan) City guide · 12 tours The South Great Peak: a pilgrimage mountain of 72 summits where the temples run all the way to the top, and the sunrise over the cloud sea is the whole point. Huangshan Huangshan City guide · 12 tours Yellow Mountain: 82 granite peaks of twisted pines and grotesque rock, a sea of cloud that changes by the hour, and hot springs at the foot. Wudang Mountain Wudang Mountain City guide · 12 tours The Taoist first mountain of China — a gilded bronze hall on a 1,612 m summit, temples hung off cliff faces, and the birthplace of tai chi. Luoyang Luoyang City guide · 12 tours Thirteen dynasties, 100,000 Buddhas carved into a river cliff, China's first Buddhist temple — and a whole city that turns peony-pink every April. Yuntai Mountain Yuntai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO geopark in Henan where red-stone gorges squeeze a river to a slot, a 314 m waterfall drops in one plunge, and every path leads to another pool. Rizhao Rizhao City guide · 12 tours A low-key Shandong beach town where the sun rises straight out of the Yellow Sea, the sand runs 60 km and a seafood dinner costs less than a coffee in Shanghai. Yantai Yantai City guide · 12 tours A northern Shandong port of fairy-tale cliffs, wine cellars and long golden beaches — where emperors once hunted the elixir of life and China's wine industry still begins. Lianyungang 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. Sanqing Mountain Sanqing Mountain City guide · 12 tours A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres. Tianjin 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. Beihai Beihai City guide · 12 tours 24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between. Nanning 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 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. Beidaihe 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 Shanhaiguan City guide · 12 tours The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea. Baiyangdian 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 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 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 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 Wuyi Mountain City guide · 12 tours Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name. Jiuzhaigou 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 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. Hailuogou Hailuogou City guide · 12 tours A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both. Daocheng Yading Daocheng Yading City guide · 12 tours Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan. Shunan Bamboo Sea Shunan Bamboo Sea City guide · 12 tours Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo. Dujiangyan Dujiangyan City guide · 12 tours Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years. Qingcheng Mountain Qingcheng Mountain City guide · 12 tours The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven. Qingdao Qingdao City guide · 12 tours Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea. Mount Tai 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Zhenjiang City guide · 12 tours Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past. Changzhou Changzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it. Wuzhen 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 Xitang City guide · 12 tours Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living. Hangzhou 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 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 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 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 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 Shaoxing City guide · 12 tours Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free. Zhoushan 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Taiwan, China City guide · 11 tours Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres. Qinghai Lake 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Yunnan City guide · 11 tours Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province. Shanghai 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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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  • West Lake is free and genuinely lovely — five lakes, six bridges, eighteen named scenes, all walkable from the centre.
  • Luofu Mountain, the 'first mountain of Lingnan', packs 432 peaks and 980-plus springs and waterfalls into one day out; a cable car saves the climb.
  • The coast is a separate trip: Xunliao Bay and Shuangyue Bay are 1.5 to 2 hours from the city — give them a full day or an overnight.

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