A trip with very little planning
During the Qingming holiday, I made a fairly spontaneous trip to Nanjing and spent a few days wandering around the city. The trip had its fun moments and its awkward ones, but looking back at the itinerary, the biggest problem was obvious: we had not prepared enough in advance.
Luckily, we were not the kind of travelers who insist on checking off every attraction. If a place could not be entered, we simply skipped it. If the queue was too long, we changed plans and went somewhere else. There were a few embarrassing moments and plenty of tired walking, but overall, the trip still felt worthwhile.
Booking ahead really matters
The most useful lesson from this trip is simple: before going to a city, check whether the major attractions require reservations, whether tickets can be bought online, and how far in advance you need to arrange everything. Otherwise, it is very easy to arrive at the entrance and find that you cannot get in.
For anyone planning a Nanjing trip, these are a few details worth noting:
- The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders does not charge an entrance fee, but visitors need to make a reservation in advance. Reservations and availability can be checked through its WeChat public account, “侵华日军南京大屠杀遇难同胞纪念馆”.
- The Presidential Palace requires a ticket. Tickets can be purchased online through platforms such as Ctrip. The official website also provides related information: http://www.njztf.cn/business/index.sh.
- Xuanwu Lake Park does not require a ticket, and reservations can be made directly on Ctrip.
- Yuhuatai Martyrs Cemetery is also free, but it requires advance booking through platforms such as Ctrip. When reserving, there are two options: entry to the cemetery only, or a combined reservation for the cemetery and the memorial hall. The memorial hall is worth visiting, so for a first-time visit, the combined option is probably the better choice.
Where we stayed and what we ate
We stayed at the Nanjing Airport Hotel, Confucius Temple branch. The facilities were quite new, the room was well equipped, and the surrounding area was pleasant. Transportation was convenient as well, and the hotel was not too far from the places we planned to visit.
The price was also reasonable. One of the best parts was that there was a Nanjing local Huaiyang cuisine chain, Xiao Chu Niang, right on the second floor, which made meals extremely convenient. Aside from the soundproofing being just average, the stay was a very good experience overall. It is a place I would recommend to anyone who happens to need accommodation in that area.
As for food, we did not go out of our way to hunt down many so-called must-eat classic dishes. To be honest, places like Nanjing Impressions already cover many local categories, and the variety is broad enough to try quite a bit in one meal.
The salted duck was genuinely good. It was not gamey or greasy, and the meat was firm, juicy, and well prepared. Also, the duck intestines in the duck blood vermicelli soup were surprisingly delicious.
Getting around Nanjing
Nanjing has a lot of dawn redwoods, so many of the trees along the streets look tall, straight, and neat. The city is quite pleasant to look at in that sense.
One thing that stood out was how many traffic lights there are. Compared with other places, Nanjing seems to have an unusually high number of crosswalks and traffic signals, almost one set every short distance. In that way, it feels a little similar to Taiwan. It is definitely friendly for pedestrians, though I am not sure how drivers feel about it.
The roads in Nanjing are not especially wide, and there are a lot of vehicles. Judging from the few days we were there, the traffic jams did not seem much better than Beijing’s. Some intersections were even worse because of subway construction. Near popular attractions, cars could barely move at times.
That said, because our hotel was fairly close to most of the places we visited, taking taxis turned out to be inexpensive. One of my travel companions used Meituan to call rides, and many trips cost only a few yuan. That was honestly surprising.