盐水鸭
Salted duck
Poached, salted, and served cool. The duckiness should be clean, not perfumed. A small shop with birds in the window is the right classroom.
南京 · 3 days
Nanjing
Nanjing was a capital more than once, and the city does not let you forget it. Purple Mountain holds the mausoleum and the Ming tomb. The wall and the river are the other scale. The museum is the rainy day that is not a consolation prize.
The sky
Today and the next few days
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Stay near
Xinjiekou or Fuzimiao, on the metro
Give it
Three days
Book first
The mausoleum, and the museum
Watch for
Assuming the whole wall is one bike loop
Purple Mountain is a day: reserve the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and decide whether Ming Xiaoling is the same ticket or the next one. The walk up to the mausoleum is long and exposed. The museum deserves its own morning. The wall is a gate, usually Zhonghua Gate, not a circuit like Xi’an’s.
Nanjing South is the huge high-speed station. The metro into Xinjiekou is the way. Lukou Airport is south, a different ride.
Salted duck is the local plate people actually eat. The Confucian temple area is for the evening, once, and not for the best duck.
Getting around
How you actually move.
Metro from Nanjing South to Xinjiekou, then out to Muxuyuan or the Purple Mountain stations for the monuments. A tourist shuttle runs on the mountain. Walking between the mausoleum and Ming Xiaoling is a real distance. Check the shuttle before you promise yourself both on foot.
Zhonghua Gate is a metro stop of its own. Fuzimiao is central, on the Qinhuai River. The Yangtze bridge is a view, not a required crossing.
Where to sleep
A neighborhood, not a booking ad.
Xinjiekou is the practical middle, on several metro lines. Fuzimiao is livelier at night and noisier.
Do not sleep on Purple Mountain. The monument day starts with a ride and ends with one. A hotel at Nanjing South only helps a dawn train.
Eat this, not a poster of it
What Nanjing actually tastes like
狮子头
Lion’s head meatballs
Large pork meatballs, braised or steamed, in a pale sauce. Share one. They are richer than they look.
鸭血粉丝汤
Duck blood noodle soup
Rice vermicelli, duck blood, and offal. Skip it if blood is not your lunch. It is a real Nanjing bowl, not a dare.
The sights
Where to go, and whether you can just show up.
Free, but reserve
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Historic sites 历史古迹
The blue-tile mausoleum on Purple Mountain. Entry is free and still reserved.
Tomb ticket
Ming Xiaoling
Historic sites 历史古迹
The Ming founder’s tomb on the same mountain. A sacred way of stone animals, then the mound.
Gate ticket
Nanjing City Wall
Historic sites 历史古迹
The longest city wall in the country. You visit a gate, not a single loop.
Free lanes, paid temple
Fuzimiao and Qinhuai
Cultural landscapes 人文风光
The Confucian temple quarter on the Qinhuai River. The evening river is the visit. The temple is optional.
Free, but reserve
Nanjing Museum
Museums 博物馆
One of the country’s best museums. Free, and reserved.