10 Days in Benxi

The 2,800-metre boat passage holds a steady 10 degrees Celsius year-round — bring a layer even in August; the 2015 HSR from Shenyang takes about 40 minutes.

1. benxi water cave

East to the national forest park for reservoir shores and maple ridges; the leaf window runs from late September to mid-October, peaking in the first ten days of October.

1. benxi guanmenshan forest park

A slow day on the city's table-top hill with its cliff walkway, dumpling lunch and a nap before the Huanren block.

1. benxi pingdingshan park

North-east about two hours to the UNESCO-listed hill town — inscribed in 2004 as part of the Koguryo capital cities and tombs, founded in 37 BC on the 800-metre peak above Huanren Lake. Overnight in Huanren.

1. benxi wunu mountain
2. benxi huanren lake

A slow morning in the county town whose streets were laid out in a Taiji pattern after the 1877 founding, lakeside tea, then the coach back to Benxi.

1. benxi huanren old town

A forest day through the valley of falls and pools and out to the lake below — the painters' corner, at its reddest in the first half of October.

1. benxi laobianguo valley
2. benxi dashi lake

An honest neighbour-city day, about 80 minutes by HSR — the 1911 river bridge cut in 1950, kept as a walkway of girders, and the restored easternmost Ming wall section at Hushan.

1. dandong broken bridge
2. dandong hushan great wall

The 1625 Manchu palace (UNESCO-listed with the Beijing palaces since 2004) and the 1914 warlord mansion, back to Benxi for dinner.

1. shenyang imperial palace
2. shenyang zhangshi mansion

The nine-peak Taoist mountain of the Longmen lineage — temple courtyards, stone stairs and broad views; visit it as a site, dress plainly and follow the house rules.

1. benxi tiesha mountain

The pocket lake that gave the city its name — claimed as the world's smallest at around 15 square metres — and its riverside park, then the HSR back to Shenyang.

1. benxi benxi lake