7 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 second 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

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.

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

An honest neighbour-city day — 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 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