5 Days in Jinan

Baotu Spring's three jets have been written about for some 2,600 years — a Lu lord met the Qi marquis near these waters in 694 BC — and the water holds near 18°C summer and winter. The walk north past the city square to Daming Lake runs about 3 km.

1. jinan baotu spring
2. jinan quancheng square
3. jinan daming lake

Free with reservation, closed Mondays — the Longshan eggshell-black pottery, some 4,000 years old, and the Yinqueshan bamboo slips unearthed in 1972, war manuals buried with their owner over 2,000 years ago.

1. jinan shandong museum

The 285-metre hill keeps Sui-dynasty (581-618) cliff Buddhas; Wulongtan, at the old town's west edge, pools its own spring group in a quiet park of willows and scholars' halls.

1. jinan qianfo mountain
2. jinan wulongtan

Morning in the spring-water lanes, then the merchant quarter — Jinan opened its own commercial port in 1904, a rare self-started move, and the quarter's red-brick banks and warehouses now hold cafes.

1. jinan furong street
2. jinan laoshangbu

Locals queue with jugs at the moat-side spring mouths — a dozen pools line the river wall; fill a bottle, walk the embankment, then the HSR from Jinan West.

1. jinan black tiger spring
2. jinan city markets