5 Days in Jinzhou

Plan around the tide tables — the 1,620-metre sand causeway surfaces twice daily; cross on foot and climb the six-storey, near-26-metre stone Sanqing pavilion on the island.

1. jinzhou bijiashan

The campaign museum's panorama hall measures 16 metres tall by some 122 metres around; the Liao-era Guangji pagoda, near 71 metres, anchors the old-city park at dusk.

1. jinzhou liaoshen memorial
2. jinzhou guangji pagoda

Fengguo's great hall of 1020 spans nine bays under its seven near-9-metre clay Buddhas, first-batch national protection since 1961; the 499 grottoes sit upriver along the Daling.

1. jinzhou fengguo temple
2. jinzhou wanfo grottoes

Northeast to Beizhen for the mountain listed among China's five "zhen" peaks — its Wanghai summit reads 866.6 metres, with cliff shrines and pine ridges along the climbing routes.

1. jinzhou yiwulv mountain

The Beizhen temple, where emperors sent sacrifices to the mountain for centuries, keeps its national-monument halls; the Liao-era twin pagodas, each near 42 metres, pair in the old town before the return to Jinzhou.

1. jinzhou beizhen temple
2. jinzhou chongxing twin pagodas