7 Days in Jinzhou

Tide-table timing for the 1,620-metre sand causeway; the island's six-storey stone Sanqing pavilion rises near 26 metres above the strait.

1. jinzhou bijiashan

The 2013 world horticultural expo left a coastal garden city on its reclaimed headland; in the afternoon, the forested trails of Beiputuo hill sit on the city's northwestern edge.

1. jinzhou expo park
2. jinzhou beiputuo mountain

The 1948 campaign museum with its 16-metre, 122-metre-round panorama; the near-71-metre Liao pagoda of Guangji in the old-city park.

1. jinzhou liaoshen memorial
2. jinzhou guangji pagoda

The great hall of 1020 spans nine bays, its seven Liao clay Buddhas near 9 metres tall — first-batch national protection since 1961, and a film set in recent memory.

1. jinzhou fengguo temple

The Northern Wei grottoes of 499 above the Daling river, then the Liao-era Guangsheng pagoda in town — a quiet pair of stone-and-brick monuments.

1. jinzhou wanfo grottoes
2. jinzhou guangsheng pagoda

The 866.6-metre Wanghai summit crowns one of China's five zhen peaks; cliff shrines and pine walks fill a full mountain day.

1. jinzhou yiwulv mountain

The mountain's shrine temple with its national-monument halls, the 42-metre twin Liao pagodas in the old town, then trains back through Jinzhou.

1. jinzhou beizhen temple
2. jinzhou chongxing twin pagodas