7 Days in Lianyungang

Settle by the harbour quarter begun in 1933, where the 1935 railway met the sea; the stone lanes and local seafood rows make an easy first night.

1. lianyungang lianyun old street

Up toward Yufeng at 624.4 metres, Jiangsu's highest, the water-curtain cave of the 16th-century novel and the nine-storey pagoda of Haiqing temple, standing since 1023.

1. lianyungang huaguoshan

The 6.7-kilometre causeway to Jiangsu's largest island — swim at the wide Dashawan, walk to the cove of Sumawan, and cycle the causeway back in the evening light.

1. lianyungang lian island

Ridge paths over Haishang Yuntai with the coast and container berths below, then a second slow hour in the old street; land-bridge containers have rolled west since 1992.

1. lianyungang haishang yuntai
2. lianyungang lianyun old street

Eastern Han Buddhist rock images on Kongwang Hill, the Neolithic carvings of Jiangjunya nearby, then the drum tower and wells of Haizhou's lanes and a fish-soup lunch.

1. lianyungang kongwang hill
2. lianyungang haizhou ancient city

North to Ganyu county, venerated as the home village of the Qin-era envoy Xu Fu, then a boat out to Qinshan Island with its roughly 2.6-kilometre gravel spit known as the Divine Road — sailing depends on the day's tide and wind.

1. lianyungang xufu village
2. lianyungang qinshan island

Morning cascades at Yuwan where the Longtan brook steps down, an afternoon of vinegar houses and Li Ruzhen memory in Banpu, then the HSR from Lianyungang or the airport bus.

1. lianyungang yuwan valley
2. lianyungang banpu ancient town