14 Days in Taizhou

Open at the prefecture wall — about 5,000 standing metres, begun in the Eastern Jin — then the 198-step stair, ridge platforms and Ziyang street's wells at dusk.

1. taizhou jiangnan great wall
2. taizhou ziyang street

A second wall pass in morning light for the western quiet half, then the drive north to Taozhu, whose 1387 fortress walls still ring lanes of stone houses beside the columned sea cliffs.

1. taizhou jiangnan great wall
2. taizhou taozhu fortress

The 598 Sui temple and its hillside pagoda at walking pace, courtyard trees and quiet refectory lanes; Chicheng hill at dusk for the reddish crag caves over town.

1. taizhou guoqing temple
2. taizhou chicheng mountain

The stone-beam gorge with its few-metre natural arch, waterfall drop and terraces of the local tea — a full unhurried morning, noodle lunch in the village.

1. taizhou shiliang waterfall

The 1,098-metre county high point — cloud-sea odds after rain, rhododendron slopes in late spring, and the cool-air temple court at the top. Downhill by late afternoon.

1. taizhou huading peak

South to Xianju's peak forest — two cable cars, plank paths on the cliff face, the Guanyin monolith and the Ruyi bridge. A whole day; valley mouths run about an hour from the county seat.

1. taizhou shenxianju

Pantan's Ming-Qing streets and the hand-bent boneless lanterns of the 2006 national heritage list; Gaoqian's straight-lined courtyard rows a short ride east. Stay in Xianju overnight.

1. taizhou pantan old town
2. taizhou gaoqian village

About 1,500 years of quarrying cut Changyu's hill into vaulted halls — one hosts a music stage inside the rock. Cool in any month; the quarry-museum explains the trade.

1. taizhou changyu dongtian

The stone-roof harbour town of the 2000 millennium-sunrise record, Xiaoruo's painted houses one bay over, and a dried-fish market morning. Sunset from the east breakwater.

1. taizhou shitang fishing town
2. taizhou xiaoruo village

The Haimen ferry runs about 90 minutes out to Dachen — the Jiaowu sea stacks, cliff paths and harbour lanes; back on the afternoon boat for a Jiaojiang night.

1. taizhou dachen island

A city day — Haimen's old-street shopfronts in the morning, then Luqiao's water-side Shili long street of timber eaves and pawn-shop fronts, ending in a Jiaojiang seafood supper.

1. taizhou haimen old street
2. taizhou shili longstreet

Labelled cross-city day — Yandang lies in Yueqing under Wenzhou, half an hour by rail. The 190-metre Dalongqiu fall, Lingfeng's peaks and Lingyan's gorge wire act; evening train back north.

1. taizhou yandang mountain

Labelled honestly — an hour north by rail into Ningbo, which keeps its own pages here. The Tianyi pavilion library gardens, founded in 1561, and the old Bund riverfront; return for a last Taizhou night.

1. ningbo tianyi pavilion
2. ningbo old bund

Last-morning purchases — dried shrimp, tea from Tiantai, a small lamp from the Pantan workshop — one more old-street breakfast, then the rail station for home.

1. taizhou ziyang street
2. taizhou haimen old street