14 Days in Weifang

The museum beside the Bailang river runs through 2,000-plus years of kite history and the international festival Weifang has hosted every year since 1984; the building opened in 1987. Evening is for the riverfront lawns where locals fly their own.

1. weifang kite museum
2. weifang bailang riverfront

Morning an hour of workshops at Yangjiabu, where the woodblock print craft goes back about 600 years to the Ming era and kite frames get built the same courtyards. Afternoon in the city center for Shihu Garden, laid out in 1885 on barely 2,000 square metres.

1. weifang yangjiabu
2. weifang shihu garden

A slow riverside day - willow walks, chess under the plane trees - before the Qingzhou pair.

1. weifang bailang riverfront

Under an hour west, the 5A old city (rated 2017) walks from gate lanes to the Yunmen Mountain path; the Shou character carved in 1560 stands 7.5 m tall on the cliff. Overnight in Qingzhou to split the sights.

1. weifang qingzhou ancient city
2. weifang yunmen mountain

The museum's cache of Buddhist figures - more than 400 found in 1996 buried at the Longxing temple site - anchors the morning. Tuoshan's cliffs hold over 600 carved figures from the Sui and Tang on; return to Weifang by evening.

1. weifang qingzhou museum
2. weifang tuoshan grottoes

Markets, a long lunch and a nap - the first neighbor-city run starts tomorrow.

1. weifang city markets

An honestly labeled neighbor-city day - Zibo sits about half an hour west by high-speed rail, and its own page carries the full site list. A day return is realistic.

1. zibo

Riverside loops and a teahouse afternoon - the coast run deserves fresh legs.

1. weifang bailang riverfront

Another flagged neighbor day - the coast is about an hour east by rail. If the calendar allows, take the night there rather than a same-day dash.

1. qingdao

A coastal morning on whatever the first day left open, then the rail hop back west to Weifang.

1. qingdao

If your dates land on the third Saturday of April, this day belongs to the international kite meet on the riverside fields - crews from dozens of countries fly competition formats. Outside festival week, treat it as a second museum visit with the workshop hall.

1. weifang kite museum

A print-focused return - pull your own impression at the workshop press and watch the carve-and-print sequence end to end; the village lanes are quieter on weekdays.

1. weifang yangjiabu

Return to the Shihu Garden quarter at street-market pace - the culture district around it sells kites, prints and copperwork - and close with a last riverside walk.

1. weifang shihu garden
2. weifang bailang riverfront

A breakfast round of the local standards - guo da la noodles and the baked meat pies sold at every corner - then the rail station.

1. weifang city markets