14 Days in Xinyang

Settle in, walk the Shi riverfront greenway, then graze the night markets for Xinyang stews and Nanwan fish-head soup.

1. xinyang shi riverfront
2. xinyang city markets

The 1955 reservoir — 75 sq km of water, 61 islands. Morning boat to the tea and bird islands, fish-head soup back in town.

1. xinyang nanwan lake

The five-clouds, two-pools, one-stockade picking zones of the tea with a 1915 Panama gold medal and a top-ten national name; pre-Qingming leaf starts late March.

1. xinyang shihegang tea mountains

38 km south, one of China's four great summer retreats — over a hundred early-1900s villas under pines, July days near 24°C, sunset from the stone summit.

1. xinyang jigong mountain

15 km east to the painted village, then 45 km to the Luoshan monastery with its east-facing gate, monks and nuns under one roof, and unshaved heads.

1. xinyang haotang village
2. xinyang lingshan temple

25 km north, the Warring States mound where 13 bronze bells came up in 1957 — the recording China's first satellite broadcast in 1970 — then the museum's full galleries.

1. xinyang chengyang city site
2. xinyang museum

90 km southeast to Guangshan — a hill temple with records some 1,400 years back on Dashu Mountain, then the town quarter honoring Sima Guang, born here in 1019 while his father served as county magistrate.

1. xinyang jingju temple
2. xinyang simaguang former residence

Two hours east into the Dabie range for pines, cliffs and stream gorges near the Hubei line. Overnight in Shangcheng town.

1. xinyang huangbai mountain

A morning soak in the spring pools by the water, a long Shangcheng lunch, then an hour and a half further east to Gushi for the night.

1. xinyang tangquanchi hot springs

Bamboo seas, tea terraces and an old hill temple on Gushi's southern edge — the greenest day of the trip. Two hours back to Xinyang by evening.

1. xinyang west jiuhua mountain

An honest side day across the border — the HSR takes 40 minutes to an hour to Wuhan, capital of neighboring Hubei, for the Yellow Crane Tower and an East Lake walk. Back by evening.

1. wuhan yellow crane tower
2. wuhan east lake

Another honest crossing — Chaya Mountain belongs to neighboring Zhumadian. 25 to 30 minutes by HSR to Zhumadian West, then about 50 km by road to the granite tors of a Journey to the West filming location.

1. zhumadian chaya mountain

A rest-day rhythm — a leg-stretch on the low ridge south of the Shi, coffee by the river, an early night.

1. xinyang zhenlei mountain
2. xinyang shi riverfront

A last market breakfast, then the HSR from Xinyang East — Beijing-bound, Wuhan-bound or home.

1. xinyang city markets