5 Days in Yunfu

Yunfu has quarried and carved stone for more than 400 years — the "stone capital" tag shows up in shopfronts everywhere. Start with the Panlong cave and its rare calcite "cave flowers", then let the evening markets feed you.

1. yunfu panlong cave
2. yunfu city markets

South to Xinxing county, home ground of Huineng (638-713), the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. The Guoen Temple was founded in 683 and is the place where he taught in his final year and died in 713; his home village lies a short ride away. Facts and hours only — visit it as the historical site it is.

1. yunfu guoen temple
2. yunfu huineng former residence

South of Xinxing's county seat, the Tianlu range tops out at 1,251 m — terraced tea gardens, waterfalls and a cool ridge walk even in Lingnan's warm months. Stay on the mountain or roll back down to town for the night.

1. yunfu tianlu mountain

A soak morning at the Jinshuitai spring pools near the Shuitai border, then the short hop to Shuidong at Yaogu town, where nearly 600 Ming-Qing buildings line lanes built by the descendants of the Song philosopher Cheng Hao.

1. yunfu jinshuitai hot spring
2. yunfu shuidong village

A last slow morning — stone-craft yards near the markets, a proper Cantonese lunch, then the rail line west of the Pearl River delta: Guangzhou and its airports sit about an hour to the east.

1. yunfu city markets