Nanjing 5 Day Itinerary (No Tourist Traps)
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Five days is the 4-day city-and-memorial plan plus a real day trip out, Qixia Mountain if you’re here in autumn, Niushou Mountain if you’re not. The 6-day plan adds Suzhou by high-speed rail on top of this.
Book these before you go
- The Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum reservation (free, but timed and enforced), passport-ID, via the official website or WeChat.
- The Nanjing Massacre Memorial’s current reservation policy, check 19371213.com.cn directly, sources disagree on whether walk-up entry still works.
- A Qixia Mountain bus or DiDi, verify the season, tickets jump from ¥25 to ¥40 in peak maple weeks.
- Hotels anywhere near Golden Week (1-7 October, 1-5 May 2026): book weeks ahead or find everything sold out.
Day 1: Fuzimiao and the Qinhuai lanes, on foot
Start at the Confucius Temple (Fuzimiao), Dacheng Hall ¥30, open until 21:30, deliberately late so you can pair it with the night river scene. Next door, the Jiangnan Examination Hall and Museum (¥50, open until 22:00) is a highlight most tourists skip, cramped 1.33m-wide exam-cell replicas from what was the largest imperial civil-exam venue in China. Or book a Nanjing old-town walking tour that covers both in one guided afternoon. Walk the lantern-lit Qinhuai riverside after dark, free, and skip the ¥60 day or ¥80 night boat tour, the same view is right there from the banks and bridges. Eat away from the snack-street stalls outside the temple, small portions and real markup versus an ordinary diner or a Da Pai Dang outlet a few streets over (roughly ¥50-80pp, verify current locations).
Day 2: Presidential Palace and the free stretch of wall
The Presidential Palace (¥40, closed Mondays) now enters from a new west entrance, the historic gatehouse everyone’s guidebook photo shows has been closed since 10 December 2024. Budget 2-3 hours, it spans a Ming garden layout through a Qing viceroy’s office to the Republic-era buildings where Sun Yat-sen took his 1911-12 inauguration oath. Afterward, walk the Shence Gate-Taiping Gate stretch of the Ming City Wall (¥30) along Xuanwu Lake, or take one of the three free sections instead. Xuanwu Lake’s shoreline is free and walkable, five isles set against the wall with Purple Mountain as backdrop. Jiming Temple (¥10) sits right beside the lake if there’s time for one more stop.
Day 3: a full day at Purple Mountain
Book the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum’s free timed reservation before you arrive, passport-ID, via the official website or WeChat (07:00-22:00) or a same-day on-site machine (08:00-17:00), it’s enforced, not a formality. The climb is 392 stone steps over a 700m approach, go early for shade and to beat the tour groups. Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum next (¥70, or the ¥100 combo covering both plus Linggu Temple and Meiling Palace), walk the full 1,800m Sacred Way, 12 pairs of stone animals in six kinds laid on a hillside bend. Close at Linggu Temple (¥35 standalone), the Beamless Hall’s brick-and-stone arches built with no timber at all, and the climbable 9-story Linggu Pagoda, a 1929-33 Nationalist-era soldiers’ memorial rather than an ancient one. Or book a guided Purple Mountain day tour that handles the reservation for you.
Day 4: the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, and a quiet afternoon
This morning is different from the rest of the trip. The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall for short, commemorates an estimated 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers killed after the city fell to the Imperial Japanese Army on 13 December 1937. It is free, open roughly 8:30am-4:30pm, closed Mondays, near Yunjinlu Station on Metro Line 2. Sources disagree on whether a real-name reservation is currently required for general walk-up entry, check the official site, 19371213.com.cn , directly before you go, and never book this stop through a tour operator. Go with a quiet mindset, restrained photography, and budget extra time for the entrance line. In the afternoon, Mochou Lake Park (Jianye District, free) is a genuinely gentle place to close out the day.
Day 5: Qixia Mountain, or Niushou if it’s not autumn
Qixia Mountain, about 22km northeast (bus 194-197, 206-207, or 327), is one of Nanjing’s most important Buddhist sites, the Thousand Buddha Cliff alone holds 294 rock-cut shrines and 515 statues, plus the white-stone Sarira Pagoda and Mirror Lake. Ticket is ¥25, rising to ¥40 in peak maple season, roughly November into early December, the price jump itself is a sign of how popular that window is, go on a weekday if you can. Outside autumn, it’s genuinely just another green hill, swap in Niushou Mountain instead (Jiangning District, south of downtown): the Foding (Usnisa) Palace is a modern temple built inside a disused mining pit, enshrining what’s described as the world’s only surviving parietal relic of the Buddha since 2015, few Western visitors know it exists (hours and ticket price unconfirmed, check before you go).
| Day | Focus | Rough cost, excl. hotel |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fuzimiao, exam hall, Qinhuai lanes at night | ¥150-250 |
| 2 | Presidential Palace, Ming wall, Xuanwu Lake | ¥100-200 |
| 3 | Sun Yat-sen, Ming Xiaoling, Linggu Temple | ¥100-180 |
| 4 | The memorial, Mochou Lake Park | ¥50-100 |
| 5 | Qixia Mountain or Niushou Mountain | ¥100-200 |
Compare Nanjing hotel rates on Booking.com before you book. One concrete habit worth the trip: link Alipay or WeChat Pay to a foreign card and pull some RMB cash on day one, small stalls and rural spots near Qixia and Niushou aren’t always smooth with a foreign wallet.