Nanjing, China 6 Day Itinerary
Nanjing 6-Day Travel Itinerary
Most visitors to China skip Nanjing entirely, funneling straight between Shanghai and Beijing, which is exactly why the Ming-dynasty capital feels less staged than either. You get thirteen kilometers of intact fortress wall, a massacre memorial that forces an honest reckoning with the twentieth century, and duck cooked in a style locals will argue is superior to Beijing’s roast version. Six days is enough to cover the city properly without rushing the parts that deserve time.
Day 1: Arrival and City Overview
Lukou International Airport sits well south of downtown, and the fastest way in is Metro Line S1 to Nanjing South Railway Station, then a transfer onto Line 1 or Line 3 toward Xinjiekou. Budget close to an hour door to door and roughly 7 to 10 yuan for the fare, versus 150 to 200 yuan and 45 minutes for a taxi if you’re jet-lagged and don’t want to manage a transfer with luggage.
Base yourself centrally. The JW Marriott Nanjing works if you want a reliable international standard near Hexi, but for atmosphere I’d rather stay closer to the old city near Fuzimiao, where you can walk to the river at night instead of taking a cab.
For lunch, skip the tourist-facing duck stalls that cluster right around Confucius Temple. Ask any local and they’ll tell you the salted duck sold directly at the temple gates is oversalted and unremarkable, dyed dark to look “authentic” when real Nanjing salted duck should have pale, almost white skin. Walk a few minutes further to a proper Jinling-style duck house, or ask your hotel for their nearest family-run spot.
In the afternoon, walk the Nanjing City Wall. Ticket pricing is segmented by section rather than a single flat fee. Fugui Mountain to the Zhongshan Gate stretch runs about 5 yuan, other sections run 30 yuan, and the popular Zhonghua Gate stretch is around 20 yuan for the gate and museum. Bike rental along the wall costs roughly 10 to 20 yuan an hour and is the better way to cover distance if your legs are tired from the flight.
In the evening, walk the Qinhuai River. The lantern-lit boats and riverside facades are genuinely pretty after dark, though I’d treat the riverside restaurants as scenery rather than serious food. Eat elsewhere, drink or snack here.
Day 2: Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and the Old City
Have breakfast wherever is convenient, then head to Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the UNESCO-listed tomb of the Ming dynasty’s founding emperor. Entry runs about 70 yuan and the site rewards slow walking along the spirit way lined with stone animals rather than a rushed pass-through. Note this is a different site from the “Imperial Ancestral Temple” some older guides mention conflating with Qing-dynasty structures in Beijing; Nanjing’s imperial history here is squarely Ming, not Qing, and it’s worth getting that straight before you go so the context actually lands.
For lunch, Confucius Temple Food Street has plenty of stalls, but treat it the same way as day one: fine for people-watching, not the place for your best meal.
In the afternoon, walk over to Zhonghua Gate, the largest of Nanjing’s surviving city gates and one of the most complete Ming-era defensive structures anywhere in China. Climbing to the top around sunset gives you a clean view over the old city rooftops, and the combined day-and-night ticket with the gate’s light show runs about 90 yuan if you want to loop back after dark.
Day 3: Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Purple Mountain, and Xuanwu Lake
Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, on the slopes of Purple Mountain, is free to enter, which surprises a lot of travelers expecting a ticket booth. The climb up nearly 400 steps to the burial chamber is the actual workout of the day, and it’s worth doing slowly rather than racing to the top for photos.
Purple Mountain itself holds several museums worth folding into the same day, including the Nanjing Museum and the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. The massacre memorial is heavy, deliberately so, and I’d recommend visiting it with enough energy left to actually absorb it rather than as an afterthought squeezed in at closing time.
In the evening, Xuanwu Lake is the easy decompression stop. Rent a rowboat or just walk the causeways between the five little islands; it’s one of the few spots in the city where the pace genuinely slows down.
Day 4: Drum Tower, Fuzimiao, and the Massacre Memorial
If you didn’t make it to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall the day before, put it here instead of skipping it. It is one of the most important sites in the city for understanding modern Chinese history and it is treated with real solemnity, so plan for a quiet, unhurried couple of hours rather than a quick stop.
The Drum Tower and Bell Pavilion are worth a short visit if you’re already in that part of town, but I wouldn’t build a whole afternoon around them; they’re modest compared to Xi’an’s equivalents.
Spend the rest of the day in Fuzimiao, Nanjing’s old commercial quarter around the Confucius Temple complex. It’s touristy, but it’s touristy in a way that’s genuinely fun after dark, with lantern displays over the water and vendors selling roasted chestnuts and duck blood soup.
Day 5: Nanjing University, Gulou, and a Night Market
Nanjing University’s older campus, with its ivy-covered Republican-era buildings, is a pleasant free wander if you like university towns, and it sits close to Gulou, a district with a genuinely local food scene rather than a tourist-oriented one. This is a better lunch stop than anything near the main sights.
In the evening, look for one of the smaller night markets rather than the biggest, most photographed one. Ask locals which street is running food stalls that week; Nanjing’s night market locations shift more than fixed guidebook listings suggest, and the smaller ones tend to have better food for less money.
Day 6: Departure
Use the morning for anything missed, whether that’s a last bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup or a return visit to the wall for photos in better light. Head back to Lukou via the S1 line with the same hour-long buffer you budgeted on arrival, since transfers at Nanjing South can be slower during rush hour.
Transportation
Metro Line 1, Line 3, and the S1 airport line cover almost everything you’ll need. Buy a transit card at any staffed metro station on day one; it saves fumbling with cash machines and works on buses too.
Tips
Summer humidity in Nanjing is brutal, historically among the worst of China’s “furnace cities,” so aim for spring or autumn if your dates are flexible. Carry small change for public toilets and coin-operated lockers, since not every facility takes mobile payment yet. Bargain at markets but not at sit-down restaurants. And be skeptical of any duck vendor stationed directly outside a major attraction gate; the good stuff is almost always a five-minute walk further than you think.