Things to do in Anqing
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Anqing
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is mild and green with frequent rain, a good window for lakes, lanes and the foothills.
Plum rain season brings the heaviest rain, humidity above 80 percent and Yangtze flood season closures.
Lotus boating at Linghu Park runs through summer, the city's own hot season institution.
High summer is furnace hot above 35C, redeemed only by rafting and early mountain starts.
Autumn is the best window, drier and clearer at 15 to 25C, with the best Tianzhu cloud sea odds.
Winter is cold and damp at 0 to 8C, small snack shops close unpredictably around Spring Festival.
What's on
- China (Anqing) Huangmei Opera Art Festival late September to early October, in festival years
The national Huangmei summit since 1992, opening at the Art Center. Verify the festival year before building a trip on it.
- National Day Huangmei Performance Week early October
A smaller youth heavy opera exhibition week in non festival autumns, reported around the National Day holiday.
- Zaifen Huangmei Winter Season December to January, in season years
A deep winter repertoire at the Zaifen Mansion and the Art Center, on the anniversary season pattern.
Best things to do in Anqing
Yingjiang Temple
An active Yangtze riverfront temple, best at dusk when river light and incense give the old city its defining first hour.
Zhenfeng Pagoda
A Ming dynasty pagoda inside Yingjiang Temple that once lit the Yangtze for boats and still gives the best river view.
Anqing Huangmei Opera Art Center
The festival scale home of Huangmei opera, where a full classic production is the most Anqing night out there is.
Zaifen Huangmei Mansion
The intimate home venue of the Zaifen Huangmei company, closer and more local than a grand theatre gala night.
Anqing Museum
A free national museum whose Huangmei opera half, with its Qing opera god pavilion, explains the art Anqing lives by.
Daobashi Pedestrian Street
The restored Ming Qing heart of old Anqing, all bluestone, lanterns and snack shops, and best walked at dusk.
Linghu Park
The city commons by its lake, with lotus boats in summer, a Huangmei pavilion and local life at its most unhurried.
Duxiu Garden
The landscaped memorial park around Chen Duxiu's tomb, the most historically weighty quiet site in Anqing.
Where to stay in Anqing
Yingjiang old city, Renmin Road and Da'nanmen
first trip, opera, food, walking
You sleep inside the sights, with Daobashi as your evening walk and the temple, lanes and snack canon on foot.
New Eastern Zone, Zhengwu and Wanda Plaza
comfort, business, families wanting a pool
Newer towers, lake parks and the highest rated full service hotels, trading old city character for a modern room.
Qianshan, Tianzhu Mountain foot
the mountain, done properly
Sleeping in Qianshan makes the early cableway yours and turns a punishing day trip into a calm mountain day.
Think twice about
- Anqing Railway Station forecourt and Tianzhushan Airport fringe
Not unsafe, but dull and taxi dependent, built for transit. Sleep there only in a good hotel you chose on purpose.
- Daguan industrial and logistics edges
Working petrochemical and truck landscapes in the west of the city. Cheap distant listings here are cheap for a reason.
- Qianshan highway strip, for a city trip
Excellent for Tianzhu Mountain and pointless for Anqing city, which sits 60 km away. Match the base to the trip.
Best restaurants in Anqing
Jiangmao Dumplings
Anqing's signature bowl, paper thin dumplings in a rich clear broth that locals say you must taste first.
Da'nanmen Beef Buns
Pan fried beef and tofu buns with crisp golden bottoms, the Da'nanmen breakfast to pair with mung bean soup.
Anqing Fried Noodles
Chewy alkaline noodles wok fried in a savoury glaze over fierce heat, best from a Daobashi night stall.
Weijiaxiang Tangyuan
Handmade glutinous rice balls from a lane shop founded in 1915, with the savoury meat filling only Anqing does.
Huaining Gong Gao
A snow white tribute cake of glutinous rice and sesame oil, six hundred years old and the souvenir to take home.
Mung Bean Dumpling Soup
Soft dumplings in a clear sweet mung bean soup, the refreshing canonical partner to the beef buns.
Old Chicken Soup with Fried Rice
Crisp toasted rice stirred into long simmered old hen broth, half crisp and half silky in one warming bowl.
Anqing Youzha
Wet battered fried skewers tossed in a sweet sour chilli sauce built on Anqing's own Hu Yumei sauce.
Best coffee in Anqing
ChengShi HuaYuan Coffee
The one cafe name listed for the city on both English platforms, a functional coffee stop in a tea first town.
Outdoor things to do in Anqing
Tianzhu Mountain
Anhui's underrated granite giant, all pines, cloud seas and Mystery Valley boulders, best on a clear weekday.
Jushi Mountain
The city's own wild hill of granite outcrops and forest paths, a half day walk 16 km from downtown.
Sikong Mountain
A remote Zen mountain in Yuexi, home of the second patriarch Huike and the quiet ruins of Erzu Temple.
Huating Lake Scenic Area
A vast green lake in Taihu County for boating, shore cycling and the slowest, most relaxing day in the prefecture.
Mingtang Mountain
A Yuexi adventure mountain of glass bridges, a cliff platform, a zipline and a glass slide into water rafting.
Tianzhu Mountain Grand Canyon
A shaded Qianshan gorge of streams and waterfalls, plus summer rafting, as the wet second act to the mountain.
Tianyuewan Hot Spring
A mineral hot spring resort in Yuexi, the restorative end to a Dabie Mountains loop of hikes and rafting.
Best hotels in Anqing
THE QUBE HOTEL ANQING
The modern flagship hotel of the New Eastern Zone, with big rooms, a pool and the city's strongest service pattern.
ANQING PARKVIEW INTERNATIONAL HOTEL
A full service premium hotel near the museum and station, chosen for the room and the logistics, not the street.
Rezen Select Anqing
A select service hotel whose scores rival the premium pair at a lower band, built for an excellent night's sleep.
Anqing Country Garden Fengyue Phoenix Hotel (Wanda Plaza Branch)
Large, predictable rooms by Wanda Plaza in the Eastern Zone, a sound mid range base for families and groups.
Jinjiang Inn (Anqing Renmin Road)
A basic chain room in the perfect old city spot, walking distance to the temple, Daobashi and the breakfast buns.
Tianzhu Mountain Villa
A simple, clean villa at the mountain, booked for position so the early cableway and the sunrise are yours.
Is Anqing expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥250 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥550 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,200 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Anqing Huangmei Opera Art Center: weeks ahead
- Zaifen Huangmei Mansion: weeks ahead
- Tianzhu Mountain: a few days ahead
- Mingtang Mountain: a few days ahead
- Tianyuewan Hot Spring: a few days ahead
- THE QUBE HOTEL ANQING: a few days ahead
- ANQING PARKVIEW INTERNATIONAL HOTEL: a few days ahead
- Tianzhu Mountain Villa: a few days ahead
- Fix Anqing dates around a confirmed Huangmei opera performance, as there is no nightly show.
- Book Tianzhu entry and cableway bundles ahead on fine weekends and start at opening time.
- Book the top rated hotels early for the opera festival, National Day and Spring Festival.
Is Anqing safe?
- Watch for e bikes on pavements and stay alert on Renmin Road at rush hour.
- Admire the Yangtze from the bank and the pagoda, and keep children back from unguarded slipways.
- Granite steps on Tianzhu are slick in rain and fog, and ridges are no place to be in a thunderstorm.
- In June and July plum rain, expect flood season closures at canyon and rafting sites and obey them.
Anqing travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Daobashi on a weekday morning is empty and stage set like, so go at dusk on a weekend.
- The Tianzhu east route is the perilous one, so first timers should take the scenic west loop.
- Suspiciously cheap wild mountain ingredients are telling you something about what is in the pot.
- Merging the city day and the Tianzhu day into one rushed day ruins both.
Getting around Anqing: public transport and more
- Walk the old city core and use taxis or DiDi for hops, pasting addresses in Chinese characters from your map app.
- Take the high speed train to Qianshan Station plus the scenic shuttle for Tianzhu Mountain.
- Charter a car with driver for Taihu and Yuexi, where county buses will eat a day in connections.
- Guard the last Tianzhu cable car down, around 17:30 on weekdays and 18:00 at weekends.
Who Anqing suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Anqing your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store