Things to do in Jinhua
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Jinhua
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring is one of the two best windows, mild and green, with Zhuge village and the stream paths at their best.
June is plum rain season and the rainiest month, with slippery lanes and indoor days the smart rotation.
High summer is hot, humid and crowded, but it is peak season for caves, rafting, mountain streams and hot springs.
Autumn is the best window, and October is the most pleasant and festival filled month of the year.
Winter is cold and damp, with crowd free caves, hot springs at their best, softer prices and Spring Festival in the old town.
What's on
- Spring Festival in Wuzhou Ancient City Lunar New Year, first lunar month
Dragon dances through the ancient streets and temple fair food, the centrepiece of Jinhua's New Year celebrations.
- Jinhua Lantern Festival 10th to 16th day of the first lunar month
The city's own lantern celebration in local guides, extending the New Year season in the old town.
- Zhuge Liang Birthday Temple Fair 14th day of the fourth lunar month
One of Zhuge village's two great ancestor observances, with theatrical troupes performing as part of the ceremonies.
- Zhuge Liang Death Anniversary Observance 28th day of the eighth lunar month
The second of Zhuge village's ancestor observances, falling in early autumn weather that suits the village best.
- Yiwu International Commodities Fair late October
The big trade fair in neighbouring Yiwu, part of Jinhua's October festival season in local guides.
- Jinhua International Huangdaxian Tourism Festival October
Honours the Taoist figure whose temples anchor the Shuanglong hills, in the most pleasant month of the year.
- Mid-Autumn Festival 15th day of the eighth lunar month
Mooncakes, the pagoda and Bayong Tower lit for the holiday, and the old town at its most familial.
Best things to do in Jinhua
Double-Dragon Cave
You enter this karst cave lying flat in a boat under rock 30 cm above the water, into a vast chamber of stone formations.
Binghu Cave
The quieter upper cave above Shuanglong, reached by 200 metres of steps, with a 20 metre waterfall falling inside it.
Chaozhen Cave
The third and quietest of the Shuanglong caves, tied to the Taoist temples of the Beishan scenic area.
Wuzhou Ancient City
The free Ming and Qing old town of Guzicheng, with bluestone lanes, ham and crisp cake halls, and fine night lighting.
Bayong Building
Jinhua's literary tower, inscribed by Tang and Song poets and by Ai Qing, with views over the old city lanes.
Taiping Tianguo Palace
The best preserved Taiping era palace, with murals and carving from a regime that left almost nothing standing elsewhere.
Jinhua Architecture Park
Seventeen experimental pavilions by world architects along the river, curated by Ai Weiwei for his poet father Ai Qing.
Wanfo Pagoda
The rebuilt Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda over Wuzhou Park, the city landmark and its best lit night view across the river.
Where to stay in Jinhua
Guzicheng / Wucheng old town
first trip, walkable old town base
Walk to Bayong Tower, the Shiwang Palace and the ham and crisp cake streets, with the best evening eating in the city.
Jiangnan / Wanda Plaza and Jindong
comfort, families and luxury hotels
The Marriott, Narada and Wanda Realm cluster around Wanda Plaza, with metro access and easy car day trips in all directions.
Jiangbei / People's Square and station corridor
transport and mid range value
The older commercial centre, handy for the station and buses to Shuanglong and Lanxi, with lively local restaurants.
Beishan foothills
resort weekend near the caves
Green, quiet and close to Shuanglong, but isolating in the evenings without a car, so stay here to stay here.
Think twice about
- Hengdian town
A film industry town over 60 km from the city core. Base there only for Hengdian days, not for Jinhua sightseeing.
- Beishan foothills resorts without a car
Beautiful but marooning, with thin evening taxis and only the resorts' own restaurants for dinner.
- Yiwu
A different city with a wholesale trade rhythm, about an hour away and far from the Lanxi and Wuyi picks.
- Dongyang downtown for a Lanxi heavy trip
Basing at one end of a wide prefecture while day tripping to the other burns about two hours a day on roads.
Best restaurants in Jinhua
Man Ho
The Marriott's Chinese restaurant and Jinhua's splurge table, built for a ham banquet in a private room setting.
WU JIA XIAO CAI
Top of Trip.Best's Jinhua local restaurant list, a small dishes kitchen of seasonal vegetables, braised meats and ham.
Shuimenxiang
A well rated local restaurant at Diyicheng, the kind of place a Jinhua family picks for a step up weekend lunch.
FARM HOUSE
A farmhouse style local kitchen on Trip.Best's Jinhua list, promising rustic dishes, garden vegetables and clay pot cooking.
HOHO
The highest rated name on Trip.Best's Jinhua local list, included with a warning to verify its current form in the app first.
FAT CAT
A Trip.Best listed local restaurant at modest prices, part of the platform consensus for eating locally in Jinhua.
Jinhua Subing
Sesame crisp cakes with dried greens and pork fat, eaten almost too hot from a street kiln in the old town.
Wuzhou Ancient City
A cheap night graze in Guzicheng of beef clear soup, rice cakes and the ham and cake halls, with opera halls lit around you.
Outdoor things to do in Jinhua
Hengdian World Studios
The world's largest film studio complex, with Qin, Ming Qing and Song sets. Pick two parks, not five, and give it a full day.
Zhuge Eight-Diagrams Village
A lived in Ming and Qing village laid out as a Bagua maze around Bell Pond, with fine ancestral halls and radiating lanes.
The Underground River
Lanxi's long underground river, entered by boat past lit formations, then a climb up through the cave system.
Niutou Mountain National Forest Park
A forest park around a 1560 metre summit in Wuyi, with stream walks, waterfalls and a glass plank road near the top.
Shuanglong Stream Canyon
A shaded 3 km stream side ancient path up the Shuanglong mountain, with pools, tea gardens and a panoramic deck.
Tangfeng Hot Spring Resort
Wuyi's best documented hot spring resort, Tang styled with many pools, and the right reward after a Niutou Mountain day.
Shenniu Valley Rafting
Summer stream rafting on the Niutou Mountain flank, sold as the wet afternoon add on to a morning summit walk.
Best hotels in Jinhua
Jinhua Marriott Hotel
Jinhua's flagship international hotel by Wanda Plaza, opened 2021, with a pool and river view rooms reviewers remember.
NARADA·JINHUA HOTEL
The highest rated luxury hotel in Jinhua on Trip.com, a resort style Narada with pool and garden views in Jindong.
Shilily Hidden World Beishan Villa Resort
A Beishan villa resort for a splurge weekend in the hills near the caves, best with a car and no sightseeing timetable.
Wanda Realm Jinhua
The best value of the Wanda Plaza luxury cluster, opposite the mall and by the metro, with the largest hotel review volume here.
Maison New Century Hotel Wucheng Jinhua
The Jiangbei workhorse, a large domestic chain hotel near Wuzhou Park and the station, popular with business travellers.
Atour Hotel Jinhua Railway Station Guzicheng
A design led Atour between the station and Guzicheng, a cut above budget chains in bedding, bathrooms and breakfast.
Jingshang Yuehua Hotel
A large local hotel by the Guzicheng night market, with spacious rooms and a noodle and wonton breakfast guests praise.
GreenTree Inn Jinhua Railway Station Express Hotel
The budget floor done properly, a clean standardised GreenTree Inn express hotel by Jinhua station.
Is Jinhua expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥320 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥650 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,400 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Double-Dragon Cave: a few days ahead
- Binghu Cave: a few days ahead
- Chaozhen Cave: a few days ahead
- Hengdian World Studios: a few days ahead
- Zhuge Eight-Diagrams Village: a few days ahead
- The Underground River: a few days ahead
- Niutou Mountain National Forest Park: a few days ahead
- Shuanglong Stream Canyon: a few days ahead
- Book Shuanglong and Hengdian tickets in the Trip.com app the day before, and Hengdian combos only after choosing your two parks.
- Book the Marriott, Narada and Wanda Realm a few days ahead for weekends, when they fill on local demand.
- At Spring Festival, May Day and National Day, lock tickets, trains and hotels weeks ahead.
Is Jinhua safe?
- Jinhua is a safe city and evening walks in the old town are normal, but silent e-bikes are the real street risk.
- Cave floors, Zhuge's bluestone lanes and stream paths are slippery when wet, so wear shoes with grip.
- Carry your passport for ticket checks and hotel registration, and keep your hotel address in Chinese on your phone.
- Emergency numbers are police 110, fire 119 and ambulance 120, and the Jinhua area code is 0579.
Jinhua travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Buy Hengdian tickets through official channels or Trip.com, not from town touts, until you know your parks.
- Do not let a combo ticket make Dream Valley your evening by default, as recent reviewers report closed areas there.
- Eat subing hot from a street kiln and buy take home ham from a proper shop, not at scenic area prices.
- Arrive at Shuanglong at opening to avoid the mid morning tour group queue for the boat.
- Yiwu's International Trade City is wholesale, not retail, and is not a shopping day trip for most visitors.
Getting around Jinhua: public transport and more
- The metro's Jinhua Yiwu Dongyang line serves the Wanda Plaza hotel cluster and links the core with Yiwu and Dongyang.
- Taxis and Didi are the realistic way to Shuanglong, about 8 km out, but are hard to hail back from Beishan at night.
- Use Lanxi as the hub for Zhuge village and the Underground River, and Hengdian's local buses and park bicycles inside the studios.
- Jinhua station is a high speed hub, with Hangzhou under an hour and Shanghai under two hours.
Who Jinhua suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Jinhua your trip
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