Things to do in Yichang
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Yichang
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best windows: October to November is mild, drier, with gorge red leaves and Zigui oranges; April to May is warm and fresh.
Cool shoulder month with hill blossom and thinner waterfall flow.
Dragon Boat season in Zigui as plum rain begins, with heavy rain and rising rivers.
Hottest and wettest months, peak crowds and prices, but waterfall and rafting at their best; start early.
Heat breaking and rain easing, an underrated window after school holiday crowds leave.
Cold, damp and quiet, with the waterfall at its thinnest and Bailihuang ski at its brief best in winter.
What's on
- Dragon Boat Festival in Zigui, Qu Yuan's Hometown 5th day of the 5th lunar month, usually late May or June; Zigui customs also on the 15th and 25th
Dragon boat racing by the Qu Yuan temple, zongzi making and poets gatherings in the poet's hometown.
- Zigui Navel Orange Season From late autumn, roughly November into winter
Harvest season for Zigui navel oranges, with orchards, markets and local orange festival activity.
- Three Gorges Red Leaf Season November to December
A scenic season rather than a single event, when Xiling and Wu gorge slopes and Qingjiang banks colour.
Best things to do in Yichang
The Three Gorges Dam Tourism Area
The largest hydroelectric dam in the world, seen from Tanziling, the 185 Platform and the memorial park.
Two Dams and the Xiling Gorge
A boat through the Gezhouba lock and Xiling Gorge to the Three Gorges Dam, the best single day in Yichang.
Tribe of the Three Gorges
A beautiful Xiling side gorge of stilt houses and folk shows, openly a recreation rather than a surviving village.
Three Gorges Grand Waterfall
A 102 metre waterfall you can walk behind in a raincoat, at its thunderous best in summer flow.
Sanyou Cave
A small cliff cave of Tang and Song poetry inscriptions above the Yangtze at the mouth of Xiling Gorge.
Qu Yuan's Hometown Cultural Tourism Zone
Qu Yuan temple and memorials in his Zigui hometown, with the best frontal view of the dam across the river.
Yichang Museum
A first class museum of Ba and Chu culture and gorge history, and the best context setter before the dam.
Binjiang Park
The long Yangtze riverfront park where Yichang strolls at dusk, facing Gezhouba and the Yiling Bridge.
Where to stay in Yichang
Wujiagang District, Yanjiang Avenue and Wanda Plaza
first trip, boats and cruise connections
Home to the Visitor Center boats, Wanda Plaza and Binjiang Park, with the Crowne Plaza and Wyndham Grand on the river.
Xiling District, CBD and Jiefang Pedestrian Street
food streets and the older centre
The CBD snack streets, night markets and the Grand Mercure riverfront, a short taxi from the Visitor Center.
Yiling District riverside
western sights and a quieter mid range night
Toward Sanyou Cave and Fang Weng on the riverside, with the Holiday Inn Express as the reliable option.
Think twice about
- Sandouping and the dam area
Isolated rather than unsafe, with dam town dining, no evening life and a 40 km taxi ride to city pleasures. One cruise eve night at most.
- Yichang East Station perimeter
Transport sprawl of wide roads and interchange hotels. Fine for one transit night, dead as a holiday base with no enjoyable walk.
- Zigui county town as a Yichang base
A pleasant small city an hour away that is sometimes booked by map error as a Yichang suburb. It belongs to a Zigui day trip.
Best restaurants in Yichang
Fang Weng Restaurant
Dinner in a cliff cave hanging over Xiling Gorge, with live river fish by weight and lights coming on across the water.
Yudouji Soy Milk Fish Hot Pot (Yichang Wanda Branch)
Fatty river fish in a milky soy milk hotpot broth near the Visitor Center, the local hotpot obsession done gently.
Fu Chu Restaurant (Yunji Branch)
A local kitchen of Hubei home style dishes and river fish at the price band where Yichang itself eats out.
Chen Ma Yichang Restaurant
Home style Yichang cooking in a family dining room, with Tujia plates, pickle sides and river small fish.
Taozhu Road Night Market
The city's evening stomach, stalls of cold shrimp jelly, fatty fish, cold noodles and skewers until late.
Taohualing Night Market
A locals first snack strip for red oil noodles, radish dumplings, rice cakes and cold shrimp jelly until late.
Jiefang Pedestrian Street
A breakfast graze of fried radish dumplings and hongyou xiaomian counters around the CBD pedestrian street.
Peter's Bistro
The German leaning bistro and pizza cafe that serves Yichang's foreign community when river food needs a pause.
Outdoor things to do in Yichang
Qingjiang Gallery
Emerald reservoir boats and the Wuluo Zhongli Mountain climb in Tujia Changyang, Yichang's quieter great river day.
Chaotianhou Drifting
The region's famous summer raft, about 90 minutes of gorge whitewater an hour northeast of Yichang.
Jiuwanxi Drift
A 6.4 km canyon raft with 32 rapids in Qu Yuan's valley, 20 km from the dam on the Xiling south bank.
Bailihuang Tourist Resort Area
Alpine grassland at about 1100 metres, cool in summer for camping and horse riding, with a small winter ski field.
Chaibuxi Grand Canyon
A long forested Tujia gorge in Wufeng, far wilder and quieter, best as an overnight rather than a day trip.
Best hotels in Yichang
Crowne Plaza Yichang by IHG
The proven international five star on Yanjiang Avenue, built for cruise and dam logistics near the Visitor Center.
Wyndham Grand Yichang Riverside
The newer glossier riverfront five star in Wujiagang, with indoor pool and high floor river views to specify.
Grand Mercure Yichang Waitan
Accor's riverfront hotel in the older Xiling centre, with the CBD food streets on the doorstep.
Shuiyunlan Hotel
A well rated Chinese upscale hotel at the Wanda and Visitor Center cluster, a step below flagship prices.
Holiday Inn Express Yichang Riverside by IHG
The predictable IHG Express on the riverside toward Sanyou Cave, clean and reliable at a mid price.
City Convenience Inn Yichang Wanda Square
A basic chain inn in the best budget location in the city, by Wanda Plaza and walkable to the riverfront.
Is Yichang expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥300 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥650 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- The Three Gorges Dam Tourism Area: a few days ahead
- Two Dams and the Xiling Gorge: a few days ahead
- Tribe of the Three Gorges: a few days ahead
- Qu Yuan's Hometown Cultural Tourism Zone: a few days ahead
- Vertical Ship Lift of the Three Gorges: a few days ahead
- Qingjiang Gallery: a few days ahead
- Chaotianhou Drifting: a few days ahead
- Jiuwanxi Drift: a few days ahead
- The dam runs on real name reservation with the original passport on the day and security screening.
- Book the dam and Two Dams One Gorge weeks ahead around May Day, National Day and summer peak, days ahead otherwise.
- Never leave the ship lift variant to chance, as lift sailings are limited and sell first.
- Book rafting ahead in July and August, reconfirm the day before, and keep a swap day for weather suspensions.
- Book Fang Weng window tables days ahead for weekends through a concierge or Chinese platforms.
Is Yichang safe?
- Crossings are negotiations with traffic, so look twice even on green lights.
- Obey boat and rafting suspensions in summer storms and flood season without argument.
- Use sensible footwear on cliff plank roads, wet waterfall passages and rafts, and stay behind railings.
- Overcharging is the main visitor risk, not violent crime; the riverfront and both downtowns stay busy and lit late.
Yichang travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- At the Tribe transfer centre, farmhouse operators trade parking and gate lifts for an expensive, poorly rated meal.
- At Qingjiang Gallery, unofficial wild guides steer visitors to shopping; use the visitor centre and official guides.
- Station sold cheap dam tours may omit the lock and lift; if they are not named in writing, they are not included.
- Baidi City and Shennongjia are mis-sold as day trips from Yichang; both need their own base or a cruise.
Getting around Yichang: public transport and more
- Yichang East Station is the rail hub, Wuhan under two hours away, with 30 to 45 minutes by taxi to Yanjiang Avenue hotels.
- Taxis and Didi are cheap and plentiful and are the default in the city; buses are Chinese first and slow for a short trip.
- Boats board at the Three Gorges Visitor Center on Yanjiang Avenue; the dam, Tribe and Zigui are 40 to 60 minutes west.
- Qingjiang Gallery is about 1.5 hours south and Chaotianhou about an hour northeast; a hired car suits full days best.
- Upstream cruises board at Maoping or Taipingxi docks, not in the city; confirm the meeting point in writing.
Who Yichang suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Yichang your trip
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