Things to do in Yueyang
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Yueyang
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Spring shoulder season, mild and green, among the best all round months outside the May Day holiday.
Hot and humid summer, with Dragon Boat Festival in June, lotus and Pingjiang rafting in July and August, and storm cancellations.
Autumn is the connoisseur season, cooling and clearing, with the first winter birds arriving from late October.
Cold, damp winter, and the main birdwatching season, with peak wintering birds through January.
What's on
- Dragon Boat Festival Fifth day of the fifth lunar month, usually June
Dragon boat racing in Miluo, where the Qu Yuan tradition says the racing began.
- Dongting Lake International Bird Watching Festival Late December
Birdwatching teams and 23 lake spots around peak wintering birds, main venue Yueyang.
- Junshan Lotus Season July to August
The Junshan area wild lotus fields in full flower across the lake edge.
Best things to do in Yueyang
Yueyang Tower
One of China's three great towers, above Dongting Lake, holding the carved screen of Fan Zhongyan's famous essay.
Junshan Island
A small tea island in Dongting Lake with bamboo paths, Liu Yi legends and reeds catching the evening light.
Dongting Lake Museum
The free museum that explains Dongting Lake, its finless porpoises, its flyway and its changing water levels.
Sheng'an Temple
A quiet working temple with stone steps climbing to a pagoda and a panorama over the city and the lake.
Baling Square
The city's living room below the tower, where Yueyang walks the shore for the Dongting Lake sunset.
Yueyang Chinese Giant Panda Garden
Ten giant pandas in a purpose built garden, best at opening time when they are feeding and playing.
Cishi Tower
A Song dynasty pagoda by the lake, long a navigation mark for Dongting shipping and almost never crowded.
Dongting South Road
Historic blocks and the old port heritage park south of Baling Square, best walked in the late afternoon.
Where to stay in Yueyang
Yueyang Tower / Baling lakefront
first trips, sightseeing on foot, sunsets
Walk to the tower, Bianhe Street and the lake sunset, with older and more local hotel stock.
Nanhu New Area
comfort, quiet, couples and morning walks
Newer and greener around South Lake, anchored by the Pullman, a short taxi ride from the old city.
Dongmaoling / Yueyang Station
value, connections and corridor stopovers
The commercial heart, with the Grand Skylight, the pedestrian street and the conventional station at hand.
Think twice about
- Yueyang East Station surroundings
A transit apron with almost nothing to eat or walk to at night, 20 minutes by taxi from everything you came for.
- Northern industrial and port districts (Yunxi / Lingang)
Petrochemical and port industry, truck traffic and no visitor life at all.
- Junshan Island overnight
Boats stop in the evening, beds and restaurants are few, and you lose the city's night market life for no saving.
Best restaurants in Yueyang
He Xiaogu Shrimp and Crab House
The top end local table for seasonal lake shrimp and crab, cooked in the Hunan manner and ordered communally.
Baling Whole Fish Feast
The city's set piece meal, a banquet built entirely from Dongting fish, with silver fish as its finest course.
Chou Xiao Ya
A long running local favourite for Hunan home style cooking, ginger spicy dishes and lake fish at a fair spend.
Chen Daguo Iron Pot Big Fish Head
A big fish head braised at the table in an iron pot, a convivial group meal priced for friends, not banquets.
Bianhe Street
The tower area snack street for shrimp cakes, sugar oil cakes and Pingjiang dried tofu, a full graze for 30 RMB.
Paotaishan Night Market
The named night market for Yueyang barbecue, where beef tallow skewers are the soul of the evening.
Liu Deaf's Rice Noodle Shop
The reviewers' named hero for Yueyang rice noodles, spicy beef and peppery beef offal bowls for breakfast.
Junshan Yinzhen Tea Garden
Drink Junshan Silver Needle yellow tea on the island where it grows, with the lake in front of you.
Outdoor things to do in Yueyang
East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve
A Ramsar wetland where hundreds of thousands of migratory birds winter, best seen from dawn boardwalks and boats.
South Lake
Yueyang's inner lake, ringed by shore paths for cycling and walking, with dragon boat water and no ticket queues.
Nanhu Cruise
A gentle boat ride on South Lake, at its best after dark when the shore is lit and the heat has gone.
Zhang Guying Village
A preserved Ming and Qing clan village of covered lanes, courtyards and ancestral halls, still lived in today.
Shiniuzhai National Geological Park
Granite peaks, cliff paths and a famous glass bottomed bridge in the Pingjiang hills, a full physical day out.
Lianyunxia Canyon Rafting
Summer whitewater rafting in a Pingjiang canyon, with cold clear water, drops and pools, in season only.
Tuolongxia Drifting
The other named Pingjiang rafting run in Trip.com's Yueyang best list, a cheerful summer whitewater outing.
Qu Zi Culture Park
The Qu Yuan temple and tomb area in Dragon Boat country on the Miluo River, dignified and far quieter than the tower.
Best hotels in Yueyang
Pullman Yueyang
The city's only international upscale hotel, on the Nanhu water, with a pool, big quiet rooms and lake views.
Grand Skylight Hotel Yueyang
The classic Yueyang business hotel on the Dongmaoling shopping street, minutes from the conventional station.
Vienna International Hotel Yueyang Nanhu Lakeside Avenue
A newer lakeside avenue hotel in the Nanhu area, fresh rooms and strong value without the Pullman price.
Home Inn Yueyang Railway Station
The honest cheap bed by the conventional station, clean and efficient, with trains and shops at hand.
Is Yueyang expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CN¥200 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CN¥450 a person |
| Splurge | CN¥1,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Yueyang Tower: a few days ahead
- Junshan Island: a few days ahead
- East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve: a few days ahead
- Shiniuzhai National Geological Park: a few days ahead
- Lianyunxia Canyon Rafting: a few days ahead
- Tuolongxia Drifting: a few days ahead
- Pullman Yueyang: weeks ahead
- He Xiaogu Shrimp and Crab House: a few days ahead
- Book Yueyang Tower tickets ahead on holidays and weekends, and go at opening on a clear day.
- Do Junshan on your first full clear day, not your last, in case lake weather cuts the boats.
- Book trains and hotels properly ahead for Dragon Boat Festival in Miluo and the winter bird festival.
- Arrive at the panda garden at opening for feeding time, when the pandas are active.
- Check Shiniuzhai and Pingjiang rafting weather the day before and keep that day movable.
Is Yueyang safe?
- Respect lake boat cancellations and closures, Dongting turns choppy quickly and shores are slippery after rain.
- Do not swim in Dongting Lake, a working commercial waterway with shipping and currents.
- Carry water and sun protection on Mufu Mountain, Shiniuzhai and the wetland boardwalks in summer.
- Winter bird mornings are properly cold on open water, so bring a real jacket, hat and gloves.
- Drink bottled or boiled water, as locals do, not tap water.
Yueyang travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- The Changsha day trip done badly, with a midday tower queue, no Junshan and no sunset, is the main trap.
- Graze Bianhe Street selectively toward Dongting and Pingjiang specialities and skip generic tourist stalls.
- Confirm the fish species and price per jin before it is weighed in any lake fish house.
- Treat implausibly cheap Junshan Silver Needle as a different product wearing a famous name.
- Junshan Island is a half day of quiet paths and tea, not a theme park day.
Getting around Yueyang: public transport and more
- Arrive by high speed rail at Yueyang East, about 35 minutes from Changsha South and under an hour from Wuhan.
- Do not confuse Yueyang East high speed station with Yueyang Station for conventional trains in Dongmaoling.
- Taxis and DiDi do everything in the city, with destinations written in Chinese characters from your hotel.
- Junshan is a boat from the Yueyang Tower pier, about 20 to 30 minutes, and boats are limited and weather ruled.
- Zhang Guying, Miluo and the Pingjiang sights need a chartered car, intercity DiDi or a Ctrip day tour.
Who Yueyang suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make Yueyang your trip
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