南京

NanjingTravel Budget Guide

Tier new1·IATA: NKG

When to visit

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Super-peak (national holiday)PeakShoulderOff-season
Holiday surges
  • extremeSpring Festival· Lunar Jan 1–7 (late Jan / mid-Feb)
  • highQingming (Tomb-Sweeping)· Apr 4–6
  • extremeLabor Day· May 1–5
  • highDragon Boat Festival· Lunar May 5 (~Jun)
  • highMid-Autumn Festival· Lunar Aug 15 (~Sep/Oct)
  • extremeNational Day Golden Week· Oct 1–7
Taxi flag-drop:¥11starting fare

Attractions

Zhongshan Scenic Area钟山风景名胜区5A$0.00 (CN¥0)
Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum明孝陵5A$10.05 (CN¥68)
Confucius Temple & Qinhuai Scenic Belt夫子庙秦淮风光带5A$0.00 (CN¥0)
Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Scenic Area中山陵景区5A$0.00 (CN¥0)
Niushou Mountain Cultural Park牛首山文化旅游区4A$21.43 (CN¥145)
Hongshan Forest Zoo (Nanjing)红山森林动物园4A$5.91 (CN¥40)
Nanjing Museum南京博物院4AHeritage Site$0.00 (CN¥0)
Presidential Palace (Nanjing)南京总统府4A$5.91 (CN¥40)
Da Bao'en Temple Ruins (Nanjing)大报恩寺遗址景区4A$11.68 (CN¥79)
Mount Qixia (Nanjing)栖霞山4A$7.09 (CN¥48)
Yuejiang Tower阅江楼4A$5.17 (CN¥35)
Confucius Temple夫子庙—Heritage Site$0.00 (CN¥0)
Qinhuai River Dragon Boat秦淮河画舫—$14.78 (CN¥100)
Six Dynasties Museum六朝博物馆—$3.99 (CN¥27)
Jimingsi Temple鸡鸣寺—$1.48 (CN¥10)
Nanjing City Wall南京城墙—$4.43 (CN¥30)
Meiling Palace美龄宫—$4.29 (CN¥29)
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom History Museum (Zhanyuan Garden)太平天国历史博物馆(瞻园)—$0.00 (CN¥0)
China Imperial Examination Museum (Jiangnan Gongyuan)中国科举博物馆(江南贡院)—Heritage Site$6.65 (CN¥45)
Nanjing Yangtze River Legend Cruise南京长江传奇系列游轮—$20.40 (CN¥138)
Nanjing Yunjin Museum南京云锦博物馆—Heritage SiteFree

Hotels

Budget

$15.96 (CN¥108)
/night

Standard

$23.94 (CN¥162)
/night

Comfort

$52.62 (CN¥356)
/night

Tiers are grouped by hotel star rating — Budget ≈ 2★, Standard ≈ 3★, Comfort ≈ 4★ and up. Figures are citywide average nightly rates, so an individual hotel may sit above or below its tier.

Food

Budget meal

$3.40 (CN¥23)
/meal

Mid-range

$11.68 (CN¥79)
/meal

High-end

$38.28 (CN¥259)
/meal
Must try:
  • Salted brine duck
    盐水鸭 · Yánshuǐ yā
  • Duck blood and vermicelli soup
    鸭血粉丝汤 · Yāxuè fěnsī tāng
  • Nanjing soup dumplings
    金陵小笼包 · Jīnlíng xiǎolóngbāo
  • Duck-fat sesame flatbread
    鸭油烧饼 · Yāyóu shāobǐng
  • Beef potstickers
    牛肉锅贴 · Niúròu guōtiē
  • Pork-skin noodle soup
    皮肚面 · Pídǔ miàn
  • Taro in osmanthus syrup
    桂花糖芋苗 · Guìhuā táng yùmiáo
  • Nanjing meatballs
    金陵丸子 · Jīnlíng wánzi
Styles:Fast food · Street snacks · Noodle house

Culture & Heritage

Time-Honored Brands (4)

MOFCOM-certified · cultural background, not a business endorsement
LvliujuBatch 1
Est. 1912
A vegetarian restaurant founded in 1912 on the banks of the Qinhuai River, a century-old vegetarian house whose cooking technique is a national intangible heritage.
Han FuxingBatch 1
Est. 1866
A Hui-Muslim duck house founded in the late Qing, the standard-bearer of Nanjing salted and pressed duck, once known as the 'tribute duck' sent to the imperial court.
MaxiangxingBatch 1
Est. 1845
A halal restaurant founded in the Daoguang reign, one of the oldest surviving time-honoured houses in Nanjing, famed for refined Hui-Muslim dishes such as 'beauty's liver'.
YongheyuanBatch 1
Est. 1901
A teahouse-restaurant rooted in the late Qing, a time-honoured house of Qinhuai-style pastries famed for its golden 'crab-shell' Huangqiao sesame cakes.

Famous Snacks (6)

Salted DuckFamous Snacks
Nanjing's signature duck dish — pale-skinned, tender and cleanly savoury — at its best when made in osmanthus season, when it is also called 'osmanthus duck'.
Huangqiao Sesame CakeFamous Snacks
A flaky sesame cake from Huangqiao town in Taixing, Jiangsu, made famous by the 1940 Battle of Huangqiao and also a signature pastry of Nanjing's Yongheyuan.
Duck Blood and Vermicelli SoupFamous Snacks
A soup built on duck blood and glass vermicelli with duck giblets, a homely staple found on streets across Nanjing.
Pan-fried Beef DumplingsFamous Snacks
Hui-Muslim pan-fried dumplings with crisp skin and juicy beef filling, especially famous around the Qijiawan quarter, counted among the 'eight delicacies of Qinhuai'.
Plum-blossom CakeFamous Snacks
A traditional Jiangnan cake shaped like a plum blossom, crisp outside and soft within, a common street sweet around the Confucius Temple.
Red Bean and Glutinous Rice BallsFamous Snacks
A sweet pottage of red-bean paste and small glutinous rice balls, a traditional teahouse sweet of the Qinhuai and one of the 'eight delicacies of Qinhuai'.

Intangible Cultural Heritage (8)

Nanjing Yunjin Brocade Weaving (Hand-Loom Figured Technique)National ICH · Batch 1
A national and UNESCO intangible heritage: the hand-loom weaving of imperial-tribute Yunjin brocade on a large drawloom.
Qinhuai Lantern FestivalNational ICH · Batch 1
A national intangible heritage (folklore): the great lantern fair held in Nanjing from New Year to the Lantern Festival, long praised as 'the foremost lantern fair under heaven'.
Vegetarian Cooking (Lvliuju Vegetarian Technique)National ICH · Batch 5
A national intangible heritage: the century-old vegetarian cookery of Lvliuju, adept at shaping plant ingredients into mock-meat dishes.
Jinling Sutra Woodblock Carving and PrintingNational ICH · Batch 1
A national intangible heritage, and part of Chinese woodblock printing on UNESCO's list, preserving the woodblock carving and water-ink printing of Buddhist sutras.
Nanjing Gold Leaf ForgingNational ICH · Batch 1
A national intangible heritage: the traditional craft of beating gold into ultra-thin leaf, known as 'a Chinese marvel'.
Lantern Crafts (Qinhuai Lanterns)National ICH · Batch 2
A national intangible heritage (traditional arts): Nanjing's most representative folk lantern-making art, also called Jinling lanterns.
Nanjing BaijuNational ICH · Batch 2
A national intangible heritage (quyi): an old narrative-singing art performed in the Nanjing dialect, with centuries of history.
Green Tea Making (Yuhua Tea Technique)National ICH · Batch 5
A national intangible heritage: the making of Nanjing's Yuhua tea, whose leaves resemble pine needles and glow emerald green.
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