Top 10 Free Things to do in Nanjing, Jiangsu

May 22, 2021 Janean Rudisill

Nanjing ( listen), formerly romanized as Nanking and Nankin, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China and the second largest city in the East China region, with an administrative area of 6,600 km (2,500 sq mi) and a total population of 8,270,500 as of 2016. The inner area of Nanjing enclosed by the city wall is Nanjing City (南京城), with an area of 55 km (21 sq mi), while the Nanjing Metropolitan Region includes surrounding cities and areas, covering over 60,000 km (23,000 sq mi), with a population of over 30 million.
Restaurants in Nanjing

1. Sun Yatsen Mausoleum (Zhongshan Ling)

No.2 Sifangcheng, Zhongshanling Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing 210009 China +86 25 8444 6111 http://en.zschina.org.cn/webpage/index-summer.jsp
Excellent
48%
Good
39%
Satisfactory
12%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,695 reviews

Sun Yatsen Mausoleum (Zhongshan Ling)

Reviewed By ursbruno - Basel, Switzerland

This is a Mausoleum worth to visit. Beautiful Trees are on both sides. The steps , 392, representing the 392 million people at that time, are well set. From above, you only see the platforms! The coffin is very big for the 159cm Sun Yatsen... It is a miracle, that this Mausoleum survived the Revolutions.

2. Wanda Shopping Plaza (xinjiekou)

HongWu Lu 88Hao Jin HuaiHaiLu, Nanjing China +86 25 8478 3706
Excellent
47%
Good
53%
Satisfactory
0%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 17 reviews

Wanda Shopping Plaza (xinjiekou)

3. XuanWu Park

No.1 Xuanwu Alley, Xuanwu District, Nanjing 210018 China +86 25 8361 4286
Excellent
46%
Good
44%
Satisfactory
9%
Poor
0%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 394 reviews

XuanWu Park

Reviewed By geo3 - Calgary, Canada

What a great use of a large urban lake! This is one of the nicest urban parks I have ever visited. I visited this park twice, since park entrance is free and since it was close to my hotel (once for an evening stroll and once for a morning walk). To walk around the entire lake would take a very long time, but since it is free it doesn't feel as if you have to visit the entire park at once, but can do so in segments. Also the islands in the lake mean that you can do a partial circuit of the lake quite easily, and shorten the distance. The park is very well-maintained. While there were certainly some tourists in the park, many of the people were clearly locals, including representatives of the ubiquitous Chinese tradition of retired people playing games in their nearest park. The park is large enough that is easy to escape to relatively uncrowded areas if you wish.

4. Nanjing Museum (Nanjing Bowuyuan)

No.321 Zhongshan East Road, Nanjing 210004 China +86 25 8480 2119 http://www.njmuseum.com/html/default.html
Excellent
59%
Good
30%
Satisfactory
9%
Poor
2%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 321 reviews

Nanjing Museum (Nanjing Bowuyuan)

Reviewed By TifKoh

Worth the time & efforts to visit the Nanjing Museum. It is free entry for visitors. We went to the first building’s service desk to register / collect some leaflets. There are at least 3 main buildings. They are built separately. Each houses different artifacts & exhibits. Very interesting ones would be the building that housed the dinosaurs, the skeletons of the dead which you can see their social status just by looking at their burial. Their monetary systems, their age of pottery, the ancient warriors & commoners’ attires & sculptures & etc. Another building houses paintings & statues. Wooden carvings were intricate & were detailing life. Security guards were flexible, as long as you do not speak loudly. Cameras are allowed. We had a good 2-hour+ quick walk. At certain levels we couldn’t enter as they were meant only for invited guests. There are many washrooms, pretty clean. It’s a must-go!

5. The Memorial of the Nanjing Massacre

No.418 Shuiximen Road, Jianye District west bound Metro Line 2 / Yunjinlu Station Exit 2, Nanjing 210017 China +86 25 8661 2230 http://www.nj1937.org/
Excellent
66%
Good
25%
Satisfactory
7%
Poor
1%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 1,075 reviews

The Memorial of the Nanjing Massacre

Reviewed By tracyl21 - Long Beach, United States

It is very obvious from the people that passed through these exhibits how little foreigners know about the atrocities committed by the Japanese on December 1937 in Nanjing, in their imperialistic drive to conquer Asia. We went during Golden Week when it was a 2-hour wait in line to get into the exhibition hall (Tip: Go early in the morning on a weekday and NOT during Golden Week for a shorter line! Haha) and in that mass of humanity of thousands of people, there were probably less than a dozen Caucasian people. It is appalling to me when non-Chinese people who write 1-Star reviews say things like, "It's like they don't want to forget" and reviewers named "Ninja" say that the account is inaccurate because he learned some history in a class in the UK. You don't think you're extremely biased for the Japanese just from your pen name????? C'mon, this is no place for your inherent Sinophobia (and xenophobia)!! How would you like it if Germany denied the occurrence of the Holocaust? Oh yeah, that's right. There are already factions that do that but thankfully, cooler heads prevail so we can preserve history by steadfastly documenting all the facts so that episodes like the Nanjing Massacre and the Holocaust don't EVER happen again. On multiple occasions as late as 2017, the office of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has floated the idea of the Nanjing Massacre DENIAL. (Yes, that's the same idiot who nominated the current sitting US President for the Nobel Peace Prize...) Maybe he'll soon float the denial of the Pearl Harbor attack that happened just a few years later in 1941!! If the US didn't possess the atomic bomb, I dare say the Japanese would not have adopted its current pacifist constitution after WWII. Who knows where their imperialistic rampage would have ended up? The exhibit starts with a kind of library shelves setting of thousands of names of known victims, then gets very grim indeed. Yes, this memorial is at times graphic and macabre, to the point of being bone chilling and depressing, but it is an extremely important historical accounting of events. There are multiple interviews with Chinese survivors, diary entries and letters from Japanese soldiers and commanders, as well as accounts from many foreign residents living in Nanjing at the time who sheltered a lot of the refugees. The exhibit ends with a plea for peace as well as a reflecting pool and Peace statue. This is not a place for young children. Admission was free when we went, but I'm not sure if that was only because of Golden Week.

6. Xuanwu lake

No.1 Xuanwu Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing 210042 China +86 25 5771 7414 http://www.xuanwuhu.net
Excellent
52%
Good
36%
Satisfactory
11%
Poor
1%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 674 reviews

Xuanwu lake

Reviewed By WengKeeLeong - Singapore, Singapore

This is a large lake so probably not practical to walk all round it. We started at the railway station and walked to Xuanwu gate across to Cherry Isle and then out again at Jiefang gate. Since it is December, you see yellow on the willows against green grass, a lighter green of algae, and brown wilted lotus. It makes for a very picturesque walk.

7. Laomendong

Intersection of Gutong Alley and Jianzi Alley, Nanjing China +86 25 5877 6699
Excellent
49%
Good
37%
Satisfactory
12%
Poor
1%
Terrible
1%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 114 reviews

Laomendong

Reviewed By KatePnz - Auckland, New Zealand

I first saw this area from the wall and wanted to see it. It is an original area of housing that has been "updated"in a fairly major way but you can still appreciate the old houses and the beautiful old woodwork. The shops are for serious shoppers with lots of cash but there are also some great eating places and everything is modern enough to make you feel the food will be safe. Hopefully the areas left to be done will be more sensitively updated. Still worth the trip. Combine it with a visit to the Zhonghua Gate which is very close by.

8. Librairie Avant-Garde (Wutaishan)

G/F, Wutaishan Stadium, No.173 Guangzhou Road, Gulou District, Nanjing China +86 25 8371 1455
Excellent
72%
Good
25%
Satisfactory
4%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 57 reviews

Librairie Avant-Garde (Wutaishan)

Reviewed By tsai95862016 - Orange County, United States

This library is underground, surprisingly it doesn’t has that underground smell! Unless bookshelves with thousands books to read n buy, decor is another thing about it, you must see it. It is well known to web surfers, n one of most tagged place!

9. Nanjing Eye

Hexi Area, Nanjing China
Excellent
61%
Good
26%
Satisfactory
13%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.5 based on 23 reviews

Nanjing Eye

10. Confucian Temple Area (Fuzi Miao)

Gongyuan Street, Nanjing China +86 25 8662 0123 http://www.visitourchina.com/nanjing/attraction/confucius-temple-fuzimiao.html
Excellent
32%
Good
42%
Satisfactory
21%
Poor
5%
Terrible
0%
Overall Ratings

4.0 based on 1,273 reviews

Confucian Temple Area (Fuzi Miao)

Reviewed By tsai95862016 - Orange County, United States

He is well known in Chinese history n must teach in text book! It was quite interesting how “cheating” was done thousands years ago compared to now!

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