CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- With the approach of the National Day holiday, tourism travel has seen its high season for booking. Among a wide variety of destinations, countryside and places around the city are popular among tourists. The ancient towns near Chongqing are an ideal place for people to have fun during the National Day holiday, for ancient towns in autumn always have the magic power of healing and allow people to take the time slow down to savor their lives. Today we will recommend some ancient towns around Chongqing.

Youzhou Ancient City

Located on a mountain in the Taohuayuan Scenic Area of Youyang County, Chongqing, Youzhou Ancient City is a “museum” showcasing the architecture, history, folklore customs and culture of the Tujia ethnic group. Walking up the hill along the ancient city, you will find a profusion of inns, stores, snack shops along the street, and a wide range of mouth-watering local snacks, like handmade beef noodles, “Ba Da Wan” of Tujia, and “Sanjiao cake”. Most of the snack shops there do not offer seats, but it is fun to taste delicious food while walking around the city. It's worth mentioning that as it is peak season of tourism, we recommend that you book a B&B in advance.

In addition, there are also small shops of cultural and creative products, and bars in the ancient city, where you can enjoy tea or music, walk aimlessly on the stone streets during the day, and appreciate the tall and majestic buildings whose bricks and tiles are showing the signs of age.

The red lanterns light up one by one by nightfall, making the ancient city glow red and yellow in the darkness; the Tujia stilt house built on the mountains look fascinating in the light, showing the breath-taking charm of the ancient city.

Route: take the train at Chongqingbei Railway Station to Youyang Railway Station, take bus from the railway station to South Bus Station of Youyanng City, and transfer to Bus No.1 heading to the Taohuayuan Scenic Area

Beibei Jingangbei Ancient Town

While stepping into the ancient town, you will find the roofs that were once full of weeds have been replaced with brand new tiles, several old houses have been repaired, and the ancient buildings have been equipped with metal materials and cool lighting for business signs. You can stroll along the moss-covered stone path, and feel the boisterous marketplace around you. When you get tired, you can take a rest and dine in a food store, where pickled chicken feet, “wheel cake”, grilled squids, skewers, Dingjiapo potatoes and many other snacks are available.

The town features snack shops, hotels with hot springs, and shops of cultural and creative products. With unique artistic value, there are also theme bars, special restaurants, leisure spas, cultural and creative products, art workshops, music venues, exhibition spaces, B&B hotels and etc.

Route: navigate to “the parking lot of Jingangbei Riverside entrance” or “the parking lot of Jingangbei national highway entrance”, and then walk to Jingangbei.

Qianjiang Zhuoshui Ancient Town

As a typical ancient street in Chongqing, the streets and alleys of Zhuoshui Ancient Town remain relatively complete. With a cluster of stilt houses, water transport docks and trade markets, the architectural style of the ancient town features lined-up stilt buildings, towering firewalls between the dwellings, perfect wood carvings on the windows, exquisite stone carvings on the piers, cultural decorations or displays in the entrance halls, couplets, numbers, courtyard posts, theatres ... It makes you feel like wandering in a lively garden of ethnic culture. If you come to the “food street” of the ancient town, you cannot miss the authentic Qianjiang chicken giblets, which taste moderately sour and spicy and are especially good for dinner.

Self-driving Route: Inner-ring Expressway/Shanghai-South of Chongqing Expressway – Baotou-Maoming Expressway – Guanshui Interchange – Xiamen-Chengdu Expressway – Zhuoshui Ancient Town 

(Translated by Cai Xinyu, Fathom Language Limited)