Beauty is easy to create; it just lacks the eyes to discover it
Day 1 History and Local Life
🎈In the morning, head straight to Yaowan Historical and Cultural Street. This thousand-year-old ancient street hides provincial-level cultural heritage sites like Tanbao Bus Station and Wangheng Pavilion, as if traveling back to ancient times. Tangxing Bridge and Taogong Mountain are also worth a visit. Walk and take photos along the way; the collision of vintage architecture and modern cultural creativity makes every shot full of feeling!
🌆In the afternoon, go to Wanlou Youth Wharf. Climb Wanlou to overlook the Xiang River, and next to it, the "Xiangtan Eye" Ferris wheel is super romantic. Especially at dusk, when the lights come on and the river breeze blows, the atmosphere is perfect!
🍜In the evening, dive into Liancheng Night Market, where the aroma of stinky tofu, sugar oil baba, and spicy hot pot fills the air. Bite after bite, fully experience the bustling life of Xiangtan. Remember to avoid peak hours to escape the crowds!
Day 2 Red Memories and Natural Scenery
🚩Spend the whole day on a red tourism trip to Shaoshan. In the morning, visit Comrade Mao Zedong’s Former Residence and Mao Zedong Square, offer flowers to the great leader’s bronze statue, and deeply understand his growth story. In the afternoon, tour Dripping Water Cave Scenic Area and Shaofeng, explore the "mysterious villa" where Mao once lived, and stand atop Shaofeng to overlook the panoramic view of Shaoshan—majestic and stunning. Shaoshan is about an hour’s drive from the city center; it’s recommended to charter a car or join a local day tour for convenience and peace of mind.
If you have enough time returning to the city, you can also visit the Xiangtan City Museum or the Party History Museum to unlock the city’s development secrets.
Helpful Tips🌼
🚗Transportation: Taxis or buses are fine for city attractions; self-driving or chartering a car is more convenient for Shaoshan; Zhaoshan Scenic Area can be reached by bus or taxi.
🍱Food: Besides the night market, don’t miss Mao-style braised pork and roasted fish in Shaoshan, and the Xiangjiang Fish Feast near Wanlou!
🏠Accommodation: It’s recommended to stay near Yaowan or Wanlou on the first day for easy night outings; on the second day, you can choose a Shaoshan homestay or return to a city hotel.
📌Note: Remember to bring your ID card (real-name ticket purchase required for scenic spots), apply sunscreen, and wear comfortable shoes. Some venues are closed on Mondays, so check in advance before departure!
Yueyang🌸
Attractions to Check In
📍Yueyang Tower: "Dongting Lake is the best water, Yueyang is the best tower." As one of the three famous towers in Jiangnan, Yueyang Tower’s historical charm and magnificent scenery are intoxicating. Climb the tower to take in the beautiful view of Dongting Lake. If you can recite "The Yueyang Tower Essay," you can even get free admission😉 The scenic area has many cultural and creative shops, and Yueyang ice cream is both visually appealing and delicious, perfect for photo check-ins.
📍Junshan Island: Known as the "Love Island," the island boasts beautiful scenery with spotted bamboo and the tomb of the two concubines. Strolling here feels like traveling back to ancient times, experiencing romantic legends and stories. It’s very convenient to reach by bus directly from Yueyang Tower.
📍Sheng’an Ancient Temple: One of the oldest temples in Yueyang, built in the early Tang Dynasty. Climb to the top of the Ten Thousand Buddha Pagoda for a panoramic view of Yueyang city, which is refreshing and uplifting. The temple is bustling with incense and peaceful, allowing visitors to forget worries and feel spiritual tranquility.
📍Baling Square: The sculpture of Houyi shooting the serpent on the square is spectacular. Walking here at night, feeling the Dongting Lake breeze and enjoying the beautiful night view is very pleasant. Nearby Bianhe Street is lively with many snacks and specialty shops.
📍Nanhu Lake: A large park with stunning lake and mountain scenery. You can choose to take a boat to enjoy the lake view or cycle along the lakeside, enjoying a leisurely time and experiencing Yueyang’s slow life.
🍜Food Recommendations:
1. Yueyang Barbecue: Featured on "A Life of Skewers," truly well-deserved fame! Highly recommend the beef tallow and beef skewers; the tallow bursts with juice in your mouth, and the beef is chewy and super fragrant! Also try the potato slices, crispy outside and tender inside, sprinkled with chili powder—absolutely amazing.
2. Yueyang Rice Noodles: You must slurp a bowl of noodles when in Yueyang! Recommended are beef noodles and pig-killing noodles, with rich broth and fresh toppings. One slurp of the noodles makes you feel completely refreshed🍲
3. Changle Sweet Wine: Sweet but not greasy, mild alcohol flavor, rich taste, served ice-cold and very delicious, perfect as a dessert drink🥤
4. Pingjiang Sauce Dried Tofu: Firm and chewy texture, the more you chew, the more fragrant it gets. Available in original and spicy flavors, great as a snack!
Changde🌸
📍Changde Old West Gate✅ (reachable by bus, free admission)
A cultural tourism street based on Changde’s history, offering architectural features and cultural experiences, great for photos. There is also the Red Brick House Original Pot Dish Museum (now commercialized, can be viewed from outside). Without dining, you can walk through the entire street in about 30 minutes.
📍Changde Liuyue Lake✅ (reachable by bus h5/h16/y35/y26, free admission)
Known as Hunan’s "Little Erhai Lake"🏝, it truly lives up to its name. Liuyue Lake under the warm autumn sun is stunning! It’s very large, with over 30 km around the lake, and not crowded—perfect for cycling and camping! You can visit Simalou, Huxian Island, and Changde Eye; enjoy Kale Planet and Beach Park sunsets🌅...! Pedal boats and electric sightseeing cars are available for rent.
📍Daxiaohe Street✅ (2.5 km from Liuyue Lake Service Center, accessible by taxi or bike)
An ancient-style street by the river, not very long and quite commercialized. On the west side of Daxiaohe Street is a section of the city wall overlooking the street🌃, also offering views of the German-style street across the road. There are pigeons under the lower part of the wall, a popular spot to check in with Changde’s city wall.
📍German Style Street❎ (opposite Daxiaohe Street, 3 minutes on foot): Modeled after Hanover, Germany, this European-style town is not recommended even on my second visit to Changde. The street remains sparsely populated as five years ago, with incomplete business operations—only buildings without vitality.
🔅Tips: If you need accommodation, Wuling District is the first choice, convenient for visiting these attractions!
Zhuzhou🌸
🌟Attractions:
✅Shennong Lake: Stunning scenery, few people, very peaceful. For those tired of the crowds in Changsha parks, this place will definitely refresh you with its beauty🫧 Stroll by the lake and feel the breeze, very relaxing~
✅Zhuzhou City Museum: Near Shennong Lake, within walking distance. The museum is well built, with natural, historical, and cultural exhibitions, allowing you to deeply understand Zhuzhou. Visiting all three floors is very rewarding📖
✅Locomotive Park: Great for photos📸 Featuring locomotives, high-speed trains, and railway models. Nearby is a seaside-like area where many camp, lively and photogenic, perfect for shooting great pictures!
✅Clothing Wholesale Market: Near the train station, a good place for those looking for clothes. However, the quality varies, so patience is needed to find good value items.
🍱Food:
✅Pig’s Trotter Rice behind Xingtong Shoe City: Small shop but authentic Cantonese flavor. The pig’s trotters are tender and flavorful, very satisfying with every bite!
✅Wang Shiwan Wenji Claypot Chicken: Highly recommended! When served, the oil in the claypot is still bubbling, full of "pot aroma." The chicken skin is crispy and sticky, irresistibly delicious😍
Hengyang🌼
✨Must-Visit Highlights
✅78% forest coverage, every breath is a luxury of negative oxygen ions! Walk the greenway listening to birdsong, instantly refreshing your fatigue.
✅Millennium Emperor Ku Shrine + Yanyu Temple + Chisong Temple, three ancient sites in a row! The bronze Thousand-Hand Guanyin and ancient seal script stone carvings are stunning.
✅Yumu Lake reflects the mountains in its clear waves; encounter a breathtaking sunset in the evening🌄, perfect for your social media spotlight.
✅Seasonal romance: spring azalea sea / summer night lotus pond moonlight / deep autumn golden fruit on the hills / winter red plum blossoms against snow.
🚗Lazy Route
Scenic entrance → Yanyu Temple for blessings → Emperor Ku Shrine exploration → Feilai Rock check-in → Yumu Lake lakeside stroll → Farmhouse for authentic Hengdong local cuisine.
📸Photo Tips:
▫️Fuwenhua Square’s red walls for ancient-style photoshoots
▫️Yumu Lake wooden boardwalk for atmospheric silhouette shots
▫️Ten-mile Lotus Pond in Hanfu for stunning photos!
The scenic area was restored in 1983. From Yueyang Tower, you can see Dongting Lake. A visit takes about two hours. Outside the south gate, there's a commercial street where you can stroll around and then walk to the Houyi Shooting Eight Demons exhibit.
Yueyang Tower, one of the three famous towers south of the Yangtze River, stands on the shore of Dongting Lake. Leaning on its railing, one can see the vast expanse of Dongting Lake stretching for miles, its waters and sky blending seamlessly into the autumn sky. The tower's upturned eaves reflect the flowing clouds and soaring birds, seemingly still echoing Fan Zhongyan's timeless words, "Be the first to worry about the world's troubles, and the last to enjoy its pleasures."
Renowned as one of the three famous towers in Jiangnan, this tower boasts a long history and profound cultural heritage. Its inspiring philosophy and famous saying, "Be the first to worry about the world's troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures," remain deeply ingrained in our minds today. A truly remarkable tourist attraction.
I was very shocked when I came to this place. It is especially worth a visit. As one of the four famous buildings in China, it has rich history and connotation. In particular, the front of the building is by the lake, which is particularly spectacular at a glance. In addition, the buildings in different historical periods have their own merits, and they are all beautiful and different. Now this scenic spot has been built relatively well. A large park has been built around the building. There are exhibition halls where you can see the history of various celebrities and praises for this famous building. There is also a food street outside the scenic area where you can taste the local food of Hunan. It is worth a visit.
One of the four famous towers in ancient China, it is worth a visit. Bianhe Street is actually a commercial street. It is more beautiful at night. You can buy something to eat when you are hungry, but it is very homogeneous, just an ordinary snack street. You must go to the main building of Yueyang Tower. You can overlook Dongting Lake and read Yueyang Tower Records when you climb up the Yueyang Tower. The scenic area is not very large and it takes only two hours to walk around. I also visited Xiao Qiao's tomb. I didn't expect that Xiao Qiao was buried here, but I didn't take pictures because it was someone else's tombstone, so I felt it was impolite to take pictures.
One of the four famous buildings in China [Yueyang Tower] Yueyang Tower is located on the west gate wall of the ancient city of Yueyang, close to the Dongting Lake, overlooking the Dongting below and Junshan in front. It was first built in the 20th year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty (215). The shape and layout of the Yueyang Tower when it was rebuilt in 1880; because Teng Zongliang of the Northern Song Dynasty rebuilt the Yueyang Tower and invited his friend Fan Zhongyan to write "The Story of the Yueyang Tower", the Yueyang Tower became famous in the world. Since ancient times, it has been known as "the water in Dongting is all over the world, and the towers are all over the world in Yueyang". It is also known as the "Three Famous Towers in Jiangnan" together with the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, Hubei and Tengwang Pavilion in Nanchang, Jiangxi. Together with the Stork and Magpie Tower, it is the four most famous towers in China. Address: Dongting North Road, Yueyanglou District, Yueyang City Transportation: Take bus 37 from Yueyang Station, 2 yuan for 6 stops. Time: 7:30-18:00 Tickets: 70. Reserve in advance
Yueyang Tower is one of the four famous towers in the south of the Yangtze River. It is located on the bank of Dongting Lake and became famous because of Fan Zhongyan's Yueyang Tower Inscription. The scenic area combines the writings of poets and migrants of all dynasties, the outstanding cultural buildings and the sparkling natural scenery. It is a must-see attraction in Yueyang. You can get free tickets by reciting Yueyang Tower Inscription. Everyone is welcome to try it.
Climbing Yueyang Tower: Encountering the thousand-year poetry and magnificent mountains and rivers "Dongting is the best water in the world, and Yueyang is the best tower in the world." With infinite longing for Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower", I embarked on a journey to Yueyang Tower. As soon as I entered the scenic area, the "Five Dynasties Towers" of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties attracted my attention first. The five Yueyang Towers with different styles, presented in the form of bronze miniature casting, gave me a more intuitive understanding of the historical changes of Yueyang Tower. The Yueyang Tower in the Tang Dynasty is the most exquisite, and the five lifelike phoenixes on the roof seem to be about to fly high in the next second, traveling through a thousand years of time. Walking along the main road, scenic spots such as the Poetry Stele Forest and the Erwang Temple come into view one by one, and a strong cultural atmosphere blows in the face. In the Poetry Stele Forest, poems that are familiar and unfamiliar are precious memories left by the ancients when they visited Yueyang Tower. The words are full of praise and emotion for Yueyang Tower and Dongting Lake. Finally, Yueyang Tower appeared in front of us. It is built on a wide base, three stories high, with four corners of the eaves rising upward, as if to break through the sky. The purple-red columns and golden glazed tiles shine in the sun, and the hat-like helmet top is unique, with smooth curves, steep and warped, like the helmet of an ancient warrior, revealing a majestic momentum. The Sanzui Pavilion and Xianmei Pavilion on both sides of the main building also add a bit of ancient charm and mystery to Yueyang Tower. Walking into Yueyang Tower, although the furnishings in the building are not complicated, every place is simple and heavy. On the walls of the first and second floors, there are carved screens of "Yueyang Tower" with black background and gold characters. The fonts are either square or elegant, the brushwork is vigorous, and the techniques are varied, which makes people stop and savor them carefully. Go up to the third floor and open the wooden window, and the magnificent scenery of Dongting Lake instantly comes into view. The lake is wide, the water and sky are one color, and the waves are sparkling. Junshan Island in the distance is looming in the lake, like a green snail inlaid in a silver plate. Isn't this a true portrayal of Liu Yuxi's "Looking at the green mountains and waters of Dongting Lake from afar, a green snail in a silver plate"? At this time, the breeze blew on my face, and I couldn't help chanting "Worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy after the world is happy", and I really felt Fan Zhongyan's broad mind that cared about the world. Yueyang