Things to Do in Nanjing: 8 Offbeat Picks
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Nanjing’s list of “must-see” attractions reads like a straight history lecture: Ming tomb, city wall, Confucian temple. What the standard list leaves out is the actual mechanics behind each one, a staircase built to trick your eyes, a memorial hall’s name that’s a pun on the Buddha it once honored, a palace entrance that quietly stopped existing in 2024. Eight things worth doing, with the detail most lists skip.
1. Climb Sun Yat-sen’s 392 Steps, Built to Play a Trick on You
Zhongshan Ling’s approach runs 700m across terraced platforms rising about 70m, and the staircase was deliberately designed so that from the bottom you see only steps, and from the top you see only flat platforms, a Ming-and-Republic-era perspective trick still working nearly a century later. Main grounds are free, but entry requires a passport-ID reservation booked via the official website or WeChat (07:00-22:00) or same-day at on-site machines (08:00-17:00), despite the free tag. Go early, since there’s zero shade across the full climb.
2. Walk Ming Xiaoling’s Sacred Way, Then Find the Pun at Linggu Temple
Ming Xiaoling (¥70, walk-up entry, no reservation) holds the tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming founder, and its Sacred Way, about 1,800m lined with 12 pairs of stone animals in six kinds, laid on a bend following the hillside rather than dead straight. A 15-minute walk away, Linggu Temple’s Beamless Hall (¥35, included in the ¥100 Purple Mountain combo) is built entirely of brick and stone arches with no timber at all, and its name is a genuine pun: “no beam” in Chinese sounds identical to “Wuliang,” the Buddha it originally memorialized.
3. Pick Your Section of the Ming Wall on Purpose
Nanjing’s Ming City Wall runs about 21km surviving from an original 35km, among the best-preserved in the world for following the natural terrain instead of a straight rectangle. Zhonghua Gate (¥50) is the fortress pick, three enclosed courtyards and 27 vaulted chambers that once quartered roughly 3,000 soldiers, worth 1-1.5 hours on its own. The Shence Gate to Taiping Gate stretch, commonly called Taicheng (¥30), runs along Xuanwu Lake instead and is the better pick if you want scenery over stonework. Three other sections are free, so this is one of the few Ming-era sights in the city where the budget option isn’t actually a downgrade.
4. Enter the Presidential Palace From the Side Nobody’s Guidebook Shows
The historic gatehouse, the postcard facade in every older guidebook photo, has been closed to entry since December 10, 2024. Visitors now enter through a new west entrance instead, so if your directions or a photo online show the old front gate, it’s out of date. Inside (¥40), billed as China’s largest museum of modern history, Sun Yat-sen took his 1911-12 inauguration oath as the Republic of China’s provisional president, and Chiang Kai-shek later ran his government from the same complex.
5. Skip Fuzimiao’s Snack Markup, Visit the Exam Cells Instead
The Confucius Temple and Qinhuai River strip (Dacheng Hall ¥30) is Nanjing’s best-known night scene, lantern-lit water, Ming and Qing-style shophouses, and it’s priced like it, small portions and a real markup on the snack stalls lining the lanes. The genuinely worthwhile stop next door is the Jiangnan Examination Hall and Museum (¥50), where replica exam cells reportedly measure just 1.33m wide, the space imperial candidates sat in for days at a stretch during China’s civil service exams. Most tourists walk past it entirely for the river view.
6. Visit the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, With the Gravity It Deserves
The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders commemorates the approximately 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers killed after the city fell to Japanese forces on December 13, 1937. Entry is free, roughly 8:30am-4:30pm, closed Mondays. This is a place of national mourning, not a sightseeing stop, quiet, restrained photography, dress and behavior appropriate to a memorial. Sources disagree on whether a real-name reservation is currently required for general walk-up entry, so check the official memorial site directly before you go rather than assuming either way.
7. Spend an Afternoon at Nanjing Museum, and Don’t Rush the Republic-Era Street
Free, Tuesday-Sunday 09:00-17:00 (Monday mornings only), Nanjing Museum holds 430,000-plus artifacts across six halls, jade, bronze, ceramics, furniture, and China’s second-largest museum by that count. The part most first-time visitors don’t expect is a recreated Republic-era street inside the museum, with costumed staff and heritage-craft demonstrations running alongside the formal galleries. It sits at Purple Mountain’s southern foot, an easy same-day add to the Sun Yat-sen and Ming Xiaoling cluster, Metro Line 2 to Minggugong, 5-minute walk.
8. Circle Xuanwu Lake, Then Walk the Wall Above It
Xuanwu Lake is free and holds five connected isles, Huan, Ying, Liang, Cui, and Ling, inside the largest surviving imperial-era city lake in China, with the Ming wall on one side and Purple Mountain as backdrop. Pair it with a walk along the Taicheng wall stretch above it (Section 3) for a combined lake-and-fortification loop that costs nothing beyond the wall section’s ¥30.
What Should You Actually Skip on a Short Trip?
If you only have one day, skip the full Zhonghua Gate barbican in favor of the free Ming Wall sections plus Xuanwu Lake, and skip the Fuzimiao snack stalls beyond one evening walk for the atmosphere. The Sun Yat-sen and Ming Xiaoling cluster is the one pairing worth protecting on any itinerary, since both sit inside the same Purple Mountain reservation zone and combo ticket.
| Sight | Price | Time needed | The offbeat detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum | Free (reservation required) | 1.5-2.5h | The 392 steps are an optical illusion |
| Ming Xiaoling + Linggu Temple | ¥70 + ¥35 | 1.5-2h each | Beamless Hall’s name is a Buddhist pun |
| Zhonghua Gate | ¥50 | 1-1.5h | 27 vaulted chambers, ~3,000 soldiers |
| Presidential Palace | ¥40 | 2-3h | Gatehouse closed since Dec 2024 |
| Jiangnan Examination Hall | ¥50 | 1-1.5h | 1.33m-wide replica exam cells |
For the Purple Mountain cluster, browse Nanjing history tours if you’d rather not sort out the reservation system solo, and Ming Xiaoling’s UNESCO status is documented on whc.unesco.org under the joint Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties listing. Our day trips post covers what’s past this list once you’ve done the city core.
Book the Sun Yat-sen reservation before you leave your hotel, not after breakfast. It’s the one step on this list that actually blocks entry if you skip it.