One-Day Tour Guide for Zhongshan Scenic Area: Reverse Route to Avoid Crowds

Visiting Nanjing for the second time, I planned to explore the Zhongshan Scenic Area in the opposite direction to avoid the peak crowds. Take Metro Line 2 to Linggu Temple Zhongling Street station, walk 40 meters through the bridge tunnel to buy sightseeing bus tickets. Single ride is 10 yuan, unlimited day pass is 30 yuan. I bought the all-access pass and ended up riding four times. The entrance ticket was a 100 yuan combo ticket. Route: Metro - Linggu Scenic Area (bus) - Liuhui Pavilion (bus) - Music Stage (walk) - Cross through Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum to sightseeing bus station - Xiamafang Metro (bus) - One metro stop to Muxuyuan - Nanjing Food Street for lunch - Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum Gate 3 (walk) - Muxuyuan Metro (bus) ✨Linggu Scenic Area: The ancient ginkgo tree at the entrance of Linggu Temple is definitely worth seeing! The temple houses relics of Xuanzang. Then visit the Wuliang Hall to experience pure brick architecture from the Ming Dynasty. Climb the nine-story building to the top of Linggu Pagoda to take in the stunning views of Purple Mountain, with the forest in full autumn colors! Highly recommend climbing to the top! ✨Liuhui Pavilion: A small lake with a blue pavilion, shimmering at noon, surrounded by lakeside trees, like a secret paradise on earth. ✨Music Stage: Crowded with people all taking photos, I suggest skipping it. However, the plane trees along the way are beautiful and not yet over-photographed. ✨Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is closed on Mondays, so we skipped it. ✨Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum: The stone statue path in autumn is truly legendary! The most beautiful part is the section entering through Gate 5. We walked it twice. There were many people, so getting photos without people is almost impossible. You can take photos of individual statues. The cultural shop’s t-shirts are quite interesting. Today was the first day of cooling in Nanjing, with strong winds and even light rain in the evening. Fortunately, the sightseeing bus took us directly to the metro. At night, I treated myself to some hot food to reward myself for shivering in the cold wind.