Luoyang to Kaifeng: Qingming Riverside, Iron Pagoda, Xiangguo Temple

Leave at eight on the Lianhuo expressway and reach Kaifeng in two hours. Drop the bags at the hotel and have mutton soup with a flatbread for lunch. The afternoon goes to Xiangguo Temple, its gate opening onto a busy street and the courtyard turning quiet the moment you step through. In the Octagonal Glazed Hall, the thousand-hand Guanyin is carved from a single block of ginkgo, hands on every side once you stand beneath it. Out through Bookstore Street, which still has second-hand shops where old maps turn up. Drum Tower night market in the evening, soup dumplings eaten hot.

Attraction introduction: Xiangguo Temple was founded in 555, the sixth year of Tianbao in the Northern Qi, and became a royal temple under the Northern Song, when it was the liveliest address in the capital. What stands today is largely a Qing rebuild. The Octagonal Glazed Hall is the odd one out among the halls, and its Guanyin, carved from a single ginkgo trunk, is the temple treasure.

Tips: Do not photograph inside the halls and keep the flash off; the courtyards are open to cameras. Guests generally find the night market crowded, with stalls reaching into the middle of the street and progress slow. In practice, walk the whole market once before buying, since prices for the same snack vary a lot between stalls.

In at nine when the gates open, the Rainbow Bridge first. It is a timber arch and you can stand on the deck, with the Bian River and its boats below. The morning follows the river, both banks lined with lanes of workshops, teahouses and fortune tellers, performers starting without warning. Lunch inside the park, then work through the schedule in the afternoon, with the horse battle and the folk stunts drawing the biggest crowds. Lights come on towards evening and lantern boats appear on the water; head for the exit then, since that stretch looks best last.

Attraction introduction: Qingming Riverside Land rebuilds the Northern Song painting of the same name by Zhang Zeduan. The Bian River runs through it and the Rainbow Bridge reproduces the timber arch in the scroll. Shops, wharves and gates follow Song patterns and the staff wear Song dress, so the whole place works as a city you can walk into.

Tips: The park is large and a full day runs to twenty thousand steps, so wear soft shoes. Guests generally find the Rainbow Bridge emptiest between nine and eleven and almost impassable in the afternoon. In practice, note the show times you care about first and follow the river in between rather than doubling back.

No alarm. Iron Pagoda Park at nine, in the northeast of the old city and never crowded. The tower is clad in brown glazed brick worked with patterns and looks cast in iron from a distance. You do not go up; walk a circuit instead, where the flying figures and qilin on the bricks come clear. Lunch nearby, on the road at two, in Luoyang around four.

Attraction introduction: The Iron Pagoda was built in 1049, the first year of Huangyou in the Northern Song. Its predecessor was timber and burned after a lightning strike, and the brick tower that replaced it has stood for more than nine hundred years. Brown glazed bricks cover the face, carved with flying figures, qilin and seated Buddhas in dozens of patterns, and the iron tone gave the tower the name people actually use.

Tips: The ticket allows repeat entry within three days, so a visit the previous evening does not stop you going in once more. Guests generally find the brick warmest at sunset and grey at midday. In practice, come on the morning of departure, when the light still rakes and the paths are empty.