Luoyang Departure Qingdao Seagulls Laoshan Beer Museum 5 Days 4 Nights

The morning train takes about five and a half hours and lands at Qingdao Station after one. Ten minutes south on foot is the water. Leave the bags and walk out to Zhanqiao at four, where gulls sit in a row along the railing with grey wingtips. In the evening follow the shore west to Baxia, empty except for waves breaking on the stone.

Attraction introduction: Zhanqiao was built in 1892 as the first cargo pier in the city, running more than four hundred metres to an octagonal pavilion named Huilan. The shoreline bends here, so the water reads darker on one side of the pier than the other.

Tips: Guests generally find the seaside is three or four degrees colder than the town in November, with wind straight off the water. In practice we time the pier for the low afternoon sun so the gulls are lit from the side, and move it to the next morning if the wind turns rough.

Start at the Catholic church on Zhejiang Road, where the twin towers draw more cameras than worshippers. Then climb the seventy steps to Lanchao Pavilion on Xiaoyushan, with red roofs running in tiers to the sea. Lunch is mackerel dumplings on Fushan Road. The afternoon goes to Badaguan, walking from Shaoguan Road to Taipingjiao with leaves still underfoot.

Attraction introduction: The church was finished in 1934, its towers fifty-six metres tall. Xiaoyushan is only sixty metres high but faces the first bathing beach, which makes it the straightest angle on the red roofs. Badaguan takes its name from eight passes, and its villas went up in the 1920s and 1930s in German, Russian and Japanese styles.

Tips: Guests generally find the old town walks as a straight line when the good parts are on the side streets. In practice the guide takes three side lanes in the afternoon and leaves the rest of the day open, since every block here climbs or drops.

Leave at half past seven and reach Yangkou by half past eight. Ride the cable car, then squeeze through Mitian Cave, a granite fissure narrow enough to require turning sideways, and come out on Lion Peak with the sea breaking white below. Lunch is a farmhouse table down the hill, jellyfish with cucumber and clams in chili. Back in town by three.

Attraction introduction: Laoshan rises straight from the Yellow Sea, its main peak above eleven hundred metres, the highest coastal mountain in China. Yangkou is the eastern entrance, and Lion Peak is the granite block above the water. The mountain has been bottled for spring water for a century.

Tips: Guests generally find the cable car queue eats more time than the climbing, an hour at busy periods. In practice we enter with the first wave at half past eight; if November wind shuts the cableway, the stone steps still go up, only slower.

At half past nine, walk into the old brewhouse on Dengzhou Road. Hall A tells the history, Hall B the bottling line, and the bar at the end pours a glass of unfiltered beer with foam that clings to the side. Lunch is barbecue on the same street. The afternoon belongs to Taitung, and the evening to Pichaiyuan, where potstickers and small seafood are sold by the portion.

Attraction introduction: The brewery was built by German merchants in 1903 and is among the oldest in China; the museum keeps the copper vessels and wooden barrels in place. Dengzhou Road becomes one long beer street in summer. Pichaiyuan is the oldest snack lane in the old town.

Tips: Guests generally find one glass of unfiltered beer is enough, since it hits later than expected. In practice the visit ends by three so the rest of the day is yours, and the beer is served with salted beans to keep the stomach steady.

Be at Zhanqiao by seven, when the flock is thickest and the bread seller is already waiting. Tear the bread and toss it up, and the gulls drop out of the air to take it. Back at nine for the bags, at the station by ten, and home in Luoyang by evening.

Attraction introduction: The pavilion at the end of the pier is an octagonal two-storey built in 1933. Qingdao Bay is half enclosed, shallow in winter, and at low tide the rocks come out, which is where the gulls work between stone and railing.

Tips: Guests generally find hand-feeding invites a peck, so bread goes up rather than out. In practice the flock thins after half past eight, so the visit is timed before nine and the cheapest plain bread works better than anything sweet.