Kaifeng in Four Days: Qingming Riverside Garden, Dragon Pavilion and Kaifeng Prefecture, 4 Days 3 Nights

We leave Luoyang at eight on the Lianyungang-Horgos expressway and enter Kaifeng a little after ten. After lunch, Dragon Pavilion, this year the main venue of the chrysanthemum festival. Inside, the imperial approach carries blocks of colour on both sides, yellow, white and purple, running all the way to the steps of the hall. The hall stands on a high brick terrace, and from the top the two lakes part below. We come out at dusk and walk back along the Song imperial street as the lanterns come on in strings.

Attraction introduction: Dragon Pavilion stands on the site of the Song and Jin palace in the northwest of the city, its hall raised on a terrace some thirteen metres high with seventy two steps, overlooking the Pan and Yang lakes. The 2026 festival is the 44th, with the main venue here and more than three million pots planted across the city, the imperial approach and the champion chrysanthemum display the centrepieces.

Tips: Prices at Dragon Pavilion rise during the festival above the usual 45 yuan, and online is cheaper than the window, but the display comes down when the festival closes. Guests generally find the crowd thickening after ten, so half past eight is the moment for a clear approach. In practice the pavilion and Tianbo Yang Mansion sell a combined ticket and sit next door, filling a half day between them.

A full day inside the garden. We enter at nine for the welcome of Judge Bao, drums sounding as the procession comes out of the gate. Then upstream along the Bian River to the Rainbow Bridge, which arches high enough for boats to pass beneath while the deck fills with onlookers. Lunch inside: soup dumplings, fried bean jelly, almond tea. In the afternoon the horse battle at the Yue Fei drill ground raises real dust on the front rows. We stay for the evening, when the water show begins at ten past eight, light moving across the boats as they pass.

Attraction introduction: Qingming Riverside Garden reconstructs the Northern Song city painted by Zhang Zeduan, over six hundred mu in extent, with the Rainbow Bridge, Shangshan Gate and the Bian River wharves built to the proportions of the painting. It is among the largest Song culture parks in the country, with staged shows through the day and the night performance on the water sold separately.

Tips: The ticket allows unlimited entries for three days, so leaving for dinner and returning is allowed and worth doing. Guests generally find the schedule dense and a programme in hand yields three or four more shows than wandering. In practice the night performance is outdoors and the November wind on the seats is cold, so dress warmly and expect spray in the front rows.

Morning at Kaifeng Prefecture. Past the ceremonial gate the main hall opens, and the courtroom scene plays mid morning: one strike of the gong and the crowd closes in. Behind the offices, Plum Blossom Hall and Qingxin Tower look over Lake Bao. The afternoon goes to Daxiangguo Temple, where the thousand hand Guanyin in the octagonal hall is carved from a single block of ginkgo, a thousand hands to each side, uncountable from below. In the evening, the Drum Tower night market: fried bean jelly, lamb sandwiches, almond tea, stall after stall.

Attraction introduction: Kaifeng Prefecture was the seat of the Northern Song capital administration, where Bao Zheng held office, and the present buildings reconstruct the Song yamen layout. Daxiangguo Temple was founded in 555 and served as an imperial temple in the Northern Song, its thousand hand Guanyin a Qing carving from one ginkgo trunk.

Tips: The courtroom scenes run to a schedule, so ask at the gate rather than wandering into the exhibition halls first. Guests generally find the ten o clock session the busiest, with seats taken ten minutes early. In practice the night market peaks between seven and eight, so eat early or take food back to the hotel.

The last half day keeps its pace. The morning goes to the Iron Pagoda, its glazed bricks the colour of iron, thirteen octagonal storeys, every brick carrying a different pattern of Buddhas and flying figures that only appear at close range. The park is quiet and the ginkgo lies thick on the ground in autumn. Afterwards we walk to the city wall and climb the section at Daliang Gate, standing on six layers of older cities. Lunch, then the road to Luoyang, home by evening.

Attraction introduction: The Iron Pagoda, properly the Kaibao Temple Pagoda, was built in 1049 of brown glazed brick, thirteen octagonal storeys and over fifty metres tall, the oldest surviving building in Kaifeng. The city wall was rebuilt in the Qing, and the Daliang Gate stretch preserves the stacked relationship of walls built one upon another, open to visitors.

Tips: The pagoda costs forty yuan with unlimited entries over three days, so a return visit to sit in the park is included. Guests generally find the ground before the tower empty before nine, with the light from the southeast picking out the brick patterns. In practice the drive home takes over two hours and a departure after lunch avoids the afternoon freight on the expressway.