Qingming Riverside Garden, Iron Pagoda, Dragon Pavilion and Tianbo Yang Mansion, 4 Days

We leave at eight on the expressway and enter Kaifeng two hours later. Lunch is a basket of soup dumplings, bitten open first for the broth. At two we enter Dragon Pavilion in the last days of the chrysanthemum festival, tens of thousands of pots lining the imperial way down to the lake, yellow and white and purple packed together, with shaped displays built as dragons and pagodas that only resolve from a distance. The pavilion itself sits on a terrace thirteen metres high, seventy two steps up, and from the top the Pan and Yang lakes lie left and right of the causeway. November days are short here and the light softens by five, mist rising off the water. We return to the hotel and walk the night market below the drum tower.

Attraction introduction: Dragon Pavilion stands in the northwest of the old city on the terrace of the Song and Jin palace ruins, thirteen metres high with seventy two steps on the face, topped by a double eaved hall. The Pan and Yang lakes flank it with the imperial way between. The chrysanthemum festival holds its main display here, arranging shaped and tower chrysanthemums along the causeway and the shore.

Tips: Ticket prices rise during the festival and the posted price differs from the rest of the year, so quote the window rather than an old figure. Guests generally find mornings are crowded and the light after three is oblique, which suits photographing flowers without glare. In practice, the display closes on 17 November and is dismantled afterwards, so anyone coming for the flowers should not leave it to the final two days.

We enter at nine. The garden rebuilds the scroll of Along the River During Qingming, the Bian River at the gate, the Rainbow Bridge spanning it in timber that answers underfoot. The programme is dense: the arrival of Judge Bao, a wedding contest, fire breathing, cock fighting, one act every half hour, so the day follows the schedule rather than the map. Lunch inside costs more than outside and saves an hour. In the afternoon a scull boat takes us under the Rainbow Bridge with the shopfronts passing overhead. At dusk we climb the wall as the lanterns come on in layers along the street, and the evening brings the waterborne show, which needs a ticket bought in advance.

Attraction introduction: The Qingming Riverside Garden opened in 1998 on the west shore of Dragon Pavilion Lake, rebuilt from the Northern Song scroll by Zhang Zeduan across more than six hundred mu, with the Bian River running through and the Rainbow Bridge, Shangshan Gate and Sun Yang tavern following the painted forms. The park lives on Song era performance and street life, from drum troupes to cock fighting, with a water stage at night.

Tips: The programme changes daily, so take the sheet at the gate and work backwards from the times instead of wandering. Guests generally find groups leave after four and the bridge area turns quiet, which is the best window for photographs. In practice, the scull boats charge by boat rather than by seat, so sharing one brings the cost down, and the ride length is worth confirming before boarding.

The morning goes to the Iron Pagoda, raised in 1049 in the Northern Song, thirteen storeys sheathed in glazed brick that reads black at a distance and brown up close, each brick moulded with Buddhas, flying figures and qilin, still legible after a thousand years. The stair inside is narrow and winds upward, steeper near the top, and from the highest window the city lies flat below. The ticket costs thirty yuan and holds three days, so a second visit is possible. After lunch we move to the Tianbo Yang Mansion, which divides into the official courtyard, the drill ground and the garden, where cavalry charges at each other and the weapons ring true.

Attraction introduction: The Iron Pagoda stands in the park of the same name in the northeast of Kaifeng, first built in 1049, the third year of Huangyou, and rebuilt in glazed brick after fire destroyed its wooden predecessor. Thirteen octagonal storeys carry brown glazed bricks moulded with Buddhas, flying figures and qilin, the tallest Song glazed pagoda surviving. The Tianbo Yang Mansion honours the Northern Song general Yang Ye, rebuilt from 1992 and opened in 1994, with its Tianbo Tower at twenty four metres.

Tips: The stair admits one person at a time, so wait at the landings for those coming down. Guests generally find the brown of the glazed brick shows best when the sun drops in the afternoon and flattens at noon. In practice, the cavalry show runs on a fixed schedule, so read the notice on entry and reach the drill ground twenty minutes early for a front row place.

The last morning keeps no schedule. We walk south along the Song imperial street, rebuilt in Song style with shop banners in neat rows, quiet at this hour with more sweepers than visitors. Turning into Bookshop Street, the old bookshops and stationers still sell hand copied calligraphy albums. Further south stands the drum tower, and beneath it the morning market serves peppery soup, mutton soup, fried dough and vegetable turnovers, eaten on low stools and warming from the first spoon. We check out at half past ten, eat sweet and sour carp with noodles at noon, and reach Luoyang by four.

Attraction introduction: The Song imperial street runs along the central axis of the old city from Xinjiekou to Dragon Pavilion as a commercial street in Song style, with facades following Song forms. Bookshop Street lies to its east as the traditional bookselling and stationery quarter, still holding second hand bookshops and brush shops. The drum tower marks the centre of the old city, its square hosting the morning food market.

Tips: The market packs up early and choices thin after half past nine. Guests generally find this last half day belongs to the old city, costing nothing and following the routes local people use. In practice, many shops on the imperial street do not open until ten, so the morning is for architecture and street life, and shopping belongs later in the day.