Qingdao in Six Days from Luoyang, Gulls at the Pier and the Coastal Path of Laoshan

A midday train from Luoyang Longmen, and Qingdao station a little over five hours later. Two hundred metres south is the water, and the railings of the pier carry a row of gulls with black wingtips. Someone below is tossing fried dough, and the birds come in low over the heads of the crowd. It is dark early, so walk north up Zhongshan road and find a small place for clams fried with chilli.

Attraction introduction: Zhanqiao was built in the eighteen nineties as the first military wharf in Qingdao, running more than four hundred metres to an octagonal pavilion at the end. Qingdao bay is shallow and sheltered, which is why the gulls winter here from late October to March. Zhongshan road was the commercial spine of the German concession, and the bank and trading house facades from that period still stand.

Tips: Guests generally find the mistake with the gulls is standing still with food in the air, which keeps the birds away. In practice we break the bread small and toss it up and outward so they take it in flight, and never chase them. The wind off the water is strong, so hats need a cord and phones need a firm grip above the rocks.

In from the Zhongshan park end of Badaguan, where the plane trees on Shaoguan road still hold some leaf and the ginkgoes on Juyongguan road have turned. South to the second bathing beach, almost empty, waves running up the sand in even lines. Lunch at Taipingjiao, then up Xiaoyushan, where the three storey tower shows the whole field of red roofs running down to the sea. In the evening, a bowl of tofu pudding at Pichaiyuan.

Attraction introduction: Badaguan is ten streets named after mountain passes, lined with villas built in the nineteen twenties and thirties and known locally as a museum of world architecture. Huashi tower is granite with a decorative stone finish, and the Princess building is a Danish style house with a green roof. Xiaoyushan rises sixty metres and its octagonal pavilion is the easiest place to read the old town in one look.

Tips: Guests generally find Badaguan looks small on a map and takes a day on foot, with the energy spent hunting one particular house. In practice we walk three streets only, taking the trees and the street itself as the sight, and view Huashi tower from outside since entry is ticketed separately. The coast here feels three or four degrees colder than inland in November.

Out at half past seven, an hour north east to Yangkou. Stone steps climb along the sea face, and the passage called Mitiandong has to be squeezed through sideways before the last stretch to the summit terrace, with the Yellow Sea flat below. Lunch at the foot, then forty minutes south on the park road to Taiqing, where the halls run one behind another and the old cypress in the courtyard takes three people to span.

Attraction introduction: Laoshan is the range that reaches into the Yellow Sea at the tip of the Shandong peninsula, its main summit above eleven hundred metres. Yangkou sits on the north east flank and is known for seeing the mountain over water, with the sky terrace as its high point. Taiqing palace on the south east slope was founded in the Western Han and is the oldest Taoist temple on the mountain.

Tips: Guests generally find the knees are what suffer, since Yangkou goes up and down on stone. In practice we climb and take the cable car down, and knee supports go in the bag. Inside the temple the residents keep the halls, so voices stay low and incense money is optional. November brings less sea fog than summer, so the views are often the clearest of the year.

Dengzhou road in the morning for the beer museum, built into the original brewhouse with the copper vessels still in place. At the tasting end, a cloudy draught and a filtered lager, the first heavy with malt. Ribs and rice in Taidong for lunch, a rest at the hotel, then the Olympic harbour at dusk when the lights come on along the breakwater and the towers of Fushan bay stand across the water.

Attraction introduction: The Tsingtao brewery was founded by German merchants in nineteen three, and the museum occupies the first mashing house, with copper kettles and fermentation tanks a century old. Taidong is the old commercial quarter, its night market running late. The sailing centre hosted the two thousand and eight Olympic regatta, and the breakwater is now a promenade ending at a small lighthouse.

Tips: Guests generally find the tasting end is where the afternoon goes soft, two glasses on an empty stomach. In practice eat first, since the draught runs stronger than the bottled beer. Entry stops at half past three, so tickets need booking ahead, and the harbour at night is windy enough to want a scarf.

Metro line one under the bay in the morning, forty minutes to Golden Beach. The sand is fine enough that a foot sinks halfway, and the winter water reads grey blue. Walk east to the end of the beach, then north to Tangdao bay where the coastal path carries cyclists and the reed beds hold a raft of ducks. Back to the old town for the evening and seafood near Pichaiyuan.

Attraction introduction: Golden Beach runs more than three kilometres on the Huangdao side, its sand quartz based and unusually even. Tangdao bay is a half enclosed inlet where Jin troops camped in the Southern Song, now a waterfront park with boardwalk and bike lane side by side. Line one crosses the bay itself between TuanDao and Wawuzhuang, one of the few undersea metro sections in the country.

Tips: Guests generally find the winter wind on the open sand far stronger than in town, and ten minutes is enough to feel it. In practice we hold the beach to two hours and spend the rest of the time on the sheltered side of Tangdao bay. There is no cover on the sand, so windproof layers matter, and check the last train back.

Check out and leave the bags, then a walk through Tuandao market. Spanish mackerel and oysters come off the boats at dawn and the stalls are busiest before noon. Buy dried shrimp and fish to take home, have a bowl of seafood noodles nearby, and be at the station for the afternoon train to Luoyang.

Attraction introduction: Tuandao market sits in the south west corner of the old town and is where locals shop, the fishing boats landing before first light. It divides into wet fish, dried goods and vegetables, and the dried shrimp are graded by size with the palest being the freshest. Qingdao station itself is the German period building in red tile and yellow wall, its clock tower intact, and remains the eastern terminus of the old Jiaoji railway.

Tips: Guests generally find the trap at the fish stalls is water in the bag counting as weight. In practice we ask the vendor to cut a corner and drain it before weighing, and choose dried goods by natural colour rather than shine. Anything brought onto the train has to be sealed, and fresh seafood is limited by weight.