Come from there on a trip that starts in the future and ends up in the past full of history
Visiting Shanghai is a stimulating experience.
This financial center of 25 million inhabitants seems to have been created to admire skyscrapers, discover fashion and eat dumpling dumps. Its metro system is clean and efficient, making it incredibly easy to move around the city – or to the next city.
But at a given time, urban tiredness begins to appear, a sign that it is time to disappear in the enevoid mountains, so often captured in the paintings to traditional Chinese paint.
Thanks to China’s huge high -speed railway network – the largest on the planet – the calm of the field is never far away.
See the case of Wuyuan, a rural county in the non-coastal province of Jiangxi, east of China. Less than three hours of Shanghai, in a high -speed train, is full of centuries -old villages, where the white walls and the tile roofs wave and the abundant meals made with ingredients coming directly from the farms are the norm.
This juxtaposition offers a fascinating opportunity to dive into China’s ultra -modern present and its famous past on a short trip.
But we know that traveling in China can be intimidating for those who are visiting the country for the first time. Here is an example of a itinerary for those looking for inspiration to make their own high -speed trip to the past, along with advice on how to book train tickets.
Shanghai Stop 1: The Stage
The admiration of skyscrapers is not a new thing in Shanghai, but there is a new angle to do so. The latest viewpoint in the city, an old heliport, is the perfect place to take a panoramic photograph of this futuristic landscape.
Located at the top of the highest building on the west of the Huangpu River, The Stage – 320 meters high – offers a place in the front row for the gigantic financial district of Shanghai, across the river.
Thanks to a huangpu curve, it also offers a panoramic view of the famous colonial buildings on the same side of the river. The boats the size of a toy that descend Huangpu carry several goods, from coal to sand, remembering that China never stops building.
The best time to enjoy 360 degrees views is late afternoon when you can buy a combined sunset ticket that includes a drink.
The entrance to the Stage is at Level B1 of the Shanghai Magnolia Building, at the 501 Dong Daming Road, Hongkou district; 240 yuan (about 28 euros) per person, 288 yuan (close to 34 euros) for a combined sunset ticket.
Stop 2: The Bund
The grandfather of all Shanghai attractions, Bund is an excerpt from the west bank of the Huangpu River with 52 historic buildings dating from the early twentieth century and were built by banks, commercial companies and tycoons from around the world. The kaleidoscope of styles varies from neoclassical to gothic.
The most great of all is the old HSBC building, currently the headquarters of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Want to exchange some money? The bank of the floor on the floor has a series of Greek -style murals that escaped the hammers of the cultural revolution, after a Shanghai architect allegedly sent them to paint them to protect them.
Bund is busy day and night, but the early morning offers a rare window of peace enjoyed by only a few pawns and people exercise.
Nearest Metro Stop: East Nanjing Road, accessible from lines 2 and 10.
Stop 3: The Old City
The old town refers to the original Shanghai, a part of the city that prospered before the arrival of the British settlers in the 1850s. It is an area of about half the size of New York Central Park and was once surrounded by a long-demolished city wall.
Currently, it is a popular destination for Chinese and international visitors during the Lunar New Year, thanks to its stunning flashlight show. In the rest of the year, it offers a maze of strongly restored old buildings for visitors to get lost.
Remember that this is a highly marketed area: almost all traditional residential alleys have been demolished. But it is worth visiting the Old City core around Yuyuan Garden. The jiuqu, or bridge of the nine laps, crosses a small lake in the city’s oldest tea house, Huxinting.
On one side of the bridge is Lu Bo Lang restaurant, where former US President Bill Clinton dinner during his visit to Shanghai in 1998. On the other side is Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, where the famous soup dumplings in the city, or Xiaolong maintained, attract long queues.
Nearest Metro Stop: Yuyuan Garden on lines 10 and 14.
Stop 4: Xuhui riverside ride
This is Shanghai’s answer to London South Bank. The locals go there to take a walk in the afternoon, meet friends, ride a bike or simply kill time. Once the city’s dorsal spine of the city, this part of the riverside area, which extends for about eight kilometers, has a different pace from the glamorous Bund: here, things are much slower.
The former Shanghai cement factory now houses a large art space and a mixture of shops, restaurants and cafes. West Bund Art & Design, a separate center nearby, has a long -term partnership with Center Pompidou in Paris and organizes some of the best Chinese contemporary exhibitions in the country.
Skate practitioners gather at Riverside Skateboard Park to challenge the railing and stairs. Pets also love this place: there is a dedicated park that allows dogs to run without leash – a rare exception to the rigorous rules of the city in the field of pet.
The best meter stops to leave are Yunjin Road or Longyao Road Station on Metro line 11, and Middle Longhua Road on Metro lines 7 and 12.
Parage 1 de Wuyuan: Yan village
Wuyuan County, in Jiangxi province, without coastal, is China that is seen in traditional paintings: wave fields, winding streams and small backed villages between green mountains.
It’s only two hours and 44 minutes of travel from Shanghai on the high -speed train, but your vibrations are separated for hundreds of years.
With a 1,200 -year -old story, Wuyuan is famous for two things: the bright yellow flowers of Colza, which flourish every March, and the large household houses built by the old Huizhou merchants, who accumulated fortunes between the 15th and eighteenth centuries selling salt, tea and wood.
20 minutes by taxi from Wuyuan Train Station is the village of Yan (延村), a typical Huizhou village that dates back to about 800 years. Tourists have to pay a small fee to enter, but don’t be fooled. Yan is a purely residential village, inhabited by farmers. Most of them have the same nickname, Jin – a reflection of the clan culture that is still strong in rural China.
The neighboring ,isy village offers the same sense of tranquility and is 20 minutes walk through a rail along the field.
Cost: 55 Yuan (close to six euros) to enter the villages of Yan and Sixi.
Stop 2: Skywells Hotel
Purchased and renewed by a British expat to Chinese wife, this three -story boutique hotel in Yan village is an attraction in itself. Dating from about 300 years ago, the house was built in Huizhou’s classic style: tall and thick walls, with tiny windows – characteristics designed to ward off the bad guys when family men traveled to trade.
The central piece of the hotel is its inner courtyards, known as Skywells, another character of Huizhou style architecture. These outdoor spaces provide natural light and ventilation, helping the house stay fresh. They also allow rainwater, a symbol of fortune, to be collected inside the house.
This 14 -bedroom hotel is managed by a village resident that cooks healthy local dishes for guests, using vegetables directly from your family garden. This woman is a well of knowledge about where to go and what to do, and makes an excellent Gin Tonic.
Skywells Hotel, Aldeia de Yan, Wuyuan, China.
Paragem 3: Huangling
Located on the slope of a mountain, this 600 -year -old village was initially established by the Cao clan, who moved there from the north to hide from the war.
But Huangling was degrading and was partially abandoned until 2009, when a tour company transferred residents to the foot of the mountain and turned the village into a kind of historical theme park.
Tourists rise to the village of cable car, which offers a panoramic view of the fields in cascading to a voucher. Their small streets are full of restaurants, memories and tea houses. But most people come to see the colorful dry vegetables in round baskets on the balconies, a tradition transmitted by generations of mountains inhabitants to preserve their harvests.
Need a little more emotion? Huangling has not one, but two bridges with a glass background suspended between the nearby mountains.
Cost of 145 Yuan (close to 17 euros) to enter the village through the cable car.
Optional stop in the city: Suzhou or Hangzhou
Praised by ancient poets such as “heavens on earth,” Suzhou and Hangzhou were much appreciated by Chinese Emperor Qianlong, who traveled from Beijing six times during his life in the eighteenth century to appreciate his landscapes and prove his food.
Nowadays, the Chinese travelers continue to move there to do the same, although the bullet (or in their electric cars). Both cities can be achieved by high -speed train on the Wuyuan route to Shanghai, although not all trains stop both.
A little over two hours of Wuyuan train, Hangzhou is a bustling province capital immortalized by its lake, pagodas and green tea fields. It is also the China E -Commerce Center: Alibaba co -founder Jack Ma, is a native of the city and the company is headquartered there.
40 minutes from Hangzhou or half an hour of Shanghai train, Suzhou has some of China’s most beautiful old gardens. Built by local literati for hundreds of years, they have been lakes, pavilions, dreams of dreams, along with “artificial mountains” made with rocks taken from the Taihu Lake nearby.
How to buy train tickets in China
International travelers can buy train tickets at the Train Station with their passports or reserve them through various applications. The “Railway 12306” is the official application of China’s train tickets and has an English version.
All train tickets in China are associated with the holders’ identity or passport tickets, so the application users will have to present a photograph of their documents when creating an account in 12306. This will allow them to enter the train station scanning the same documents.
The application also has a guide with practical information for international travelers, such as the way to pay the articles and where to get a SIM card.
A Black Train Ticket for the Shanghai-Wuyuan Route costs between 193 and 292 RMB (23 to 35 euros) per route.
