Jinan 济南Jǐnán

About Jinan

Shandong's capital is the City of Springs, with more than 70 named artesian springs welling up in its downtown. Baotu Spring, which the Qianlong Emperor called the number one spring under heaven, and Daming Lake form the Best Spring Under Heaven Scenic Area, while Thousand Buddha Mountain, carved with Buddhas since the Sui dynasty, rises just south. Farther out lie Lingyan Temple, the Four Gates Pagoda and Chengziya, where the Longshan culture was first identified in 1928.

What to eat in Jinan

• Youxuan spiral pancakes (油旋)
• Tianmo, a peppery savoury porridge (甜沫)
• Sweet-and-sour Yellow River carp (糖醋黄河鲤鱼)

Listed sites in Jinan

39 sites in Jinan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Best Spring Under Heaven Scenic Area (Baotu Spring and Daming Lake) 天下第一泉景区 5A scenic area · National heritage site
  The five-A scenic area at the heart of Jinan's old town, made up of Baotu Spring Park, the Five Dragon Pool, the old-city moat and its Huancheng Park, and Daming Lake, with Baotu, Black Tiger and Five Dragon Pool as the three spring groups.
• Baimai Springs 百脉泉公园 4A scenic area
  A public park in the centre of Mingshui, Zhangqiu, built around the Baimai group of artesian karst springs, one of Jinan's 'seventy-two famous springs'.
• Baimaiquan Liquor Culture Tourist Area 百脉泉酒文化旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
  A visitor area built around the Baimaiquan distillery in Mingshui, Zhangqiu, with liquor-culture displays and a visitor centre, a shop and a restaurant.
• Fanggan Eco-Tourism Area 房干生态旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
  A hill and gorge scenic area at Fanggan village in Xueye subdistrict, Laiwu, which the Jinan tourism bureau describes as combining mountains, water, forest, springs, waterfalls and rock formations.
• Fantawild Oriental Heritage, Jinan 济南方特东方神画 4A scenic area · on the map
  A theme park in Huaiyin district belonging to the Fantawild group's Oriental Heritage line, which takes Chinese culture and folk stories as its themes.
• Hongjitang Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Tourist Area 宏济堂中医药文化旅游景区 4A scenic area · on the map
  A tourist area built by the Hongjitang pharmaceutical group in the Linuo Science Park, laid out in late Ming and early Qing style around a lake modelled on a smaller Daming Lake.
• Impression Jinan Spring World 印象济南·泉世界 4A scenic area · on the map
  A shopping, dining and leisure block in Huaiyin district, newly built to resemble traditional Jinan architecture.
• Jinan Botanical Garden 济南植物园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A botanical garden in the hills of Zhangqiu District, east of Jinan, laid out in themed areas that include a colour-plant garden and a rose garden.
• Jinan International Garden Expo Park 济南国际园博园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A large lakeside park in Changqing District, built for the 7th China International Garden Expo, held from September 2009 to May 2010.
• Jinan Sunac Cultural Tourism City 济南融创文旅城 4A scenic area · on the map
  A large leisure complex in Licheng district, east of central Jinan, opened in May 2021 and built new rather than historic.
• Jinan Wildlife World 济南野生动物世界 4A scenic area · on the map
  A safari-style wildlife park in the hills of Zhangqiu District, with a walking area in the north and a drive-through area in the south.
• Jinxiangshan Amusement Park 金象山乐园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A mountain amusement park in the wooded southern hills of Licheng district.
• Jiudingta Chinese Ethnic Park 九顶塔中华民族欢乐园 4A scenic area · on the map
  A theme park in the hills of Liubu, south-east of Jinan, built around replica villages that stage the architecture, song, dance and food of China's ethnic groups.
• Jiuru Mountain Waterfalls 九如山瀑布群 4A scenic area · on the map
  A wooded mountain valley in Jinan's southern hills where streams and waterfalls run through the woodland.
• Laiwu Battle Memorial Hall 莱芜战役纪念馆 4A scenic area
  A memorial museum on Huangshan hill in Laiwu, now a district of Jinan, opened in 1997 on the site of an earlier martyrs' cemetery.
• Lingyan Temple 灵岩寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  A Buddhist temple in a valley on the north-western edge of the Mount Tai range, counted among China's four famous temples.
• Lotus Mountain, Laiwu 莲花山 4A scenic area · on the map
  A representative scenic area of Laiwu's southern hills, named for its ring of peaks, which resemble a lotus.
• Red Leaf Valley 红叶谷 4A scenic area · on the map
  A hillside park in Jinan's southern hills where more than 4,000 mu (about 270 hectares) of wild smoke-tree scrub turns red each autumn.
• Thousand Buddha Mountain 千佛山 4A scenic area
  A wooded hill on the southern edge of Jinan, counted with Baotu Spring and Daming Lake as one of the city's three famous sights.
• Xiangshan Tourist Area, Laiwu 香山旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
  A mountain resort area in Dawangzhuang town, in the north-west of Laiwu District, centred on Xiangshan (918.7 m) with two gorges, Jiutian and Shimen, and three highland villages.
• Zhujiayu Ancient Village 朱家峪 4A scenic area · on the map
  A hill village in Guanzhuang, Zhangqiu, founded in the early Ming and kept largely intact, with more than 200 Ming and Qing buildings, bluestone lanes and 99 stone bridges, including a Kangxi-era double bridge that separated foot traffic from flood water.
• Chengziya Site 城子崖遗址 National heritage site
  The type site of China's Longshan culture, where the black-pottery culture of some 4,000 years ago was first identified in 1928 and excavated in 1930 and 1931.
• Daxinzhuang Site 大辛庄遗址 National heritage site
  A large Shang-period settlement on the north-eastern edge of Jinan that became an urban centre in the early 13th century BCE and grew into one of the biggest Shang sites outside the Central Plains.
• Duofo Pagoda, Cuiping Mountain 翠屏山多佛塔 National heritage site · on the map
  A Buddhist pagoda of the Ming and Qing periods standing on the summit of Cuiping Mountain in Pingyin county; its name means 'many-Buddhas pagoda'.
• Former Cheeloo University Buildings 原齐鲁大学近现代建筑群 National heritage site · on the map
  The early-twentieth-century campus of Cheeloo University, a mission university run by American, British and Canadian church bodies, was laid out around a central garden.
• Four Gates Pagoda 四门塔 National heritage site
  A single-storey stone pagoda of square plan, about 7 m along each side, with an arched doorway in each face and a roof of stacked stone slabs, standing beside the ruins of Shentong Temple.
• Jiaoji Railway Museum (Former Jinan Station) 胶济铁路博物馆 National heritage site
  The 1915 station building of the German-built Jiaoji (Qingdao-Jinan) railway, in European style with an Ionic stone colonnade and a mansard roof, once held a station hotel and later railway offices.
• Laiwu Campaign Command Post Site 莱芜战役指挥所旧址 National heritage site · on the map
  A restored village courtyard in Shiwanzi, Gangcheng District, where Chen Yi, commanding the East China Field Army, had his command post during the Laiwu Campaign of February 1947.
• Laozhuang Great Buddha 老庄大佛 National heritage site · on the map
  A large seated Buddha carved into the rock at the south foot of Qingtong Mountain, more than 9 m high and dated to the late Sui or early Tang, regarded as the largest rock-cut Buddha in Shandong.
• Lianhua Cave Grotto, Changqing 莲花洞石窟 National heritage site · on the map
  A small rock-cut Buddhist cave in the hills of Wufeng, near Shiwo village, dated by provincial records to the Northern Qi and Sui periods.
• Luokou Yellow River Railway Bridge 泺口黄河铁路大桥 National heritage site
  A steel truss railway bridge across the Yellow River at Luokou, built in 1909–12 by the German firm MAN for the Tianjin-Pukou line, with the largest spans of any railway bridge in China at the time.
• May 3rd Incident Site, Jinan 五三惨案遗址 National heritage site
  The former office of the Nationalist government's special commissioner in Shandong, on Jingsi Road in Jinan's old Commercial Port district.
• Qi Great Wall at Jinyang Pass 齐长城锦阳关段 National heritage site
  A mountain pass on the Laiwu–Zhangqiu border where the Qi Great Wall, the oldest surviving wall of its kind in China, runs along the ridge of Jinping Mountain.
• Sacred Heart Cathedral, Jinan 洪家楼天主教堂 National heritage site
  The cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Jinan, built in 1901–05 with Boxer indemnity money and extended in 1906, in twin-towered Gothic Revival style on a Latin-cross plan.
• Shandong Ancient Architecture Museum 山东古建筑博物馆 National heritage site · on the map
  This is the Jinan mother institute of the Red Swastika Society, a Republic-era charitable body that began in Jinan.
• Thousand-Buddha Cliff 千佛崖 National heritage site
  A cliff face of Buddhist rock carvings beside the ruins of Shentong Temple in the hills near Liubu, with more than 200 carved figures and dozens of inscriptions.
• Wei'er Road Historic Buildings, Jinan 纬二路近现代建筑群 National heritage site · on the map
  A group of nine buildings dated 1901–32 along Wei'er Road and neighbouring streets in Jinan's old commercial district, among them the former Deutsch-Asiatische Bank of 1901, the Shandong postal administration building of 1919, a Bank of Communications branch, the former German consulate and clinic, and the Xiaoguanghan cinema.
• Xiaotang Mountain Han Shrine 孝堂山郭氏墓石祠 National heritage site
  A small stone offering shrine from the early Eastern Han dynasty, standing on Xiaotang Mountain near the Yellow River.
• Yongji Bridge, Pingyin 永济桥 National heritage site · on the map
  A single-arch bluestone bridge over the Langxi River at Dong'e, built in the Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty to replace earlier bridges on the site, the first of which dated from 1500.

Getting to Jinan

Train, flight and driving times from the cities most visitors come from, with stations, fares and how many run a day; each opens the full comparison.

• Qingdao 青岛 high-speed train 1 h 22 min, 80 a day, from ¥154

All routes

On the map

Open Jinan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)