Travel to Nanning: 3 Days Itinerary

Introduction

When we were first planning this trip, we just added Nanning as a stop on the way to Vietnam as it was an easy place to cross the border from. There was so little written about this city besides the best transport options to travel to Hanoi, essentially no tourism at all! But we found this city to be surprisingly welcoming and great to spend a few days in. 

Best time to visit Nanning

Nanning’s weather is mild all year round, with lower temperatures in January-December and higher in July-August. However, if you want to avoid the rain it’s best to visit between March and November.

How to get in and around Nanning

Nanning Rail Transit Line (Metro)

The system may differ slightly from other metros you may be used to, in Nanning you must first pass through a metal detector and may or may not be checked by the official in charge. Then you must purchase your token in one of the ticket booths or machines. You scan the token to get in and upon exiting you will put it inside the slot. 

The metro in Nanning is extremely punctual and the trains pass regularly. Everything inside is signalled in Mandarin and English so it’s super easy to navigate. Nanning is a city in fast development and although there are only a few metro lines at the moment, more were being built at the time of our visit.

Check out Nanning’s NNRT map here.

Bus

Buses in Naning are quite reliable, you can purchase a bus map for around 5 CNY and the stops within the buses are both in Mandarin and English, also, bus drivers are super helpful and always willing to let you know when your stop is coming up if the bus is not too busy. Travelling around the city by bus is also super cheap, around 1-3 CNY (less than £0.5) depending on the route.

You can also find long-distance buses, these are the ones you might want to use for that crossing to Vietnam (Hanoi), we did not do this route by bus so we cannot comment on it, but they depart from Jiangnan bus station to go to Guilin and Yangshuo and from Langdong for Vietnam (although the Jiangnan bus can also leave you at the border). To check rough timetables we used this website.

Train

Trains are the most comfortable way to travel from Nanning, in our experience in China, trains are super clean and feel extremely safe. However, if you are the only tourist on a train you might get checked by the police like we did.

There are a few railway stations in Nanning, but Nanning Railway Station will be the one you will be lively using to travel to the usual destinations such as Hong Kong, Beijing, Guilin and Hanoi (Vietnam). All announcements are made in English and Mandarin and the staff speaks some English so they can guide you if you get lost. 

What to do in Nanning?

Enjoy nature in Nanning’s parks

One of our favourite activities, when we were in Nanning, was to relax and picnic at the parks, there are a few choices in town but these were our favourites: 

People’s Park

Price: Free

Located in the centre of the city, People’s Park is a vibrant yet tranquil space. When we visited we could see families playing with their children, elderly exercising, young couples enjoying picnics, etc. The park consists of two lakes, one of them with a huge island you can walk to, populated with tropical plants and huge green spaces with grass and benches. There were some monuments and landmarks but we never got to find out what they were commemorating. We did however find out that there was a bunker underneath the park to protect the population in case of a disaster such as typhoons, storms, etc. 

How to get to People’s Park:

Walk North-East from Nanning Railway Station, following the main, huge dual carriageway road until you find it! Otherwise, from Xinminlu metro station, walk East directly next to the station. You will find a road going North, take that road and follow it straight up.

Nanning’s Botanical Garden 

If you fancy an afternoon of learning you can visit Nanning’s Botanical Garden, also called Guangxi Medicinal Botanical Garden. We found the information next to the plants extremely insightful and it’s a good place to spend a few hours whilst enjoying nature. There are also some shops around the park.

Price: Free

How to get to Nanning’s Botanical Garden:

Apparently it is very easy to get there by bus and there are lots of combinations every 20 min but we just walked. We did get lost, but isn’t that part of the fun? For information on bus lines visit here.

Qingxiu Mountain Scenic Area

Price: 20 RMB per person (Around £2.3)

This park will take you a couple of days if you have them to visit it all, we decided to visit Qingxiushan (Qingxiu mountain) in one day and by walk which means we missed a lot. There is an entrance fee of 20 CNY per person and it is so worth it!, the place is huge (and literally, we thought it was big but it was even bigger than we expected!)

During our visit, we started walking towards the friendship corridor, which is basically a corridor featuring all the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) flags and some infographics with photos and traditions of every one of them. We then followed the maps around the park to find the most interesting reachable spots by walk, you can actually hire a bike or even get on a shuttle. We managed to visit the Guangxi rare tree exhibit, the peach blossom area, Longxiang pagoda, and a Buddhist temple where Ainhoa bought a blessed bracelet she still wears over one year later. We absolutely LOVED Qingxiu Mountain! Such a great day out in nature but also exploring interesting zones and plants.

How to get to Qingxiu Mountain Scenic Area:

From the centre, get to the metro’s purple line and get out at Mt Qingxiu. We got on at Dongge Road so it was only a few stops.

Nanhu Park

This park mainly consists of a big lake surrounded by a path and greenery, there is also a very pretty bridge that lights up at night so it is worth staying around for sunset. There are also lots of water lilies and some traditional features so it is actually a very pleasant green spot to walk around.

How to get to Nanhu Park: It is pretty much in the centre, but there is a metro stop right next to the park “Nanhu”.

Other spots of interest

Jinhu Square

Jinhu Square, the financial district of Nanning mainly comprises lots of banks and tall buildings. There was also an elephant statue called “Five Elephant Fountain” of which we don’t really know the meaning of, but it was quite an impressive place to visit and there are lovely cafés around the area, we particulate enjoyed “The Light Café” somewhere between Jinhu and Nanhu, the atmosphere was very chill and it felt super welcoming.  

Museum of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

We didn’t actually visit this museum, but we did regret it as there is meant to be a lot of information about the different ethnic groups in the region as well as the history of Guangxi, it is located near the Xinmin Lu metro stop.

Guangxi Museum of Science and Technology

We did visit this one, we got in for free after they checked our passports but, besides a few cool experiments, we didn’t really enjoy it that much. It is, however, a cool day out if you are travelling with children. In fact, we met a couple from the USA who was visiting family and took the children there for some science entertainment. This museum is also located near the Xinmin Lu metro stop.

Zhongshan Snack Street

Although this spot should probably be in the food section, it is definitely a must-see. It’s basically a food market where you can try the most unusual things (so much so, you might not even know what it is you are eating). We tried some Chinese churro-looking things and they were really delicious.

Shopping

We thought shopping deserved its own section for Nanning, there are lots of different shopping areas, we highlight Chaoyang Square. There are lots of malls and shopping streets, some of them very traditional and right next to those, super modern ones. We felt it was quite an interesting experience and we really enjoyed browsing around. Another highlight that might seem controversial was visiting Walmart in Nanning. Such a paradox, one of the icons of American capitalism in a communist country. However, although we did find some import products (interestingly, lots of Spanish imports), it mainly sold national produce.

Get out of Nanning (Best day trips)

Detian Waterfall

Detian waterfall, also called, Ban Gioc waterfall in Vietnam is the largest transnational waterfall in Asia. It is comprised of multiple different waterfalls you can actually walk to, from the Chinese side you can clearly see Detian and Ban Gioc. There are multiple options to do this day trip, we got our inspiration from this website.

Huashan Scenic Area

The main appeal of visiting Huashan is actually to see the rock paintings on the mountain. These murals were declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016. One of the most impressive things about these paintings is that they are located on a very steep cliff over the Ming River which seems like quite an unusual location. The paintings are thought to originate from the Luoyue Tribe, which are ancestors of the Zhuang around 2,000 years ago. There is an entrance fee of 80 CNY per person. In order to get there, you need to get a bus from Nanning Langdong Bus Station to Ningming or you can get a train from Nanning train station to Ningming. Once in Ningming, you will need to get a boat to the Huashan Scenic Area. We found all our information here.

Overview

If we could recommend Nanning, we wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a must-see city, we have always described Nanning as a city we would live in, it has plenty of green spaces, great food, convenient links, but it’s not a city that would grant a visit alone. Saying this, there are lots of incredible spots you can visit from Nanning such as the Detian waterfalls or Huashan. If you are planning to cross to Vietnam by land or you are stopping by for any other reasons, you should definitely give Nanning a visit!