Shaoxing 4000-Year-Old Ancient Town Family Trip! Few People, Beautiful Scenery, Super Healing
🔶: Shaoxing Dayu Kaiyuan Guantang
📍: No. 1990, South Second Ring Road, Yuecheng District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province
Shaoxing’s cultural tourism is so “low-key,” hiding such a beautiful and less crowded Jiangnan ancient town with a history of more than 4,000 years. It’s truly a perfect secret spot for family trips! I originally thought it was just a hotel near the Dayu Mausoleum scenic area, but after stepping in, I found that this place itself is an ancient town full of classical charm. Bringing kids here lets you feel the weight of history, enjoy the graceful scenery of Jiangnan, and have an amazing experience!
🔶: About Transportation
🚄 Navigate to “Shaoxing Dayu Kaiyuan Guantang.” High-speed trains can directly reach “Shaoxing North Station/Shaoxing Station.” After exiting the station, take the city tourist bus 🚌 to the Dayu Scenic Area. The transportation is convenient, making traveling with kids easy and worry-free!
🚗 Driving from Hangzhou takes about 1 hour. You can enjoy the countryside scenery along the way, perfect for a family road trip with flexible itinerary arrangements.
📷: About Family Photography
1⃣️ Ancient Opera Stage: The authentically preserved ancient opera stage features traditional Chinese architectural beauty. Occasionally, there are Yue opera and traditional folk music performances. Let your kids experience the charm of traditional culture and take family photos in front of the stage to capture beautiful moments.
2⃣️ Yongjia Bridge: Standing on the bridge, you can see the ancient opera stage, distant black-awning boats, and Yuwang Bridge all in one view. The mountains, water, ancient buildings, and family figures complement each other, making photos full of Jiangnan charm.
3⃣️ From Meiliang Bridge to Miaoxia Bridge: This section of the ancient street is shaded by dense trees, with dappled shadows and clear reflections on the water. Strolling here with your kids lets you feel the tranquility of the Jiangnan ancient town, and every snapshot is a healing family masterpiece.
4⃣️ Heisei Street: The main street of the ancient town, featuring tie-dye workshops, Yuyi Hall, Huangjiu (yellow wine) taverns, and Yuezhou Academy, among other special experience centers. Bring your kids to try tie-dye crafts and learn about yellow wine culture. Use the door frame at “Wangling Bridge” to compose creative family photos of the ancient town street scene.
5⃣️ Deyue Pavilion: An ancient pavilion embraced by lush green trees 🌲, with a quiet and elegant environment. Take a break here with your kids, enjoy the surrounding scenery, and capture warm family photos full of atmosphere.
🏠 About Family Accommodation
The hotel is located at the foot of Kuaiji Mountain, adjacent to the Dayu Mausoleum scenic area. It is itself a complete ancient town, with all buildings preserving the original style of the ancient village. Built by the water, with white walls and black tiles, it is full of the unique charm of Jiangnan water towns. The rooms perfectly combine traditional Chinese elements with modern comfortable facilities. Each window offers a view, wooden furniture is elegant, and some rooms even have private outdoor courtyards 🏡 where children can play freely.
The hotel offers rich and complete facilities, including a campsite ⛺️, specialty café, exclusive children’s playground, gym, swimming pool, and more, meeting the diverse needs of family travelers. For dining, there are multiple Chinese and specialty restaurants to choose from, allowing the whole family to taste authentic Shaoxing cuisine.
Transportation from the ancient town to the Dayu Scenic Area is convenient, just a 15-minute walk. You can also take a black-awning boat ⛵️ from the ancient town pier to the 957-step platform of the Dayu Mausoleum (90 RMB/boat, seats three), letting kids enjoy the rocking fun of the boat and experience the unique charm of the water town.
⚠️ Tips: When checking in, the hotel provides a detailed ancient town map 🗺️, which you can use to plan family travel routes and photo spots, making your trip smoother!
The Mausoleum of Yu the Great is a cultural sanctuary at the foot of Mount Kuaiji, imbued with a solemn and dignified atmosphere. Entering the scenic area and passing through the sacred path, one can see the towering bronze statue of Yu the Great standing atop the mountain, creating a striking visual impact. The ancient sites of the Yu Temple and Mausoleum are well-preserved, with magnificent halls and towering ancient trees. The "Yu King Stele," in particular, evokes a profound sense of history. The tranquil environment of the scenic area is not only suitable for tracing one's roots and learning about Yu the Great's historical achievements in controlling the floods, but also a great place for hiking and sightseeing. Overall, this place boasts a rich cultural heritage and beautiful natural scenery, making it a historical site worth exploring in detail.
(1) Dayu Memorial Hall The entire memorial hall is full of high-tech. The first exhibition hall mainly introduces Dayu's family history and his great achievements in flood control. The multimedia presentation about the ancient flood is worth watching. The 3D naked-eye screen brings tourists the shock of the flood; the Daxia music and dance in the gauze curtain theater shows tourists the grand scene of the Tushan League. The second exhibition hall mainly tells the story of the founding ancestor, Yu's burial in Kuaiji, and Yu's footprints in the four seas. More than 1,000 real photos of Yu's footprints have been made into a new "Nine Provinces Yu's footprints map". The third exhibition hall introduces the story of worshiping and praising Dayu. (2) Dayu Mausoleum The ancient monuments with Dayu as the theme - Yu Mausoleum, Yu Temple and Yu Ancestral Hall, have a long corridor at the entrance, and at the end is the core "Dayu Mausoleum" stele pavilion of the scenic area. There is also a statue of Dayu on the top of the mountain behind the main hall, which can be seen from the bottom of the mountain and is very spectacular.
Shaoxing Kuaiji Mountain Scenic Area is really great! The ticket price is 50 yuan, which is very affordable. The scenic area includes many attractions such as Dayu Mausoleum, Bird Garden, Xianglu Peak, etc., which are very playable. Dayu Mausoleum can learn about the history of Dayu's flood control, Bird Garden is suitable for taking children to watch birds, and Xianglu Peak can overlook the panoramic view of Shaoxing. Overall, Kuaiji Mountain has both natural scenery and historical culture. It is a good place not to be missed!
Huiji Mountain Scenic Area includes three scenic areas: Dayu Mausoleum, Hundred Birds Garden and Xianglu Peak. The three scenic areas are not connected to each other and you need to buy tickets separately. It takes at least one day to visit all three scenic areas. Xianglu Peak is mainly for climbing and is also the highest point in Shaoxing city. Dayu Mausoleum is more of a cultural and historical landscape, and Hundred Birds Garden is home to many rare birds. You can decide whether to visit all of them or just one or two of them according to your preferences.
I came here during the May Day holiday. I came early in the morning so there were not many people. I asked the tour guide for understanding (it is recommended to change to wireless headphones, so that the experience will be better). I didn't expect to climb more than 900 steps to see Dayu. My calves were a little sore the next day because I lacked exercise. Overall, it is worth going. The ticket is not expensive. I took a black boat down the mountain to the entrance of the scenic spot.
The main attraction of Kuaiji Mountain Scenic Area is actually the Mausoleum of Yu the Great. There are also several small temples further up the mountain, which most tourists don't go to. However, the scenery at the top of the Mausoleum of Yu the Great is quite nice.
The third parent-child hike: Fuzhi Mountain ~ See the thousand-year-old terraces ~ Climb the glacier stone waves [strong] I didn’t expect that a row of small red maples could be so beautiful, which greatly enriched the color of the picture. At night, a bonfire meeting was held on the top of the mountain to bid farewell to the hard work and excitement of the day. Tomorrow will continue