Travel Guide | A Day Trip Strolling Through Qingzhou!

| A Day Trip Strolling Through Qingzhou!. Last Friday, I went to Qingzhou with my bestie for a day. Below, I will provide a guide on aspects such as route, transportation, attractions, and food. Around 20,000 steps, the walk was long but the route itself is not difficult, and it's also suitable for bringing along the elderly and children in the family! The cost per person is 150+ I. Route Planning D1: Qingzhou City Station → Qingzhou Ancient City (Ou Garden, Christian Church, Catholic Church) → Qingzhou Zhaode Ancient Street → Qingzhou Museum → Longxing Temple II. Transportation We took a green-skin train because it's close to Jinan and we didn't take the high-speed train, after all, it's about saving money haha Jinan-Qingzhou outbound ticket: April 19, 2024, 06:10 Daming Lake Station → April 19, 2024, 07:45 Qingzhou City Station (K411), duration 1 hour 35 minutes. Ticket price: 23.5 RMB For the return trip, we also focused on saving money, thinking of staying in Qingzhou a bit longer, we bought tickets for a later time. There were no direct trains left, so we bought a transfer ticket with a 50-minute layover in Zibo Qingzhou-Jinan return ticket: First leg: Qingzhou-Zibo April 19, 2024, 18:49 Qingzhou City Station → 19:07 Zibo Station (G1080), duration 18 minutes. Second leg: Zibo-Jinan April 19, 2024, 20:01 Zibo Station → 21:09 Jinan Station (K8280), duration 1 hour 08 minutes Ticket price: 27.5 RMB (first leg 11 RMB, second leg 16.5 RMB) III. Attractions Overview Qingzhou Ancient City: An ancient city with Ming and Qing architectural styles. We arrived early in the morning when there were not many people, which was perfect for taking photos. The churches allow for panoramic shots. Ou Garden requires a ticket of 20 RMB which can be bought online, and inside there are many flowers, suitable for a leisurely stroll in a small garden. Besides the main street, Qingzhou Ancient City also has many small alleys to explore, which are closer to the real life of the locals. If you come to the ancient city in the afternoon, you can dine here, but in the morning, it seems that the food stalls open late, so there's not much for buying food. Qingzhou Zhaode Ancient Street: This ancient street is a residential street, like a path in a small village. Opposite the entrance of Zhaode Ancient Street, there is a shop selling Qingzhou's specialty 'Longsheng Pastries'. Their honey treats are particularly famous. Qingzhou Museum: In 2008, it was rated as one of the first batch of 'National First-Class Museums', and is the only county-level comprehensive museum among the first 83 national first-class museums. Qingzhou Museum is the most worthwhile attraction in Qingzhou, in my opinion. The three treasures of the museum are a must-see, especially the Longxing Temple statues, which are truly beautiful. There is a place selling stamp collection cultural products in the museum, and I bought them at the 'Zhuangyuan School' on the first floor. This is where you can get all the stamps at once, and there are also vending machines at the entrance of the museum selling stamp collection books, which seem to require you to find and stamp them yourself. Longxing Temple: This Longxing Temple is not the one where the unearthed statues were found; the original site has been turned into Longxing Temple Ruins Park. This Longxing Temple has been rebuilt according to the scale and specifications of the ancient Longxing Temple as researched by experts. Although it looks good and is quite large, it takes about an hour to visit. IV. Food The internet recommends going to the museum's restaurant for food, and indeed the taste is good, but to be honest, considering the portion size, it's not very cheap, can I say that... V. Tips 1. On Alipay, go to 'Travel' → 'Bus' → find 'Qingzhou Kaicheng Electronic Bus Card' 2. Qingzhou's public transportation is not very convenient, and it requires a long wait. We only took the bus from the station to the ancient city and back to the station; for other trips, we called for rides, otherwise waiting for the bus would take too long and affect the schedule. 3. When entering attractions, it's good to look online for tickets, as there are generally discounts. That's the summary of the one-day trip to Qingzhou. Everyone can refer to it comprehensively and then make arrangements according to their own situation.