A guide to help you explore Nanjing Zhongshan Scenic Area

Sixty percent of the videos about Nanjing online are filmed in the Zhongshan Scenic Area.
Here you’ll find the magnificent Wutong Avenue,
a real-life Monet garden,
plum deer in the Changsheng Deer Park,
and peace doves flying around the Music Stage.
This place is Zhongshan, the root of Nanjing. Once you’ve explored it, you’ll truly understand the essence of Nanjing.
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🗺 My route:
Wutong Avenue (Huanling Road) — Yanque Lake — Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (enter through Gate 3) — Meiling Palace — Music Stage — Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
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🚏 Main attractions:
❶ Wutong Avenue (Huanling Road)
Wutong Avenue comes with its own BGM, lined with dozens of meters tall wutong trees. This avenue embodies many people’s dreams of Nanjing, with scenery that rivals foreign countries.

❷ Yanque Lake
Located at the exit of Gate 3 of Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, in spring and summer it’s a real-life Monet garden; in autumn and winter, it transforms into Nanjing’s version of Kanas Lake, with blooming water lilies and swans swimming by—just like Monet’s paintings.

❸ Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum
Enter through Gate 3 next to Yanque Lake. The recommended tour order is:
1. Changsheng Deer Park
It costs 30 yuan to feed the deer here. The deer are very friendly but also quite lazy; once full, they might ignore you.
2. Ming Xiaoling Palace
The mausoleum of Zhu Yuanzhang, featuring red walls and yellow tiles, dappled light and shadow, and weathered stone statues—an authentic glimpse of the Ming Dynasty’s grandeur.
3. Stone Elephant Road
Shaded by greenery, solemn statues stand on both sides, creating a poetic and photogenic scene.

❹ Meiling Palace
Once the Far East’s most luxurious villa, it’s extremely opulent. Stepping inside feels like traveling back to that decadent yet turbulent era.

❺ Music Stage
The doves flying around the Music Stage are a must-see sight in Nanjing. If you can’t catch the doves in flight, feeding them for five yuan under the shade is also a great experience.

❻ Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum
Right next to the Music Stage, just a 5-minute walk. Although it’s often crowded, it’s worth visiting at least once to pay respects to Mr. Sun. The 392 steps each carry a different meaning.
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🏨 About accommodation:
I recommend staying at the International Conference Hotel inside the Zhongshan Scenic Area. Not only is its location superb—just a wall away from Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and a few hundred meters’ walk to Wutong Avenue and Meiling Palace—but most importantly, it’s my favorite state-owned hotel. Friends who know me understand that these hotels manage their own properties, have better decor, excellent locations, meticulous service, and great value for money. This hotel ticks all those boxes.
On weekdays, rooms cost only a few hundred yuan, and the public areas resemble a garden—truly a hidden gem.
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‼️ Tips:
1. Remember to buy the shuttle bus ticket in advance and wait at the station to save a lot of walking.
2. This itinerary is quite leg-intensive, so be prepared mentally.