Guangde

Home to Taiji Cave, the "First Cave of Jiangnan", plus the Jishan and Luhu bamboo forests, where Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang meet — a great weekend road trip and family destination for the Yangtze River Delta.

Guangde is a county-level city under Xuancheng, Anhui, located where Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang meet. It borders Yixing and Liyang (Jiangsu) to the east and Anji and Changxing (Zhejiang) to the south. Set among the hills of the Tianmu Mountains' outlying ridges and widely covered in bamboo, it is a bamboo county within the Yangtze River Delta's "green heart". There are three areas to explore. In Xinhang Town in the northeast, Taiji Cave, billed as the "First Cave of Jiangnan", lets you take a boat along an underground river, with a constant temperature of about 18°C inside. The city has the Northern Song Tianshou Temple Pagoda, the Ming-dynasty Drum and Horn Tower and Hengshan National Forest Park on the west side of town, good for a half-day stroll. In the south is the "Bamboo Country Gallery" driving route, linking the Jishan bamboo forest, the Luhu bamboo forest and the Lingshan Grand Canyon, with bamboo-forest hiking, cycling around the lake and summer rafting, plus plenty of bamboo-forest guesthouses and farmstays along the way. Best seasons: spring bamboo shoots and fresh bamboo in April–May, caves and canyon rafting to beat the heat in June–September, and autumn scenery at Luhu in October–November; the cave is still open in winter. Getting there: Guangde South on the Shangqiu–Hefei–Hangzhou high-speed railway is about 40 minutes from Hangzhou and about 1.5 hours from Hefei; driving from Shanghai or Nanjing takes about 2.5 hours. Sights are spread out, so driving is recommended. Suggested 2 days: one for Taiji Cave plus the city, one for the Bamboo Country Gallery (Jishan, Luhu and the Lingshan Grand Canyon). Local specialties include bamboo-shoot banquets, Guangde tied braised pork and lake fish.

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