Dongting Lake Region

Yueyang, Changde and Yiyang, three cities around Dongting Lake, where Yueyang Tower, Junshan Island, Peach Blossom Land and Anhua dark tea form a tableau of Hunan culture.

The Dongting Lake region is one of Hunan's four major zones, covering the entire jurisdictions of three prefecture-level cities, Yueyang, Changde and Yiyang, surrounding Dongting Lake, China's second-largest freshwater lake. Yueyang is the core destination: Yueyang Tower, one of the three great towers south of the Yangtze, is world-famous thanks to Fan Zhongyan's "Record of Yueyang Tower"; Junshan Island in the lake is known for its Xiangfei bamboo and Junshan Silver Needle tea, and the scene where Dongting Lake meets the Yangtze is magnificent; in the east, Pingjiang County combines mountain scenery with red tourism, and scenic areas such as Shiniuzhai and Mufu Mountain offer hiking and canyons. The Peach Blossom Land scenic area in Changde is built on the spirit of Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring" and is loveliest when the peach trees bloom in spring; in the city, Liuye Lake and the Changde Poetry Wall are easy add-ons, and Huping Mountain in the northwest is the highest mountain in northern Hunan. Anhua in Yiyang is a famous home of dark tea, where you can visit tea factories, the Tea-Horse Road and Meishan culture, and the Taojiang area and the South Dongting Lake wetlands in Yuanjiang also have their own character. A classic route takes 4–5 days: 1–2 days in Yueyang, one day in Pingjiang, west to Peach Blossom Land in Changde for a day, then south to Anhua for a day. Getting around: the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed line has a Yueyang East station, Yueyang Sanhe Airport and Changde Taohuayuan Airport have domestic flights, the Changde–Yiyang–Changsha high-speed line links Changde, Yiyang and Changsha, and self-drive is more convenient in the mountains of Anhua and Pingjiang. Spring and autumn are best; in winter the wetlands are good for birdwatching, and in the summer flood season the lake changes a great deal, so watch the weather before taking a boat.

Destinations

Itineraries