One Week - Jiangxi
One Week Itinerary in Jiangxi Province for Overland Travellers
A touristically underrated wondrous province that is located in the centre of China north to Guangdong Province.
Day 1 - Drive to Jiujang, Jiangxi Province from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province
Jiangxi Province is famous for it’s spicy food; literally everything includes red chillies
The first day is a long 6-7 hours drive from Shenzhen, the high tech capital of China.
Arrival to Poyang Lake Wetland
Accommodation in Jiujang, Jiangxi Province
Day 2 - Explore Poyang Lake - Jiujang
Poyang Lake is the second largest fresh water lake in China, and it’s famous for it’s bird migration.
The lake is a massive dam, supplying fresh water for Jiangxi Province.
The size of the Poyang Lake fluctuates every year and unfortunately it suffers from the change in climate.
It has been recorded to cover 4,500 square kilometres (1,737 square miles) at its largest, according to Jiangxi Poyang National Nature Reserve Authority, but it shrank to the size of about 1,500 square kilometres after the drop in rainfall in 2016.
The lake, however is known for its abundance in freshwater fish and shrimps and supplied water resources for nearby rice fields
Late afternoon drive to Lushan Mountain via the scenic road No S213, accommodation in Lushan Mountain
Day 3 - 4 - Explore Lushan Mountain
Spend 3 nights and two days in Lushan Mountain - China’s one of the most spiritual places (and yet least touristy)
You have a few choices to stay - at the foot of the mountain (at Jiujiang), or on the mountain itself (at Gulin town). I preferred staying up in the mountain, but it’s truly your choice. The trip from Jiujiang is about an hour or so.
Climb the SanLaoFen, walk along the treks and spend at least two days up in this beautiful place.
Prepare for quite a lot of walking and hiking!
Day 5 - Poyang Lake - East Side
In the afternoon of day 4, say goodbye to usher mountain and lets head back to Poyang Lake towards Yingtan on road S36 from Nanchang.
This famous road get flooded in very rainy weather, and this area is the base place for the migrating birds.
Dinner in Xanlixiang Area
Accommodation back in Nanchang
Highway S36 on Lake Poyang
Night City Lights in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province
Day 6 - Ganzhou
Pontoon Bridge at night with the local fishermen in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province
Drive to Ganzhou (road No G45) from Nanchang early in the morning. The drive takes about 3 hours.
There is not really a lot to see in Ganzhou but it has got an old city wall with a pavilion with a rather good condition, and one of Jiangxi’s pontoon bridges can also be found here.
Eat, eat, eat plenty of Jiangxi food!
Day 7 - Drive Back to Shenzhen
Xichangwei Village rooftops , Guanxi Villages
The drive takes about 4-5 hours from Ganzhou to drive back to Shenzhen, but you can stop at one of the ancient villages in Southern Jiangxi’s Guanxi Villages area for an hour or so to explore the unusual houses left from the early Qing dynasty.
Rice Fields at the border of Jiangxi and Guangdong
About me
Hello, my name is Katalin and I have been traveling in China (on and off) for three years now. I mainly focus on border provinces as I am more fascinated by exploring the life of minorities. I can’t stand travel agencies - totally disagree with their principle of keeping the “secret of how to travel” to themselves.
My favourite way of traveling is by public transport, I do it usually with minimal planning and just let the locals “drive” me to the spots.
This site is my experience of how to travel with no agency, by yourself taking local transport to these majestic places in China.
If I am not exploring you can find me hiking somewhere in the mountains / bushes or taking photos. Oops, wait a second that’s exploring too!