Guizhou Tongren Travel Guide

Tongren, a prefecture level city of Guizhou Province, is located in the hinterland of Wuling Mountains in the northeast of Guizhou Province. It borders Huaihua City of Hunan Province in the east and Chongqing in the north. It is located in the transition slope zone of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to Xiangxi Hills, high in the northwest and low in the southeast. It is mainly mountainous and belongs to the subtropical monsoon humid climate zone in most areas. The highest elevation of the city is 2,572 meters and the lowest is 205 meters, karst landform development typical.  

It covers a total area of 18,003 square kilometers and has jurisdiction over 2 municipal districts, 4 counties and 4 autonomous counties. Tongren has a history for more than 2,000 years and has always been a multi-ethnic area with more than 41 ethnic groups.

● What to do & where to go in Tongren

Sinan Stone Forest Scenic Spot is located in Changba Miao and Tujia Township, Sinan County. The Stone Forest stretches over three hills with an exposed area of 4.9 square kilometers, showing the geological characteristics of the development of stone sprouts from childhood to youth and old age. It was rated as a national 4A(second level) tourist spot in 2014.

Located in Tongren City, Guizhou Province, Fanjing Mountain is the main peak of the Wuling Mountains, with a heritage area of 402.75 square kilometers and a buffer area of 372.39 square kilometers. The ancient mountain has a history of 1 to 1.4 billion years, which is the oldest platform to the south of the Yellow River. Fanjing Mountain is home to the most important natural ecological habitat with remarkable diversity of organisms, preserving the world's rare subtropical original ecosystem and rich in wildlife resources. It was designated as a national nature reserve in 1978. In 2018, it was listed as a World Natural Heritage site and a national 5A(top level) tourist attraction.

Shiqian Hot Spring Group is located in the southern part of Shiqian County, the western foot of Songming Mountain and the right bank of Longchuan River in Tongren. The hot spring group is composed of Kaixia River scenic spot, Loushang ancient village scenic spot, Shiqian hot spring and ancient architectural landscape group and Yuanyang Lake independent scenic spot. Represented by unique hot mineral springs and ancient buildings, it is a scenic spot for sightseeing, health care, leisure and scientific and cultural activities. It is a national scenic spot and the only scenic spot named after hot spring in China.

Ming Dynasty Border Town Scenic Spot is a national 4A(second level) scenic spot and one of the first cultural industry demonstration bases in Guizhou Province. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Tongren City and unfolds along the right bank of Jinjiang River in the Crystal Pavilion. The core scenic area is divided into eight cultural experience areas, including Frontier City Plaza performing art area, Frontier City market culture area, Frontier City military experience area, Frontier City dragon boat camp, Ming Dynasty Water Village Jinjiang fishing culture area, Daming winery, water park area and children's social experience hall.

● What to eat in Tongren

Tarragon cake, Panzi noodles, Songtao duck, rice with sweet wormwood, glutinous rice, wild onion and cured pork, Siming mutton noodles, Jiangkou dried bean curd, buckwheat wine, chicken steamed with glutinous rice and tea oil, Tongren braised pork, Dejiang braised duck, Miao nationality family Bang Bang pork

● Transportation

Railway: Hunan-Guizhou Railway, Chongqing-Huaihua Railway, Shanghai-Kunming High-speed Railway 

Highway: By 2015, every county has access to expressways.

Airport: Tongren Fenghuang Airport has flights from/to cities of Guiyang, Changsha, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guilin.

● Weather

Tongren has complex terrain and obvious three-dimensional distribution of climate, most of which belong to sub-tropical monsoon humid climate zone. Temperature is changeful and more continuous rain in Spring. Hot in summer, light is sufficient, drought is heavy. Cool fast in autumn, more rainy days. Low temperature in winter, sparse rai and short frost. The annual average temperature is 15-17℃, with four distinct seasons.