邢台市

Why this place

Xingtai sits between the Taihang Mountains and the North China Plain and has been a prefecture since the Tang dynasty. It is a working Chinese city rather than a tourist one, but the surrounding mountains hold some of the earliest Buddhist rock carvings in China.

What to see

• Tianningsi Pagoda, a Tang-dynasty brick pagoda in the old city
• The Taihang range west of the city — deep gorges and the Kangtai caves
• Qinghe, upriver, historically the centre of China's wool trade

What to eat

• Northern steamed buns and millet porridge
• Xingtai dates and walnuts from the mountain counties

Best time

April–May and September–October