岳阳市

Why this place

Yueyang is where Yueyang Tower stands over the edge of Dongting Lake, and the essay written about it by Fan Zhongyan — 'Yueyang Lou Ji' — is one of the most memorised texts in Chinese. The lake is enormous, and the tower's view over it is the whole point.

What to see

• Yueyang Tower, a Ming–Qing reconstruction in the same position, with the lake in front of it
• Dongting Lake and the Junshan island in its middle
• The Qu Yuan temples of the Miluo River, north of the city — where the poet drowned
• Bian He's tomb and the old city wall along the lake

What to eat

• Dongting Lake fish, silver fish and shrimp — the local cuisine is all lake
• Junshan silver needle tea, from the island in the lake

Best time

April–June and September–November