Historic places in Nanjing

14 historic buildings, sites and memorials in Nanjing.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

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Chaotiangong
朝天宫
For antique lovers, this place is a small market hosted next to the Confucius Palace. You can find all sorts of small and big objects there, some are real antiques, others are fake. If you want to buy something, be prepared to negotiate the price! This place is fun to stroll around seeing both things to sell and sellers as the environment is quite charming.
Daily 11:00-17:00
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Great Bao'en Temple Ruins Park
大报恩寺遗址公园, 大报恩寺遗址景区
Once one of Nanjing's greatest Buddhist temples, the Great Bao'en Temple was destroyed by the Taiping rebels when they occupied the city in the mid-19th century. There is now a museum at the site. The Porcelain Tower, which is said to have been one of the seven wonders of the medieval world, has been reconstructed and affords great views over the city.
Closed · opens 9 am¥120 (discounted to ¥80 if you buy the ticket on the website)
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Jiangsu Province Kunqu Theatre
江苏省昆剧院
This highly-regarded theater company in Nanjing will give you a chance to see Kunqu Opera, a traditional Chinese art form, firsthand. Expect the dialogue to be sung in ancient Chinese, but LED subtitling in English and contemporary Chinese characters is provided.
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Meiling Palace
美龄宫
A stately mansion named after Chiang Kai-Shek's wife Song Mei-ling. This was one of Chiang Kai-Shek's official residences in the 1930s and 1940s. The building has been fully restored and is open to the public. There is a book store and cafe on the second floor. The basement level displays paintings made by Soong Mei-Ling.
07:30-18:00, no tickets sold after 17:30¥30
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Nanjing Geological Museum
南京地质博物馆
The Nanjing Museum of Geology is a comprehensive science museum dedicated to Earth history, minerals, fossils, and geological evolution. Featuring extensive collections of ancient fossils, mineral specimens, and interactive exhibits, the museum offers visitors an engaging way to explore the formation of the Earth and the development of life. It serves as an important educational and research center in Nanjing.
09:30-16:30 (Wed to Fri), 09:00-16:30 (Sat and Sun), closed on Mondays and TuesdaysFree
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Presidential Palace
总统府
Spend half a day exploring the headquarters of past emperors and the Nationalist government. The Palace includes the former offices of many top governmental officials, including Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen, as well as the former residence of Sun Yat-sen. It is one of the few places in mainland China where the flag of the Republic of China still flies. Informational placards around the palace are partly in English. You will need to show your passport to buy a ticket.
08:00-18:00 in summer, 08:00-17:00 in winter. Closed on Mondays¥40
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Qixia Temple
栖霞寺
A one-time retreat for Emperor QianLong, the temple at the foot of maple forested hillside now draws hoards of less exulted visitors to clamber along the network of trails connecting fancifully named pavilions, ponds, tombs and natural stone features. The temple itself is not extensive, having only a pair of identical looking bell and drum towers in front of an austerely large hall, embedded with elegant lacquer-red window frames, containing a relatively contemporary, yet gracefully benevolent looking gigantic Buddha seated on a golden lotus. At the rear of the hall is a pair of intricately carved cabinets of a more impressively authentic vintage housing stone Buddha and Guanyin statues. The temple allegedly has an ancient bone relic purported to be from the historical Buddha, though it is kept well hidden. Further up the hill is a cluster of stone formations bifurcated by a steep canyon, believed to have been split in antiquity by mystical forces, that enables accent up a stair way to a pavilion and a high view over the valley. Higher up the hill are the crumbling remnants of group of buildings used by Qianlong’s army. The best time to visit is during autumn when the maple trees are radiating orange or Spring when the peach blossoms are loaded with pink and white flowers.
Closed · opens 7 am¥40
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Royal Tangshan Hotel - Hot Spring & Spa
汤山御庭臻品酒店
Tangshan is a historical natural hot springs area in Nanjing and known as one of the popular places to enjoy great vistas of the mountain and it is surrounded by tranquil forests and lake. Royal Tangshan Hotel offers private hot springs room coupled with spa treatments to follow. With easy access from Huning Highway that provides accessible public or private transportation, Tangshan is the perfect place to enjoy the relaxing pleasures offered by the natural hot springs.
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Ruins of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Palace
明故宫遗址
The palace was built by the first Ming Emperor in 1366 and stretched 2.5 km in length. It was completely destroyed in the Qing Dynasty and what remains barely hints at its size. In the tree shaded southern half are the small section of wall holding the huge arches of the Meridian Gate, five stone 'Outer Dragon' bridges and an array of megaliths, some baring fragments of carvings. The site was effectively a prototype of Beijing's Forbidden City as the layout was copied by the Emperors grandson when he moved the capital northwards in 1421.
Free
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Taiping Kingdom History Museum
太平天国历史博物馆
A small museum focusing on the Taiping Rebellion (1843-1868), a piece of history not well known in the West. This was one of the bloodiest conflicts in recorded history — some estimates put the death toll higher than for World War I, and it was certainly much worse than the American Civil War at about the same time, even though the Chinese used more primitive weapons. It was a crucial moment in China's relationship with the West, modernity, and its relationship to its own imperial history. It was partly a religious movement (see Christianity); the leader claimed to be God's second son, Jesus' younger brother. The quasi-Christian, peasant-led rebellion overran an area greater than Texas with Nanjing as its capital. At different times it threatened both the foreign settlements in Shanghai and the Qing government in Beijing, though it did not take either. On exhibit are documents relating to Taiping history and the grinding reduction of their movement by enterprising Qing generals and their European auxiliaries, culminating in the siege of Nanjing. Most documents and artifacts are replicas. Item descriptions are in Chinese and English, but only the Chinese text gives historical context and transcription of some of the handwritten documents. Next door are the beautiful Zhanyuan Gardens.
Daily 08:00-17:30, 17:30-20:30¥30 (day time), ¥70 (night time, with tour guide). Fees are waived for children and persons over 70. Visitors aged between 60 and 69 pay half price
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The Gate of China (Zhonghuamen)
中华门
The southern gate of Nanjing's city wall; this massive gate is one of the best preserved parts of Nanjing's city wall, and one of the best remaining examples of early Ming defensive architecture extant anywhere. The wooden castle at top was destroyed by fire, but the immense masonry (each complete with the mason's name and home province by order of the emperor) substructure remains. Two courtyards contain an archery range and vegetable gardens. The main gate has three immense depots within where, long emptied of provisions, you can find some scale models and exhibits about the gate. In one depot you can find an air raid siren used during the Japanese attack on the city.
¥50 to enter
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Drum Tower of Nanjing
南京鼓楼
One of the city's major historical landmarks, the drum tower was first built during the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt during the Qing Dynasty. It is now the centerpiece of a small park in the center of a traffic roundabout called Drum Tower Park. Visitors are reminded repeatedly not to hit the drums.
08:00-17:00, no entry after 16:45Free
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The area around the Confucius Temple
in the south of the city has a lot of shopping, especially clothing and tourist items. It is a maze of tiny individual shops, and fun to explore even if you are not buying. If you are interesting in buying, bargaining over prices is the name of the game here. If you are skilled in the art of bargaining you can easily get an asking price of ¥380 reduced to ¥80 without breaking a sweat. The streets outside the temple area provide more shopping opportunities, as does the underground mall. The entrance to this mall is sandwiched between two shops but the neon lights provide a clue. This is a Nanjing shopping experience you will want to return to again and again. Opposite Confucius Temple there's Aqua City Shopping Centre with retailers like H&M, Uniqlo, Zara, Mango and so on. While you are there, take a stroll through the temple, and over the historic bridge which offers great photo opportunities. If it's a cup of tea that interests you check out the little gold-roofed floating tea houses on the canal.
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Nanjing Municipal Museum
南京市博物馆
No. 4 Chaotian Palace, Wangfu Street, Qinhuai District (秦淮区王府大街朝天宫4号)
09:00-18:00, no entry after 17:00, closed on MondaysThe entry fee for the museum is included with the ticket for Chaotian Palace, which costs ¥25

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Nanjing (CC BY-SA 4.0).