Fuling
Introduction
Fuling is a district in central Chongqing, sitting on the Yangtze. It is best known to readers outside China through Peter Hessler's memoir River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, which recalls the two years he spent here as a U.S. Peace Corps teacher.
Before you go
Fuling is known for its Wu River brand zha cai, a pickled mustard tuber that is the city's signature product. The city also features in Peter Hessler's memoir River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, written during his time as a U.S. Peace Corps teacher here.
Getting there
Fuling is served by two railway stations. Fuling North Railway Station, on Taibai Avenue, handles high-speed trains and is reached by buses 101, 103, 118, 119, 504, 505 and 506; high-speed services from Chongqing North Railway Station take roughly 40 minutes. Fuling Railway Station, in Shaxigou Village in Longqiao Town, handles regular-speed trains and is served by buses 102 and 103; trains from Chongqing North Railway Station take about 1 hour and 10 minutes. By bus, many stations in central Chongqing run services to Fuling, and Hongqihegu Bus Station has the most frequent departures, with one bus leaving about every 40 minutes. On arrival, Fuling Gaoshanwan Transport Interchange sits at the intersection of Baiyang Road and Yingbin Avenue.Getting around
Fuling is large and hilly, so plan your day around clusters of activity rather than trying to cross the whole city on foot. Central commercial areas and riverside promenades are relatively walkable, and strolling along the river is one of the more pleasant ways to see the city, but distances between districts can be long. For cross-city trips, default to buses or taxis.
- By bus: Buses are the workhorse of local transport, with inexpensive fares and frequent service throughout the day. Route numbers and destinations are displayed in Chinese, so have your destination written in Chinese characters or ask locally before boarding.
- By taxi and ride-hailing: Taxis are readily available in urban areas and suit short trips or destinations public transport does not serve well. Ride-hailing services such as Didi Chuxing are also frequently used.
- By ferry: Passenger ferries operate between some riverside areas along the Yangtze, primarily serving local commuters. Services are limited and timetables are subject to change, so confirm locally and treat a ferry as a bonus rather than a dependable part of your itinerary.
- By bicycle: Cycling is possible in the flatter areas near the river and in newer districts, and shared bicycles are available in some parts of the city, though coverage is more limited than in central Chongqing. Given the terrain, cycling works best for short, local trips.
Where to stay
Fuling's accommodation is concentrated along the Yangtze riverfront, where you can base yourself within easy reach of the Baiheliang Underwater Museum. The Fuling Jinke Hotel sits on Binjiang Avenue, a stretch that keeps you close to the water and the museum, and it is served by a dense cluster of local bus routes, making it straightforward to move between the riverbank and the rest of the city.
- Fuling Jinke Hotel — a large, full-service hotel on Binjiang Avenue 2nd Section, beside the Yangtze and near the Baiheliang Underwater Museum; reached by bus nos. 113, 117, 119, 125, 204, 207, 302 and 306.
Food & drink
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In Fuling you can descend into the 816 Nuclear Military Plant, an immense underground complex at Baitao Town built from 1966 for nuclear weapons production and abandoned before completion. Because no radioactive material was ever processed there, it is safe to visit, and it is open to foreign travellers as well as Chinese ones. On the Yangtze, the Baiheliang Underwater Museum preserves a rock outcrop that recorded the river's water levels from the Tang Dynasty onward and now lies fully submerged following the Three Gorges Dam; the site is viewed through the museum. In the city itself, the Fuling Museum on Xinghua Middle Road is free to enter and closed on Mondays. For open air, head out to Wuling Township for the Wuling Mountain Great Rift Valley, where a visitor centre sits about a kilometre from the township bus station; long-distance buses run from Fuling Gaoshanwan Transport Interchange, and there is also a service from the Hongqihegu Bus Station in central Chongqing. The Wuling Mountain National Forest Park, along Country Highway 022 in Damu Township, stays open around the clock and is best reached by car. Expect the rift valley to be cold in the winter months and milder from spring through autumn.When to go
Fuling has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons. Winters are short, mild and comparatively dry, with the coolest and least rainy conditions of the year and only small swings between day and night temperatures. Spring marks the start of the wet season: rainfall becomes frequent from April onward, and temperatures climb from winter's mild levels toward summer heat.
- Winter: short, mild and comparatively dry — the coolest, least rainy time of year, with little difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures.
- Spring: the wet season begins, with frequent rain from April and warming temperatures.
- Summer: long, hot and humid, with plentiful rain and oppressive humidity.
- Autumn: still wet through October, then rainfall drops off in November as temperatures ease toward milder conditions.
Because most of the year's rain falls between April and October, that stretch is both the wettest and the hottest part of the year, while the drier window from November through March offers the mildest, most settled conditions.
Three days in Fuling
Day one: Start in Fuling itself, the river town on the Yangtze that Peter Hessler wrote about in River Town, his account of two years in the Peace Corps. Get your bearings along Binjiang Avenue, which follows the riverfront, then head to the Baiheliang Underwater Museum, where the submerged rock carvings of the Yangtze are the main draw. The Fuling Jinke Hotel is a handy landmark on this side of town if you need a fixed point to navigate back to.
Day two: Head out of the city toward the Wu River and the surrounding countryside. Shaxigou Village and Longqiao Town are the kind of places that show you the rural side of the Chongqing municipality, away from the urban grid. If you are moving on afterward, Fuling North Railway Station and Fuling Railway Station connect the town by rail, while Fuling Gaoshanwan Transport Interchange and Hongqihegu Bus Station handle road routes.
Day three: Use the local transport network to fill in the rest of the city. Taibai Avenue, Baiyang Road and Yingbin Avenue are the main arteries through the central districts, and buses, taxis, Didi Chuxing and passenger services make getting around straightforward. Cycling is another option if you want to cover ground at your own pace, though the terrain and traffic reward a bit of caution. From Fuling you can continue to Chongqing via Chongqing North Railway Station, or follow the Yangtze onward.