Nanjing in 3 Days on a Budget (Daily Costs)

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A 3-Day Nanjing Itinerary on a Budget

Three days adds two things the 2-day plan can’t fit: a full Purple Mountain day and a solemn half-day at the Nanjing Massacre Memorial. Neither belongs squeezed into a rushed city-core visit. Running total for the three days on sights and food, roughly RMB 150-180 a day per person, plus your hotel on top. Longer trips build on this same spine: see the 4-day , 5-day , 6-day , and 7-day versions for Qixia Mountain and a rail day trip beyond.

Book these before you go:

Day 1: Confucius Temple and the Qinhuai River

Morning. Confucius Temple (Fuzimiao), Dacheng Hall ¥30, then the Jiangnan Examination Hall Museum (¥50) next door for the imperial civil-exam history - the replica exam cells, reportedly 1.33m wide, are worth the extra ticket.

Lunch. Duck blood and vermicelli soup, roughly ¥15-25, a few streets back from the temple rather than on the snack strip itself.

Afternoon. Walk the Qinhuai lanes; skip the paid river-boat if you’re keeping costs down, the riverside walk covers the same ground for free.

Evening. Return at dusk for the free lantern-lit river scene, then dinner away from the marked-up Fuzimiao stalls.

Day 1 running cost (RMB, per person): Dacheng Hall 30 + Examination Hall Museum 50 + meals ~60 + metro ~10 = ~150

Day 2: Purple Mountain - Sun Yat-sen, Ming Xiaoling, Linggu Temple

Morning. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, free main grounds (Music Hall +¥10), provided you’ve booked the passport-ID slot ahead. The climb is 392 stone steps over a 700m approach with zero shade, so go early. From there, walk or take the park shuttle (¥10/trip) to Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.

Midday. Ming Xiaoling (¥70 standalone, included in the ¥100 Purple Mountain combo ticket that also covers Linggu Temple and Meiling Palace). Walk the full 1,800m Sacred Way - 12 pairs of stone animals in six kinds plus stone officials, laid on a bend following the hillside rather than dead-straight.

Afternoon. Linggu Temple (included in the combo), the Beamless Hall built entirely of brick and stone with no timber, and the climbable nine-story Linggu Pagoda. Skip the Toutuo Ridge cable car (¥60 one-way/¥100 round-trip) unless summit views matter more to you than the daily budget - the temple cluster is the better value stop.

Evening. Head back toward Xinjiekou for dinner; salted duck, Nanjing’s signature dish, at any ordinary local restaurant.

Day 2 running cost (RMB, per person): Purple Mountain combo ticket 100 + shuttle 10 + meals ~60 + metro ~10 = ~180

Day 3: The Nanjing Massacre Memorial and Presidential Palace

Morning. The Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, shortened after first use to the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall. Free entry, roughly 8:30am-4:30pm, closed Mondays; check the official memorial site beforehand for the current reservation status, since a real-name booking is standard practice at major Chinese memorials and shouldn’t be assumed away. This commemorates the roughly 300,000 civilians and unarmed soldiers killed after the city fell on 13 December 1937. It is a place of mourning, not a sightseeing stop - go with quiet, restrained conduct, dress and photograph accordingly, and budget extra time for the entrance queue.

Lunch. A simple meal nearby; this isn’t the afternoon for a celebratory food stop.

Afternoon. Presidential Palace (¥40) - enter via the new west entrance, since the historic gatehouse has been closed to entry since December 2024. Budget 2-3 hours for the Ming garden layout through Republic-era government buildings.

Evening. Walk the free Taicheng stretch of the Ming City Wall along Xuanwu Lake, then dinner in Xinjiekou.

Day 3 running cost (RMB, per person): Presidential Palace 40 + meals ~60 + metro ~10 = ~110 (the memorial and the wall/lake walk are both free)

Three-day total: roughly RMB 440-450 per person for sights and food, before lodging.

Three days gets you the city core, the Purple Mountain cluster, and the memorial the city’s modern identity is built around - handled properly rather than rushed. What it skips is Qixia Mountain’s autumn maples and any rail day trip to Suzhou or Yangzhou; the 4-day itinerary is where those start to fit. For the full free-and-cheap rundown, see our Nanjing budget guide .