Nanjing Day Trips on a Budget: 6 Cheapest Picks
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Nanjing day trips on a budget: what’s worth the fare
Two of Nanjing’s best day trips barely leave the metro area, and four ride the same high-speed rail line that makes Nanjing a genuinely cheap base. Qixia Mountain (¥25, rising to ¥40 in peak maple season) and Niushou Mountain’s underground Usnisa Palace both sit inside greater Nanjing, reachable by bus for a few yuan. Zhenjiang, Suzhou, Wuxi and Yangzhou all sit on the Shanghai-Nanjing HSR corridor or its Yangzhou spur, so a same-day round trip costs a train fare and an entry ticket, nothing more. If you haven’t nailed down the city center yet, start with things to do in Nanjing and add one of these once that’s set.
Which Nanjing day trip is cheapest?
Qixia Mountain wins on pure cost: ¥25 most of the year, a bus ride away, no train fare at all. Niushou Mountain costs little to reach but has an unconfirmed ticket price, so budget it as a wildcard until you check current rates. Of the HSR trips, Zhenjiang is both the shortest ride and the cheapest entry (¥30-50 per park). Suzhou and Wuxi cost more in train time; Yangzhou’s Slender West Lake at ¥120 is the priciest single ticket on this list, but still cheaper than a full day in Nanjing’s paid Purple Mountain sights.
| Day trip | Distance from Nanjing | Cheapest way there | What it costs | Time needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qixia Mountain | ~22 km northeast | Bus 194-197, 206-207 or 327 | ¥25 (¥40 in peak maple season) | Half day |
| Niushou Mountain | Jiangning District, south | Bus or metro plus local bus | Unconfirmed, check before you go | Half day |
| Zhenjiang | Shortest HSR hop on the line | 2nd-class HSR from Nanjing South | ¥30-50 per park, plus ~¥10 pagoda add-on | Full day |
| Suzhou | ~1-1.5h HSR (confirm current schedule) | 2nd-class HSR from Nanjing South | Garden entry varies by site | Full day |
| Wuxi | ~45-60min HSR (confirm current schedule) | 2nd-class HSR from Nanjing South | Lake Tai park entry varies by site | Full day |
| Yangzhou | Under 1h via the Nanjing-Qidong line | 2nd-class HSR from Nanjing South | Slender West Lake ¥120 | Full day |
Qixia Mountain: the cheapest day trip you’ll take
Qixia Mountain and its Buddhist temple sit about 22 km northeast of the city, an easy half-day on public buses (194-197, 206-207 or 327), no train ticket required. Ticket price is ¥25 most of the year, jumping to ¥40 during peak autumn maple season, roughly November into early December, when the crimson foliage draws crowds. Inside: the Thousand Buddha Cliff (294 rock-cut shrines carved into the hillside), the white-stone Sarira Pagoda, and Mirror Lake with its Nine-Bend Bridge. Hours run 7:00am to 5:30pm daily. A weekday visit outside peak leaf-season weekends keeps both the price and the crowds down.
Niushou Mountain: an underground temple most visitors skip
Niushou Mountain, in Jiangning District south of the city, holds the Foding (Usnisa) Palace, a modern temple built inside a disused mining pit that operated from 1937 to 1958. The site opened in 2014 and has enshrined what’s described as the world’s only surviving parietal relic of the Buddha since 27 October 2015, alongside a Thousand-Buddha Hall of 1,343 statues and an 88m nine-level pagoda. Current hours and ticket price weren’t confirmed for this guide, so check them directly before you go rather than assume a walk-up rate.
How do you get from Nanjing to these HSR day trips cheaply?
Nanjing South Railway Station is the hub for all four rail day trips below. Book 2nd-class seats rather than 1st class, and travel outside Golden Week (1-7 October 2026) or Labor Day (1-5 May 2026), when fares and crowding both spike nationwide. Check current fares and times on Trip.com’s train tool , or use 12306 , the official ticketing system, if you’re comfortable with its Chinese-first interface.
Zhenjiang: the shortest and cheapest HSR trip
Zhenjiang sits closest to Nanjing on the Shanghai-Nanjing HSR line, the shortest ride of the four rail options here. The draws are Jinshan (Golden Hill) Park with its monastery and pagoda, Beigushan Park overlooking the Yangtze, and Jiaoshan, a small river-island park with temples. Entry runs roughly ¥30-50 per park plus a ~¥10 pagoda supplement; budget 1-2 hours per park, so pick two rather than trying all three in one day.
Suzhou and Wuxi: gardens and a lake, same corridor
Suzhou sits farther down the same line toward Shanghai, commonly cited at roughly 1 to 1.5 hours by HSR (confirm the exact schedule before you book). Its classical gardens carry their own UNESCO World Heritage listing, distinct from Nanjing’s Ming tombs, see the official UNESCO listing . Wuxi sits between Changzhou and Suzhou on the same corridor, roughly 45 to 60 minutes out, and centers on Lake Tai. Both are easy one-way HSR legs rather than a loop, so decide which single garden city fits your day before booking.
A bundled day tour handles the train timing and garden entry fees in one price if you’d rather not plan the legs yourself: book a Suzhou day trip from Nanjing .
Yangzhou: the priciest single ticket, still a budget day
Yangzhou runs off the Nanjing-Qidong railway rather than the Shanghai line; exact minutes from Nanjing weren’t directly confirmed here, but the same line’s 2016 electrification cut the much-longer Nanjing-Nantong run to about 1h50, so the shorter Yangzhou segment should run well under an hour. Slender West Lake, styled after Hangzhou’s West Lake, is ¥120, the priciest ticket on this list. Add the classical gardens He Yuan and Ge Yuan, and Daming Temple, a 5th-century site rebuilt after Taiping-era damage, if you want more than the lake in one day. Two stations serve the city: the older Yangzhou Railway Station and Yangzhoudong, opened 2020, so confirm which one your train uses.
Book a Yangzhou day trip if you’d rather have the gardens and lake pre-planned; otherwise a same-day HSR ticket and a paper map of the lakeside gardens is all you need.
Whichever trip you pick, buy your return HSR ticket before you leave Nanjing rather than after arriving; same-day return seats on the popular Shanghai-line stops can sell out on weekends and holidays.