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Home Travel in Shandong Yantai Travel Guide
Yantai Travel Guide
Travel in Shandong

Yantai
Yantai
(Yāntái 烟台) is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Shandong province. Located on the southern coast of the Bohai Sea (bó hǎi 渤海) and the eastern coast of the Laizhou Bay (lái zhōu wān 莱州湾), Yantai borders the cities of Qingdao (qīng dǎo 青岛) and Weihai (wēi hǎi 威海) to the southwest and east respectively.

The largest fishing seaport in Shandong and a robust economic center today, Yantai used to be known to the West as Chefoo, a misnomer which refers, in Chinese, solely to Zhifu Island (zhī fú dǎo 芝罘岛), which is historically governed by Yantai.

The contemporary name of Yantai came from the watchtowers constructed on Mount Qi (qí shān 旗山) in 1398, during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor (hóng wǔ dì 洪武帝), founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty (míng dài 明代). The towers served to raise alarms against invasions of Japanese pirates (wō kòu 倭寇).

Tourism
Because of its fair weather and extensive coasts Yantai is a popular summer retreat. Like many other cities in China, Yantai has improved and upgraded many tourist sites targeted at both national and international tourist. An example of these improvements is the remodeling of the beach area to better accommodate patrons. It is also home to Asia's first bowling alley, which is located on the fourth floor of Parksons department store. There is also the haunted house , a highly exhilarating tourist attraction.

Yantai Hill
Yantai Hill

It is the symbol of Yantai City, which is famous for the Smoke Platform (an alarming signal system in ancient times), the lighthouse and the western-style buildings of foreign consulates built before the 1940s.

Address: NO.7, Lixin Road (lì xīn 历新), Zhifu County, Yantai
Admission Fee: CNY 30
How to go: You can take bus NO.3, 17, 43, 46 

Mushi Demesne (móu shì zhuāng yuán 牟氏庄园) Mushi demesne
It was firstly constructed during the Yongzheng Period of Qing Dynasty. After one hundred-year’s expansion, now it covers an area of 20,000 square meters with over 480 rooms. It refects historic culture, architectural culture and social culture of ancient China. It is the largest yard buildings with residence feature of the north China which is protected well currently. It is also the key culture relic institute protected by the state, and reputed as the history memory of 600-year social cultures and the “civil imperial palace”. The annual culture festival is the most attractive civil activity. The specialist of the international organization made high evaluation on it and proposed to apply for the title of international culture relics. In 2000 defined this project was defined as the preferential development project Shandong Province.
Mushi Demesne

Address:
NO.6, Zhuangyuan South Road (zhuāng yuán nán lù 庄园南路), Qixia (qī xiá 栖霞) County, Yantai
Admission Fee: CNY 60
How to go: You can take bus NO.6 or you can take a special line to the Demesne

Dings' Former Domicile (dīng shì gù zhái 丁氏故宅)
Dings' Former Domicile
It located in Longkou City, is the luxurious house of Baiwan Ding, a millionair of Qing Dynasty. The building consists of several large yards and each yard has several ccompound yards. Till now, it is the biggest and best protected "Compound Yard" in China.
Dings' Former Domicile

Address: NO.21, Huangcheng (huáng chéng 黄城) West Street, Longkou (lóng kǒu 龙口) County, Yantai
Admission Fee: CNY 25
How to go: You can take bus NO.105 to get there

Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone (nán shān lǚ yóu fēng jǐng qū 南山旅游风景区)
Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone
Situated in Longkou City, it is on the coastal line of the Bohai Sea. The zone takes the hotel, recreation palace and international golf course as center and it can meet the need of consumers at all levels. The Nanshan Hotel is the three-star international hotel which has relaxation, meeting and amusenent facilities. Occuping an area of 36,000 square meters, the Nanshan Recreation Palace is the Asian largest recreation center, which is the ideal place for relaxation. The biggest figure of Buddha in the world is also in the Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone, whose height is 28.66 meters and weight is 380 tons. The main scenic spots include Jimu Island, the General Stone, Hu Dahai Square, Sang Island, Yi Island, the Home Village of XuFu, the Former Residence of the Ding Family, Karts Cave of Small Laishan Hill and Nanshan Scenic Area. Nanshan Scenic Spot Zone is a perfect tourist and summer resort.

Location: Hongqi Middle Road (hóng qí zhōng lù 红旗中路), Zhifu County, Yantai
Admission Fee: CNY 110
How to go: You can take bus NO.5 or special line NO.105, also you can drive by yourself

Huanghai Recreation Center
Huanghai Recreation Center
Situated in the east of Yantaim bordering the gloden beach, covers an area of 24 hectares, among which water area occupies 1000 acreages, greenbelt 20 acreages, lawn 30 acreages and construction area 45,500 square meters. Huanghai Recreation Center was brouhgt in the list of key projects for city construction of the eighth five-year plan in 1992. The construction began on April 20, 1993 and finished on August 8, 1993. With the constant perfection of the auxiliary facilities and the service functioning soundly, Huanghai Recreation Center has become one of the most important scenic spots of Yantai.

Admission Fee: CNY 20
How to go: You can take bus NO.21, 22, 47 to get there

The Golden Beach Park
The Golden Beach
It lies in the north of the development zone and extends along the seashore, featuring bule sea, soft sand , flourishing forests and fresh air. It has grown into a comprehensive park combining swimming, sightseeing, entertaining and delicious food. Blessed with gifts both natural and manmade, the Golden Beach Park welcomes the world.

Address: NO.43, Binhai (bīn hǎi 滨海) Road, Zhifu County, Yantai
How to go: You can take bus NO.3, 17, 49, 10, 17 to get there

Kunyu Mountain (kūn yú shān 昆嵛山)
Kunyu Mountain
It is located in the eastern end of Jiaodong Peninsular. It lies across Yantai and Weihai. It has good communication facilities and is 50 kilometers away from the railway station, port and airport. As a national forest park and the birthplace of Quan Zhen Tao(Taoism), it is rich in tourist resources. Mountain Kunyu ranges rise and fall, with high and precipitous terrain. With Kunyu Mountainits peaks rising one higher than another, its scenery is very magnificent. It has 72 distinguished peaks of various shapes. The main mountaion is called the "ancestor of wonder mountaions " of the East Sea.The forest coverage of Mountain Kunyu is up to 80%. There are 60 families and 340 species of wood plants, over 600 species of herbaceous plants, and 348 species of ornament flowers. Among them, 14 species are listed in the key plants specially protected by the state. With the beautiful scenery of hills and waters, Mountain Kunyu is the best tourist attraction and summer resort. The development of Mountain Kunyu has been listed in the general planning of Yantai Urban Tourist Development. At preasant, there are already 5 large scenic spots, such as Taibo Summit (tài bó dǐng 泰礴顶), Yanxia Cave (yān xiá dòng 烟霞洞), Nine--dragon Pond (jiǔ lóng ch í九龙池), Yuegu Hall (yuè gū diàn 岳姑殿), Wuran Temple (wú rǎn sì 无染寺), which attract large number of tourists each year.

Location: Longquan Town (lóng quán zhèn 龙泉镇), Muping County (móu píng qū 牟平区), Yantai
Admission Fee: CNY 110
How to go: You can take a long-distance bus to get Muping from Yantai

The Changdao Islands
Changdao Islands
The Changdao County (Cháng dǎo Xiàn 长岛县) is a county in Yantai. It consists of a chain of islands, Changshan Islands (zhǎng shān liè dǎo 长山列岛), in the Bohai Sea, north of Penglai (péng lái 蓬莱), Shandong Province. They are known for their sandy beaches and picturesque limestone cliffs. The total land area is only 56 square km, but the coastline is 146 km long.

Both Changdao National Forest Park and Changdao National Nature Reserve are located on the islands, which are on a cross-Bohai Sea flyway.

changdao IslandsThe islands are often referred to as the Temple Islands (miào dǎo qún dǎo 庙岛群岛) because of the large number of temples that were built there. Xianying Palace is a temple that was built during the Northern Song Dynasty, starting in 1122. It was originally a Taoist temple to the sea goddess Matsu (mā zǔ 妈祖), but became Buddhist later. At the present time the local government has restored the temple to its Ming Dynasty appearance, although many additions had been made during the Qing.

Changdao Island was previously closed to non-Chinese nationals. Westerners found on the island were swiftly taken to the passenger ferry terminal and placed on the next ferry back to Penglai by the islands Police service. Islanders promptly reported all "outsiders" to the islands police service. (First hand experience) Police explained the reasons for this, due to the high number of military installations on the Island.

The Changdao Islands are now open to non-Chinese nationals, including westerners。This was agreed by the local and national governments as of 1st December 2008.

Admission Fee: CNY 100 or 150 (including different tickets)
How to go: You can take a long-distance bus to Penglai (it take 50mins and takes off every 20mins and costs 17 Yuan), then you can go to Long Islands by ship (it takes 23 Yuan and the last ship takes off at 6:30pm).

Specialty of Yantai- Yantai Apple

yantai appleYantai apple is one of the specialties of Shandong and the place of production are exclusively Qixia (qī xiá 栖霞), Zhaoyuan (zhāo yuǎn 招远), Haiyang (hǎi yáng 海阳), Muping (móu píng 牟平), Rushan (rǔ shān 乳山), Wendeng (wén dēng 文登). Yantai apple is well-known and welcomed for its sweety, juicy and tasty all over the world.

Yantai apple was introduced by American missioners in 1871.Earlier it were exclusively two varieties, green banana and red banana; later it developed Little Guoguang (guó guāng 国光) and Jinshuai (jīn shuài 金帅); after China’s reforming and opening-up, it introduced Hongfushi (hóng fù shì 红富士), Qiaonajin (qiáo nà jīn 乔纳金),ect. Yantai apple is famous for its bright color and luster and fragrantly sweety. Yantai is the most important place of apple production, and Qixia apple is the most famous.

yantai appleYantai apple was famous in the acient time because of its bigness and delicious, and its taste lasted long after it was eaten. Nowadays, Yantai apple is improved upon the basis, developed into many new varieties and sold all over the world.

Yantai apple is famous for the long history of cultivation, with all varieties, high production, and good quanlity. The varieties of it are more than 200, green banana, red banana, Jinshuai, Guoguang are most famous varieties and stand for Yantai apple. Becides, Hongxing (hóng xīng 红星), Hongyu (hóng yù 红玉), Huangkui (huáng kuí 黄魁), Danding (dān dǐng 丹顶), Ruixiang (ruì xiāng 瑞香), Bayuesu (bā yuè sū 八月酥), Baishami (bái shā mì 白沙蜜), Hongfushi (hóng fù shì 红富士) and ect also taste great and have their own features.