Is Yingde Worth Visiting? What Fun Spots Are There in Yingde?

Along the banks of the North River lies a dazzling gem — Yingde City, known as the Pearl of Lingnan. Boasting a long and profound history, this vast land nurtures outstanding people and abounds in agricultural produce and natural resources.

When talking about travelling in Yingde, Baojing Palace is undoubtedly the first attraction that comes to mind. As a time-honored scenic spot in Yingde, it rose to fame back in the 1980s and still ranks as the city’s top tourist destination to this day. Its environment and supporting facilities have undergone tremendous upgrades compared with the early days.

The resort hotel here is China’s first hotel themed on Ying stone, where ancient Ying stones blend harmoniously with modern architecture. Stepping inside feels like wandering through an exhibition dedicated to Ying stones. The hotel walls are inlaid with two shades of Ying stone tiles: reddish-brown and dark grey, creating an antique yet elegant ambience. The hotel’s convention hall will feature a giant mural made of stacked Ying stone slabs as a grand welcoming artwork for visitors to admire.

Reflected on Swan Lake (admission ticket required), the hotel leans against Baojing Palace and overlooks the lake, resembling an exquisite traditional Chinese landscape painting.

The magnificent Baojing Palace Swan Lake Resort Hotel is only an 80-minute drive from downtown Guangzhou, or just a 35-minute ride via the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway. The Guangzhou-Lechang, Guangzhou-Daqing and Beijing-Zhuhai Expressways are all easily accessible, enabling convenient, swift trips to Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and other major cities. Most importantly, the hotel will be fully completed before the Spring Festival this year!

The hot spring centre (admission ticket required) serves as a core highlight of the resort. It features 49 open-air pools including Wangfu Spring, Yin-Yang Spring, Chinese Herbal Valley, hydrotherapy pools, fish spa pools, jet spring pools, Five Blessings Soup, couples’ pools, waterfall springs, foot-soaking pools, a swimming pool and exotic stone pools. There are also six exclusive VIP private suites, plus a hot spring cave housing one large pool and two smaller pools. The hot spring cave stands out as the most distinctive attraction: spacious and grand inside, filled with fantastically shaped stalactites and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling or rising from the ground in countless varied forms. Standing in the cave and listening to the rhythmic dripping of water is akin to hearing celestial music, making one feel as if they have stepped into an earthly paradise.

The resort’s hot spring water originates from deep thermal mineral springs underground. The wellhead water temperature ranges from 54℃ to 57℃, while the natural outflow temperature stays at 47℃. Rich in metasilicic acid, fluorine, bicarbonate, sulfate, lithium, barium and dozens of other minerals and trace elements beneficial to the human body, this compound therapeutic mineral spring can beautify and cleanse the skin, sterilise bacteria, improve sleep, aid weight loss and fitness, prevent illnesses and boost physical vitality.

Located in Shigutang Town, Yingde City, Guangdong Province, Tianmengou Valley is a largely undeveloped primeval natural scenic area. Divided into more than ten famous natural landscapes including nine stations and one gallery, the entire trail stretches 5,000 metres with over 10,000 stone steps. Hikers climb over 800 metres in elevation and cross four major vertical drops to embrace wild, unspoiled natural scenery. Its highlight is more than a hundred tiered waterfalls scattered along the valley, among which the grand Tianmen Waterfall at the eighth station claims the title of Guangdong’s tallest single-tier waterfall with a vertical drop of 136 metres.

Tianmengou Valley sits beside the Yingbo Highway in Weizai Village, Babao Township, Shigutang Town, Yingde City. The upstream stream trail extends roughly 3,000 metres. Based on the original landform, Jiuzhou Station · Tianmengou Branch and the whole scenic area are split into five sections separated by waterfalls:

Each of the five stream sections carries distinct characteristics, summarised in one respective Chinese character: the first section Ancient, the second Secluded, the third Precipitous, the fourth Magical, and the fifth Beautiful. Minimal artificial embellishments are added during scenic construction only to accentuate these five natural charms: steep cliffs, the mystical Tianmen rock gateway, roaring spectacular waterfalls, and a long elegant gallery of water and stones filled with fresh air abundant in negative oxygen ions. As the local verse goes: The post road holds heaven and earth’s beauty; this journey brings lifelong delight.

A famous line describes it: Hidden in the empty mountain, the sound of flowing water echoes; green pools give birth to cascading waterfalls. This is a karst cave pierced through by an underground stream. Covering a total area of 6,600 square metres, the cave ascends along stone steps and expands from narrow to wide across four interconnected chambers linked by a strange, eerie stone forest corridor (admission ticket required). It is widely hailed as the Top Karst Sinkhole in South China.