Why go
The Yellow Crane Tower has burned and been rebuilt repeatedly; today's 1985 reconstruction still frames the Yangtze perfectly, and the poetry carved in its halls is roughly the Chinese equivalent of Shakespeare's balcony. Go early, then walk the first Yangtze bridge (1957) downstream.
Hubei Provincial Museum's chime bells of Marquis Yi (433 BC) — 65 bronze bells spanning five octaves — anchor a superb free museum. East Lake, the city's enormous inner lake, is best by bike; in late March the cherry blossoms at Wuhan University and along the lake turn the whole city pale pink for two weeks.
- Yellow Crane Tower — the Tang poets' favourite view point
- Hubei Provincial Museum — Marquis Yi's chime bells
- East Lake greenway — 100 km of lakeside cycling paths
- March cherry blossoms at Wuhan University
Where to go
Day one: tower, bridge, Jianghan pedestrian street and a night food crawl at Hubu Alley. Day two: museum at opening, East Lake cycling, dinner of crayfish if it's summer.
What to eat
Hot dry noodles (reganmian) with sesame paste are the compulsory breakfast, plus doupi — pan-fried glutinous rice, egg and meat in a tofu-skin parcel — and duck necks as the spicy snack of record.
Getting there
- Wuhan Tianhe airport 40 min; HSR hub on the Beijing–Guangzhou line
- Role
- Capital of Hubei province
- Rivers
- Yangtze + Han confluence
- Cherry season
- Mid–late March
