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Ningbo (宁波; Níngbō) is a port city in Zhejiang province.

[edit] Understand

After one of the Opium Wars in the 19th century, China was forced to open five Treaty Ports for foreign trade, including Ningbo. The others were Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou and Shanghai. However, Shanghai dominated the foreign trade. Ningbo today is a pleasant city without much to offer a tourist, except as a stepping-off point to other areas in the region, in particular the tourist trap Putuoshan. There's hope that the recently-completed Hangzhou Bay Bridge, linking the municipalities of Ningpo and Shanghai, will increase foreign investment and economic integration with Shanghai.

[edit] Get in

From Shanghai:

-Direct flights from both Hongqiao airport (domestic airport within the city) and Pudong airport (international airport 40 minutes from the city by road) are no longer available. The flight duration used to be about half an hour. Delays of about half an hour were common. Since the opening of the new Hangzhou Bay Bridge these flight became less available and now they do not exist.

-Bus and car time from Shanghai to Ningbo is two hours and a half to three hours using the bay bridge. If going through Hanghzou, it takes about 4 hours.

-Train time is about 3 hours to 4 hours (it goes through HangZhou).

[edit] Get around

Taxis are ¥10 for the first 3km. Bus is ¥1 (¥2 with air conditioning), but you must know the bus routes - stops are not announced in English.

• Ningbo City Map
• Website [1] shows some routes.
• Alternatively (but time-consuming), Google maps at high resolution shows bus stops with numbered lines that stop there. With patience, one can follow a given line around the city, but your patience must be nearly infinite!
• Now, the bus stops are announced in English. ["After riding lots of buses, this is not my experience." BBS "No, all the buses i took within the last 2 months did not announce the bus stops in english" PB 19.10.09]

[edit] Money matters

As a foreigner, you can exchange your money at all major banks. A maybe wiser alternative is to use your foreign debit card. International ATMs (Plus/Maestro) can give about ¥2,500 (about 250,- Euros) out of each ATM at every transaction, up to a total maximum of ¥5,000 each day, which should be sufficient. ATMs can be found all over the place.

[edit][add listing] See

• Tian Yi Square 天一广场。 The city's main square and shopping mall.
• Moon Lake 月湖。 The main city park, originally built in 636.
• Tian Yi Library. A garden pavilion built in the 16th century.
• Lao Waitan. The "old bund", a popular nightlife district. Really a modern re-creation, in the line of Xintiandi in Shanghai, with a number of Shanghai's popular chain restaurants and clubs having a branch, in anticipation of a foreign investment boom. Indian, Vietnamese, and a spectrum of foreign cuisines is represented.

[edit][add listing] Do

Go to the island

Know Vikky's places

[edit][add listing] Buy

• cheap clothing - Chenghuang Temple.
• brand-names - Tian Yi Square.
• up-market names - Heyi Avenue Shopping Center north of Tian Yi by the river...Montblanc, Zegna, Cartier, etc.

• Carrefour (家乐福超市), 248 Zhongxing Road, Ningbo City，宁波中兴路248. Tel: +86-(0) 574-87771211. With parking lot.
• Metro (麦德隆超市), 1 Maidelong Road, Ningbo City， 宁波麦德隆路1号 Tel: +86-(0) 574-88208888. Good selection of foreign foods, beer and wine, but fresh foods are limited. Also with large parking lot. You will need a metro card to do your purchase. People, however, tend to be quite helpful - if you ask them to borrow their card, they are happy to help.
• Sanfo is the leading outdoor gear stores in China and their store in Ningbo is located at 1227-1229 Baizhang Dong Lu, Jiangdong District
• CenturyMart, (Tongtu Lu and Zhongxing Lu). Newest three-story hypermall: 1) department store, 2) grocery, 3) household goods. Decent section of foreign foods: Walkers Shortbread, Lindt and Toblerone chocolate, olive oils, wine, etc.--even Chinese versions of Spam! More orderly grocery area than Carrefour. CenturyMart card gets you slight discount, but not required.  edit

[edit][add listing] Eat

For an experience, go the 35th floor revolving restaurant in the centre of town. It takes 2 hours to revolve, giving you a spectacular view of the city and the meeting of the Three River Mouths.

• TianXiang YuanKongZhong ShiShang CanTing (Revolving Restaurant), 35/F, 181 Zhongshan Dong Road. They are open most of the day, but evening is best. They close at 9pm, so go at least before 7pm. Book in advance if you want a window seat. Reservation Telephone : 0574-8725-7177 – 0. Two of you can eat a basic meal for about 100-200 RMB, though if you want to splurge and try out the delicacies on their rather large menu be prepared to pay more. [This place is now closed.]

Ningbo's local seafood style is called "Yong cuisine".

• Shipu Restaurant (石浦大酒店) [2]. Two locations, 60 Yangyue Jie (tel:8732 8777) at Moon Lake, and 7 Gongqing Road (tel:8730 7470) at Tian Yi Square. Considered one of the best restaurants in Ningbo.

• Feast Modern Restaurant 87 Huaishu Lu 槐树路87号(tel:574-8735-1111) Probably the best chinese decor in Ningbo. Located in a 200 years old Qing Dynasty merchant house which has been totally renovated, the restaurant offers early twentieth century Shanghai furniture style. The dishes offered are mainly from the region but tend to be more sophisticated than the usual fare found in the city, in general it is excellent. The menu is in Chinese but there are a lot of pictures. Located downtown, 5 minutes or less by taxi from Tianyi Square and Lao Wai Tan.

[edit] Splurge

• Waitan Huiguan (外灘会馆), Waimalu (外马路) 17. Ningbo. Reservations: 5 74 – 87 35-16 38, Fx: -13 38, 87 35 09 38. Clean Teppanyaki place. Their pricing is also somewhat spectacular - a dinner for two relieves you of about 1,200 RMB. Nevertheless, the food is quite well prepared. Service was also quite attentive.

[edit][add listing] Drink

Beer at cheaper Chinese restaurants is quite bland and weak (2% alcohol), and often not very cold. Foreign and more expensive Chinese restaurants have export-quality Tsingdao and European or Japanese beers. For variety of European beers, try bars on the street on the south side of Sheraton hotel or in Laowaitan district along the river. These often have happy hour with 2-for-1 beers until 8PM.

[edit][add listing] Sleep

[edit] Budget

• Ningbo Home Inn, Zhenming Lu, Zhangqi Xiang 21 Hao(near Moon Lake).
• Ningbo Lizhai International Youth Hotel, 77 Gongqing Road (near Moon Lake). 4 Bed Doorms 45 Yuan per person, Single for 80-120 Yuan. Great location.

[edit] Mid-range

• Ningbo Kylie Hotel. Jicao Jie 76 Hao (downtown Jiangdong near Sheraton)

• Ningbo Hotel. Ma Yuan Road 251. Tel:+86 574 8709-7888. [3] Room rates are with about 240 RMB per night relatively okay. Though it is a rather old hotel, it was just freshly renovated in 2005. It is not far away from the city center. By cab I'd say 7 minutes (during rush hour it could be 15 min).

• Ningbo Sunny Hotel, 158 Xihe Road Haishu District, [4]. A 3-star business hotel with 105 tastefully appointed rooms. Impressive facilities include a well-equipped business center, conference rooms, and recreational facilities such as a spa and sauna. The hotel also serves sumptuous seafood fares in its Chinese restaurant.

• Good Sun International Business Apartment, 966 Baizhang East Street, Jiangdong District, ☎ +86 574 87056138, [5]. Along a busy street. Spacious accommodations. Rates start at ¥398.  edit

[edit] Splurge

• Ningbo Howard Johnson hotel, Liuting Jie , 230 Hao. [6] (near Moon lake)
• Ningbo Nanyuan hotel, No. 2 Lingqiao Road Ningbo, Zhejiang. Tel:+86 574 8709-5678 [7] A multi-awarded five-star hotel along Haishu District.
• Ningbo Sheraton hotel, 50 Caihong Rd (N). Tel:+86 574 8768-8688
• New Jingdu Hotel, ☎ 86-574-87069999, [8]. New Jingdu Hotel is a 4-star hotel lies along East Baizhang Road. While staying at this hotel, you might want to visit some of the famous tourist spots in Zhejiang, China namely Qita Temple, Moon Lake, and Zhoushan Islands. All of their rooms are air-conditioned and has an en suite bathroom, cable/ satellite TV, safe, hair dryer, free high-speed Internet access, and IDD telephone Best rates on official website start at CNY 442.26+.  edit
• Marriot Hotel
• Shangri-La Hotel

[edit] Get out

• Bus Buses leave Ningbo's south bus station every ten to twenty minutes for Hangzhou, China's most popular domestic destination. Shanghai is also served by frequent, comfortable buses.
• Boat The beautiful if over-touristed Buddhist island Putuoshan is a short bus ride and boat trip away, but can feel like a million miles from the hustle and bustle of the city. The ticket (bus and boat included) costs approximately 60 RMB, and the island has an additional 120 RMB entrance fee. The pier is next to the the Waitan, and the last boat of the day is in the early afternoon - there are more boats, operating later, during the tourist season.