Yueyang City (岳阳) is located at the northeastern edge of China’s Hunan Province, neighboring Changsha City in the south, Jiangxi Province in the east and Hubei Province in the north. It is a vital port city in the middle reaches of Yangtze River.
Abundant beautiful lakes, including the famous Dongting Lake - The Kidney of Yangtze River, endow Yueyang with amazing lake views. And the long history of over 2,500 years left the city many precious relics, ancient buildings, traditions, legendries and poetic atmosphere.
Usually, visitors prefer to visit Yueyang and Changsha together, which takes about 2~3 days. During their tour, they spend 1~2 days to savor the highlights of Changsha, including Yuelu Academy and Yuelu Mountain, Hunan Provincial Museum, Huangxing Pedestrian Street, etc. The rest time of the tour is for them to take a one-day side trip to visit Yueyang from Changsha to explore the highlights of Yueyang, including Yueyang Tower, Dongting Lake and Junshan Island Scenic Area.
It is also very popular to extend the tour to Zhangjiajie (3~5 days) to admire the marvelous Avatar Mountain and Fenghuang (1 day or so) to get close to the primitive ethnic villages. If you have more days in Hunan, you can also spend 1 day to Shaoshan - the birthplace of Chairman Mao, 1~2 days to Hengyang to enjoy hiking at Mount Heng (Hengshan) - one of the Five Sacred Mountains in China, or 1 day to Chenzhou to take beautiful pictures at Dongjiang Lake - one of the Top 10 Photography Places in China, etc.
Beyond Hunan, the diverse China offers many other surprises. It is also good idea to visit Hunan with other hot destinations, like Fanjingshan, Kaili, Guilin, Chengdu, Yangtze River, Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, etc. Have your preference? Customize your Yueyang tour with China Discovery now!
The most famous highlights of Yueyang are Yueyang Tower, Dongting Lake and Junshan Island Scneic Area, which are also usually the must-visits for a Yueyang tour.
Facing to the beautiful Dongting Lake and Junshan Island Scenic Area, Yueyang Tower (岳阳楼), or called Yueyang Pavilion, offers amazing water and mountain scenery. Besides, the strong poetic atmosphere of the tower, which can be proved by many famous poems in China, makes it stands out of so many elegant towers in China and be praised as One of the Three Great Towers in South China!
Dongting Lake (洞庭湖) is the second largest freshwater lakes in China. It enjoys the reputation of The Kidney of Yangtze River, because it is a vital regulatory lake of the Yangtze River Basin and has saved this region from countless floods. Besides, the lake itself is very beautiful. Apart from enjoying the wonderful lake view at the banks, visitors can also enjoy a leisure cruise journey there.
Junshan Island (君山岛) refers to beautiful island located at the north bank of the Dongting Lake. The island faces Yueyang Tower across the water. Other than the beautiful lake and Mountain View there, the island also boasts many historical relics, including sacred pavilions and tombs of imperial concubines of this region in ancient times. Visitors can take a boat or car to get close to the island.
There are many Quyuan Temples in China, and the one at Yueyang (屈子祠) is also recommended for history lovers. Here, you will stroll around elegant pavilions and tablets to learn the entire life of Quyuan and why he decided to end this life. Besides, you will get close to Miluo River (汨罗江), where Quyuan drowned himself in despair.
Yueyang belongs to the humid subtropical monsoon climate, featuring by four distinctive seasons, abundant rainfall and long period of warmth and short period of cold. The yearly average temperature in Yueyang is about 17℃, which is relatively pleasant. The hottest time in Yueyang usually comes in July or August, with an average high temperature for about 32℃. January is usually the coldest month there, and the average temperature of this month is about 3℃.
If you only take the weather and temperature into account, Yueyang is suitable to be visited all year around, because this city is neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. Most visitors also believe that the months from May to October are the best time to visit Yueyang, because the rest months of a year are the dry season for Dongting Lake, which may not guarantee the best lake scenery. And the months from October to March are also good, because Dongting Lake will then become a Paradise for Birds, and you will meet with over 200,000 migratory birds there!
Being the sub-central city of the large Hunan Province, Yueyang has a well-established traffic system. No matter you are going to visit it by flight, train, coach or bus, you will find it can be easily reached.
The airport in Yueyang is named Yueyang Sanhe Airport, which offers flight services to/from over 27 domestic cities like Beijing (2.5 hours), Shanghai (1.5 hours), Hangzhou (1.5 hours), Shenzhen (1.5 hours), Xiamen (1.5 hours), Chengdu (2 hours), Kunming (2.5 hours), etc.
Yueyang Sanhe Airport (IATA：YYA)
Location: Konggang Avenue, Yueyang County, Yueyang City, Hunan, China (湖南省岳阳市岳阳县空港大道，岳阳三荷机场), about 17.5 kilometers and 0.5 hour from/to Yueyang City downtown area by car.
Yueyang now has two train stations. However, Yueyang Railway Station is only served for normal K-trains, T-trains and Z-trains. Yueyang East Railway Station offers high speed train services. By riding a high speed train, you can get from/to Guilin in 3.5~4.5 hours, Guangzhou in 3~3.5 hours, Yichang in 3.5~4 hours, Shenzhen in 3.5~4.5 hours, Beijing in 6~6.5 hours, Shanghai in 5.5~6 hours, Xian in 5.5 hours, etc. Besides, you can take a high speed train to travel between Yueyang and Changsha in merely 0.5~1 hour.
Yueyang East Railway Station
Location: Balingdong Road, Yueyanglou District, Yueyang City, Hunan, China (岳阳市岳阳楼区巴陵东路，岳阳东站), about 9 kilometers and 20 minutes to/from the city center of Yueyang.
In this modern city, you can get around in ease and convenience by taxi, city bus or private car. Most of its highlights gather at its city downtown, including Yueyang Tower, Dongting Lake, Junshan Island Scenic Area, etc.
Changsha neighbors Yueyang in its north. These two cities are only 165 kilometers and 2~3 hours away by car. There are also frequent high speed trains running between them. Every day, there are as many as 90 bullet trains around available. And the train ride takes only 0.5~1 hour.
To help you enjoy a worry-free trip to Yueyang, it is highly recommended travel with China Discovery. So our local guide and driver will escort you from your accommodation to/from the tourist spots, railway station, airport, etc. By the comfortable nonsmoking licensed private vehicle of China Discovery in speed and safety, and you can focus more time on the highlights instead of navigation and hard communication with locals! Please contact us if you need any help!
Most visitors take a one-day side trip from Changsha to Visit Yueyang, and then travel back to Changsha for accommodation or get to the airport or train station in Yueyang to go to their next destination. Therefore, hotels in Yueyang are not very necessary for them. However, if you prefer to a Yueyang tour in a more leisure pace or want to spend more time in Yueyang, you are also suggested to find a hotel there. Accommodation options in Yueyang are a lot, including hundreds of hotels from luxury 5-star hotels to budget inns for you to choose. All of them can guarantee you a nice sleep in relatively affordable prices. You can just select the one for you according to your preference.
Yueyanglou District in Yueyang City downtown is the hottest chosen place to stay in Yueyang. If you only want a short day tour in Yueyang and are looking for hotels in Changsha after the Yueyang tour, you are suggested to find a hotel near Wuyi Square in Changsha .
>> Check more about Changsha Hotels: Where to Stay in Changsha.
Apart from Yueyang, there are many other wonderful destinations in Hunan Province for your discovery of the nature, culture, history, food... of this diverse province in central China!
China is vast and diverse. You can choose your favorite destinations among more than 70 tourist destination and regions, like Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, Chengdu, etc. Following are 8 popular destinations you may get interested in. Check all destinations in China.
All itineraries and side trips can be customized privately, so please feel free to contact with our travel consultants if you have this kind of need.
Enjoy 2 days to discover all best city highlights in Changsha in the most classic way without missing the impressive Hunan Provincial Museum collections, literal Yuelu Academy, and poetic Orange Island with scenery and interesting stories!
This 5-day Zhangjiajie Fenghuang tour is the best way to fully make use of your time in Zhangjiajie. Admire all natural must-sees in UNESCO Zhangjiajie Forest Park with a cultural relaxation at antique Xiangxi flavored Fenghuang Ancient Town.
Enjoy 5 wonderful days to savor wonderful culture and history in Changsha and take a bullet train to discover incredible "Avatar's World" in Zhangjiajie!
This 3-day Changsha trip takes you to enjoy a worthy savory of Changsha city highlights of landscape and culture with a memorable extension to Shaoshan, hometown of great Chairman Mao!
“Very good experience”
“WONDERFUL 25 DAYS IN CHINA - PRIVATE TOUR”
“Awesome China tour from northeast to southwest”
2,050+ Reviews
