Main Tourist Attractions
Daming Lake
Daming Lake (Chinese: 大明湖; pinyin: Dà Míng Hú; Wade–Giles: Ta4 Ming2 Hu2; literally: ‘Lake of the Great Splendour’) is the largest lake in the city of Jinan, Shandong, China and one of city’s main natural and cultural landmarks. Located to the north of the historical city center, the lake is fed by the artesian karst springs of the area and hence retains a fairly constant water level through the entire year.
Daming Lake is located to the north of Minghu Road and to the south of the old city moat. Taking bus No. 6, 11, 31, 33, 36, 37, 41, k54, 游66 to visit.
Baotu Spring
Jinan is known as the “City of Springs” because of the large number of natural artesian springs. The majority of the springs, many of which have been historically listed under the “72 Famous Springs” (七十二名泉) are concentrated in the downtown district and flow north to converge in Daming Lake. The Baotu Spring Park is the most popular of the springs in the City of Jinan proper. Besides the Baotu Spring, the park contains several other springs that are listed among the “72 Famous Springs”. “Bào tū” (趵突) means “jumping and leaping” in Chinese. The water in the spring pool can be seen foaming and gushing, looking like a pot of boiling water. The spring was visited by the Qianlong Emperor (1711–1799) of the Qing dynasty who declared it “the best spring under the heaven” (Chinese: 天下第一泉; pinyin: tiān xià dì yī quán). A tablet with the Emperor’s handwriting “Baotu Spring” has since been erected beside the spring pool.
The Baotu Spring is located right to the southwest of the city center of Jinan, on the outer side of the old city moat and near the west end of Quancheng Road. Taking bus No. 5, 41, 49, k54, k96, 游66, 85, 102, 103, 104 to visit.
Thousand Buddha Mountain
The Thousand Buddha Mountain (Chinese: 千佛山; pinyin: Qiān Fó Shān) is a hill located southeast of the city of Jinan, China. It is renowned for its numerous Buddha images which have been carved out of the hill’s rock faces or free-standing structures erect since the times of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) and its Xingguochan Temple.
The Thousand Buddha Mountain is a small hill located about 2.5 kilometres southeast from the center of the city of Jinan. Taking bus No. 2, 31, 48, k51, k56, 游66, 游68 to visit.