Wuhu in two days: a confluence pagoda, shrimp-roe noodles, and the Yangtze on foot

The bowl arrives with the noodles already dressed: a pale broth, a slick of lard, and a dusting of something rust-coloured that turns out to be dried shrimp roe. The man at the next table stirs it in before his first bite, so the roe sinks and the broth goes faintly gold. This is breakfast in Wuhu (芜湖), a Yangtze port in Anhui that most travellers know only as a stop on the high-speed line between Nanjing and the Huangshan mountains. Two days on foot here take in a lake, two low hills, an old town still halfway through its rebuild, and a Ming pagoda standing on the spot where a small river runs into a very large one.

A breakfast of roe and broth beside Jinghu

Shrimp-roe noodles, xiazi mian (虾籽面), are the city's morning order, and the shops that serve them cluster around Jinghu (镜湖), the small lake at the centre of town. Gengfuxing (耿福兴) is the old name locals tend to point to, but the routine is the same in the plainer places: pay at the counter first, then carry your receipt to the window where the noodles come out of the pot. Expect an everyday price, and read the board above the counter rather than a menu someone photographed last year.

Order a steamer of xiaolong tangbao (小笼汤包) alongside. Wuhu's are small and thin-skinned, with enough soup inside that the safe method is to bite a small hole, tilt, and drink before you eat. A saucer of vinegar with shredded ginger usually comes with them. Afterwards, walk a slow lap of the lake while the retirees run through their tai chi with fans and the pedestrian stretch of Zhongshan Road (中山路步行街) is still mostly shutters.

Up Zheshan to the temple and the ochre pagoda

North of the lake rises Zheshan (赭山), a low hill named for the reddish soil that shows wherever the path is worn. The climb is short, on stone steps under camphor trees, and at this hour the people on it are regulars carrying thermos flasks and small radios. Near the top sits Guangji Temple (广济寺), a working Buddhist temple where incense is bought at a stall by the gate and lit in the courtyard braziers.

Behind the halls stands the Zhe Pagoda (赭塔), a slender brick tower that has become the city's postcard view. Walk around it rather than looking for a way in. The lower slopes are shared with the old campus of Anhui Normal University (安徽师范大学), so you pass students reading aloud on benches and dormitory windows hung with towels. Any entry fee and the opening times are set by the temple, so check the board at the gate, and dress modestly.

The old town south of the lake, half finished

Wuhu Old Town, Wuhu Gucheng (芜湖古城), sits just south of Jinghu and has been under reconstruction for a long while, which is exactly why it is worth the walk. Around Rulin Street (儒林街) you get grey-tiled shopfronts, tea counters and the new paving that many restored quarters share. One corner further on, the lanes get older, narrower and lived in, with bicycles chained to drainpipes and washing strung across doorways. These are homes, so look from the lane and do not step into courtyards uninvited.

Two local trades are worth looking for. The first is tiehua (铁画), Wuhu's iron pictures: pine branches and mountain scenes forged from black iron and mounted like ink paintings. Shops in and around the old town sell them in sizes from palm-sized to wall panels. The second is sunflower seeds. Shazi Guazi (傻子瓜子), the "fool's melon seeds" brand, started as a Wuhu street stall, and its shops sell roasted seeds by weight from open bins. Ask for a small bag and the cashier will weigh it in front of you.

Along the Qingyi River to Zhongjiang Pagoda

On the second morning, head west to the water. The Qingyi River (青弋江) runs through town and enters the Yangtze at its western edge, and on the point where the two meet stands Zhongjiang Pagoda (中江塔), a Ming-dynasty brick tower that once guided boats into the river mouth. From the bank you can see where the greener water of the smaller river meets the brown Yangtze, and barges loaded with sand and containers working upstream at little more than walking pace.

Beside the pagoda is the old Wuhu customs house (芜湖老海关), a late-Qing brick building with a clock tower from the years when Wuhu was one of the great rice ports on the river. From there the promenade of Binjiang Park (滨江公园) runs north along the Yangtze. By late afternoon it fills with kite flyers, anglers with long rods and square-dance groups setting up their speakers. Sit on the embankment steps and watch the light go down over the far bank. The whole itinerary fits in one line of Chinese:

早上一碗虾籽面，傍晚江边看塔。

Crane Hill and the old mission buildings

A short walk inland from the river, on the rise called He'ershan (鹤儿山), stands St Joseph's Cathedral, known locally as the Tianzhutang (天主堂). It is a red-and-grey brick church with twin towers, and it manages to look both out of place and completely at home. Services are still held here, and the parish sets its own visiting times, so check the notice at the gate and keep your voice down if anyone is praying.

Next door, Yugengshan (雨耕山) has a cluster of old mission and school buildings that now house cafés and studios. It is a good place to sit before the evening train. The terraces look back over the rooftops to the Yangtze bridges, which carry trains and traffic across to the north bank.

Getting there, getting around, and when to go

Wuhu Station (芜湖站) is on high-speed lines that connect the city with Nanjing, Hefei and Shanghai. The ride from Nanjing is short enough for a day trip, but this route is better with a night in between. Cities this size can have more than one station, so check the station name printed on your ticket. Book through 12306 or the official railway app, and check fares there rather than trusting figures quoted online. Wuhu's elevated monorail crosses the central districts and gives a rooftop view on the way. The operator's map will show the stop nearest Jinghu, and from the lake almost everything here is walkable.

Spring and autumn suit this route best. Summers on the middle Yangtze are humid and heavy, and the early-summer plum rains can last for days. Temples, the cathedral and any museum you add each set their own hours, so confirm with the venue or the city's official tourism account. The one mistake to avoid is treating the old town as a single restored street and leaving after twenty minutes. The rebuilt lanes are only the front. The unrestored alleys behind them are why you came, and they may not look the same next year.