Travel Notes
交通ルート

五一はどこへ？まだ聞いたことのないかもしれない8つのとっておきの目的地

Stop Squeezing into West Lake. Listen to Me.

Every May Day, you’re probably stuck in the same dilemma: go somewhere and face the crowds, or stay home and waste the holiday.

Here’s a number for you: during the 2024 May Day holiday, 295 million trips were taken across China. The Forbidden City, West Lake, the Bund — go there and all you’ll see is the back of someone’s head. But China is vast, and there are always places where the scenery rivals any influencer hotspot with a tenth of the crowd.

This isn’t a travel agency ad. These are places my friends and I have actually tested over the past few May Day holidays. Every one personally visited — and I’ll tell you about the pitfalls too.

Pingtan Island: Chasing Blue Tears

Where to Go for May Day? 8 Hidden Gems You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Location: Fuzhou, Fujian — drive straight across the cross-sea bridge

Have you heard of “Blue Tears”? Every April to June, Pingtan Island’s beaches glow with vast stretches of fluorescent blue — bioluminescent algae triggered by waves. Walk barefoot into it, and every step creates a halo of blue light. May Day falls right in peak season.

Blue Tears trended multiple times on Weibo in 2024, but Pingtan’s visitor numbers are still far below Xiamen’s Gulangyu. The island’s stone houses (traditional dwellings built from local stone) are worth exploring too, and Beigang Creative Village has interesting independent cafés and craft shops.

Pitfall alert: Blue Tears don’t appear every night — they depend on water temperature, wind, and tides. Check the “Pingtan Blue Tears Forecast” mini-program before going, so you don’t make a wasted trip.

Budget: ~1500-2500 RMB for 3 days

Jingxi: Guangxi’s Hidden “Little Guilin”

Location: Baise, Guangxi — 3.5 hours from Nanning

Guilin’s landscapes are the finest under heaven — but Guilin’s May Day crowds are also the finest under heaven. Jingxi has the same karst scenery, yet it’s so quiet it feels forgotten by the world.

Eqüan Spring is one of China’s most beautiful springs — water surging from underground, crystal clear to the bottom, surrounded by emerald rice paddies and black karst peaks. Tongling Grand Canyon has a 188-meter waterfall; walking along the canyon floor and looking up, the sky narrows to a slit. On Embroidered Ball Street in Old Jiuzhou Town, Zhuang grandmothers sit at their doorsteps hand-stitching embroidered balls, stitch by stitch, exactly as they did centuries ago.

Budget: ~1200-2000 RMB for 3 days (yes, that cheap)

Libo: The Emerald on Earth’s Belt

Where to Go for May Day? 8 Hidden Gems You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Location: Qiannan, Guizhou — 2.5 hours by high-speed rail from Guiyang

The water at Libo’s Small Seven Holes is so green it doesn’t look real. Sixty-eight cascading waterfalls layer upon layer, Wolong Pool’s water blends blue and green as if God spilled a palette. It’s a World Natural Heritage site, but because transportation isn’t the most convenient, May Day crowds are far lighter than Zhangjiajie.

The natural bridge at Big Seven Holes is magnificent, and you can hike through the Maolan Karst Primeval Forest — with luck, you might stumble upon a Yao village bonfire gathering.

Pitfall alert: Inside Small Seven Holes, you must take the scenic shuttle — walking the whole route takes 6+ hours. Tickets are 130 RMB; buy online in advance.

Budget: ~1500-2500 RMB for 3 days

Quanzhou: Half City of Incense, Half City of Gods

Location: Quanzhou, Fujian — direct via Fuzhou-Xiamen high-speed rail

Quanzhou became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021, but its visitor numbers are still dwarfed by Xiamen. The most enchanting thing about this city is that every three steps you’ll bump into a temple — Kaiyuan Temple’s East and West Pagodas, Qingjing Mosque’s Islamic dome, Guanyue Temple’s swirling incense — Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, and Christianity coexisting peacefully on the same street for a thousand years.

The hair flower experience in Xunpu Village was a 2024 social media sensation — local fishing village women have worn fresh flower garlands in their hair for generations, and you can try it too. The photos come out better than any filter.

As for food — mianxianhu (noodle paste), tusuandong (sea worm jelly), shaorouzong (meat rice dumplings), curou (vinegar pork) — Quanzhou might be the most underrated food city in China.

Budget: ~1500-2500 RMB for 3 days (most attractions are free!)

Gannan: “Tibet” Without Entering Tibet

Location: Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu — 4 hours from Lanzhou

Want Tibetan scenery without altitude sickness? Gannan’s average elevation is 2,900 meters — 700 meters lower than Lhasa. Most people won’t have noticeable symptoms.

Zhagana is a Tibetan village embraced by stone mountains — it went viral on Douyin and Xiaohongshu in 2024, but May Day is still early season with few tourists. Labrang Monastery is one of the six great Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, with a prayer wheel corridor stretching 3.5 kilometers — the longest in the world. Sangke Grassland just turns green around May Day; tender grass against distant snow-capped mountains, so pristine it could make you cry.

Pitfall alert: Gannan has extreme temperature swings — May Day daytime might be 20°C, nighttime could drop below zero. Definitely bring a heavy jacket.

Budget: ~2000-3500 RMB for 4 days

Liuzhou: Traveling to a City for a Bowl of Noodles

Location: Liuzhou, Guangxi — 1 hour by high-speed rail from Guilin

Liuzhou is the hometown of luosifen (river snail rice noodles). A bowl of authentic luosifen here costs just 8 to 15 yuan, and every shop tastes different — some aggressively sour-spicy, some gently savory, some so stinky you question your life choices but still want another bowl when you’re done.

But Liuzhou isn’t just about noodles. The Hundred-Li Liu River night view rivals many first-tier cities, Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge (in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County) is one of China’s most beautiful covered bridges — built entirely with mortise-and-tenon joints, not a single nail. Late April might still catch the tail end of bauhinia season, when the entire city is draped in pink-purple.

Budget: ~1000-1800 RMB for 3 days (probably the cheapest on this list)

Xiapu: A Sea Farm Painted in Light

Location: Ningde, Fujian — 1.5 hours by high-speed rail from Fuzhou

Xiapu’s mudflats are a photographer’s holy ground. After the tide recedes, rows of seaweed racks and kelp farms emerge on the beach, and in sunrise or sunset light, the entire scene looks like an abstract oil painting. Beiqi, Xiaohao, Dongbi — each mudflat catches light from different angles, and you could chase the sun photographing all day.

Around May Day is purple laver harvest season — fishermen working on the mudflats, silhouetted against golden light and silver water. Point and shoot, and every frame is a masterpiece.

Pitfall alert: Best shooting spots require early rising (arrive before sunrise), and some mudflat viewpoints charge a fee (5-20 RMB) maintained by local villagers. Don’t feel ripped off — maintaining those platforms isn’t easy.

Budget: ~1200-2000 RMB for 3 days

Tengchong: Hot Springs on a Volcano

Location: Baoshan, Yunnan — 1 hour flight from Kunming

Tengchong sits atop a volcanic cluster with absurdly rich geothermal resources. At Rehai (Hot Sea) scenic area, the Great Boiling Pot reaches 97°C — you can buy eggs and peanuts nearby and cook them directly in the spring water. After soaking in hot springs, head to Heshun Ancient Town — this 600-year-old overseas Chinese hometown is so quiet time seems to have stopped.

Heshun’s library is China’s largest village library, built in 1928 and still operating today. The jade market is worth browsing too — Tengchong is one of China’s largest jade trading centers. Even if you don’t buy, it’s an education.

Budget: ~2000-3000 RMB for 4 days

A Few Honest Words to Close

Du Fu wrote, “I shall ascend the summit and see all mountains small below.” But for May Day travel, you don’t have to climb the highest peak — sometimes, that unknown little village at the foot of the mountain shows you a bigger world.

Book high-speed rail tickets early (they sell out instantly on release day), book accommodation early (fewer options at lesser-known destinations), and travel off-peak (leaving May 2nd is ten times more comfortable than May 1st).

Happy May Day. Don’t spend it staring at the back of someone’s head.

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