Dalian: the pearl of the Yellow Sea

A former Russian and then Japanese concession, Dalian remains one of the greenest and most elegant coastal cities of northern China.

The center, nicknamed the pearl of the Yellow Sea, can be comfortably visited by subway.

The Zhongshan Square, surrounded by early twentieth-century Russian and Japanese-style buildings, remains the architectural heart of the city's colonial period.

A short walk away, the Binhai Scenic Trail, which hugs the cliffs for over twenty kilometers, offers some of China's most celebrated views of the Yellow Sea.

Following the coast, you reach Xinghai Beach, among the city's most popular beaches, with a long pier extending into the sea.

As evening arrives, the Dalian Maritime Museum, among China's largest, displays sharks and whales in expansive aquariums.

Dalian fell under Russian control in 1898, then Japanese after the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and both powers left an architectural imprint still visible in the city's historic center.

The Binhai Scenic Pathway, one of China's longest coastal routes, winds through cliffs, beaches, and pine forests, making Dalian one of the preferred summer destinations for tourists from northern China.