Meet in Luoyang, Encounter the Beauty of Peonies

Throughout history, countless literati have praised the richness and beauty of peonies in poetry. When it comes to admiring peonies, Luoyang, as the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, known as the 'Millennium Capital, City of Peonies', is naturally the top choice.

In less than 10 days, Luoyang will usher in its annual highlight—the 39th China Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival (April 5 to May 5). 'When the flowers bloom and fall in twenty days, the whole city goes mad.' Luoyang is full of spring colors, with peonies alone standing out. This time, GreenTree has selected the best spots, precisely located, to take you on a tour of Luoyang's peonies.

At the early blooming stage, Wangcheng Park is definitely the best choice. Entering the park, you'll find a garden of rare fragrances, with flowers competing in beauty. Amidst a sea of crimson, a cluster of unique green stands proudly, overshadowing all other peonies. This green cluster is the park's treasure, 'Guose Tianxiang'. Unlike other white or red peony varieties, it is green, shaped like a hydrangea, with a plain green appearance like a noble lady's layered gauze, as thin as cicada wings, stacked layer by layer spreading outward. A single plant is expensive, a top-grade flower.

If you can't 'pick flowers when they bloom,' then grind the fragrant scent into your mouth. After visiting Wangcheng Park, you can take a bus to the nearby Luoyang Old City to taste Ding Jia Lao Hao's flower-shaped pastries, bringing a handful of floral fragrance between your lips and teeth. The red peony filling has a light and elegant fragrance, contrasting with the flower's usual gaudy richness, like removing heavy makeup, fragrant but not greasy; the white peony filling is generous, clear and sweet, resembling the flower's original tranquility and indifference to competing with others.

1. Gemei Luoyang Longmen High-Speed Rail Station University Town Hotel / Address: Intersection of Yiluo Road and Yingzhou Road, Luolong District, Luoyang, Henan Province

2. GreenTree Inn Luoyang Railway Station Wangfujing Wangcheng Park Hotel / Address: No. 8 Hantun Road, Xigong District, Luoyang, Henan Province

Having a place for early blooming, how can we ignore the peak blooming period? During the peak bloom, you must visit Shenzhou Peony Garden. The garden adopts the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty, with landscape gardens, and has over 400,000 peonies of more than 1,000 varieties. In ancient times, the emperor's harem of three thousand beauties must have been just such a grand sight—gorgeous, delicate, plain, elegant, all in various poses, too many to take in.

In addition to the thousands of peony varieties, the garden also has a Peony Culture Zone where you can learn in detail the glorious history of peony development over a thousand years. You can also see the unique world's longest hundred-meter national essence corridor—Tang Sancai peony murals and the rare peony stone formed over hundreds of millions of years.

Coming all this way just for peonies might not be satisfying enough. The first ancient temple in China—White Horse Temple, the 'Central Plains Ferry' Luoyi Ancient City, the 'First Gate under Heaven'—Yingtian Gate, and the 'Tang Dynasty Ruins'—Jiuzhou Pool are all close by. Facing the solemn ancient city, it feels like seeing emperors of successive dynasties enthroned here a thousand years ago, receiving envoys from all nations. These historical sites allow you to travel across time, as if you were a thousand years ago, achieving a time-travel journey.

GreenTree Inn Luoyang Jiudu East Road White Horse Temple Zhixuan Hotel / Address: No. 34 Jiudu East Road, Chanhe District, Luoyang, Henan Province

The National Peony Garden is known as the peony gene bank. The most famous relic from the Sui Dynasty, the 'Thousand-Year Peony King,' is preserved here. It is over 2.5 meters tall, with flower diameters of 13-20 cm, and a blooming period of over a month. Up close, you can see layers of petals and huge flower bodies. From afar, the flowers are bright and charming. Words like 'elegant and magnificent, national beauty' are far from the actual experience of seeing the peonies' noble and refined temperament.

If beautiful flowers are a gift of nature, the Longmen Grottoes are a treasure of human art. It is a World Cultural Heritage site, one of the three major Buddhist grotto art treasures in China, and a 'milestone' of Chinese grotto art. The incomplete outlines, blurred inscriptions, and traces of time do not affect its awe-inspiring dignity.

GreenTree Inn Luoyang Railway Station Zhuangyuanhong Road Business Hotel / Address: Northwest corner of Zhuangyuanhong Road and Jingliu Road, Old City District, Luoyang, Henan Province

Flowers bloom and fall, so don't miss the late-blooming International Peony Garden. As the largest late-blooming peony garden in the Central Plains and a premier garden of Chinese and foreign peonies, the garden grows more than 100 varieties of peonies from home and abroad, totaling over 100,000 plants. If you're tired of the common red, white, pink, and yellow, there are also purple, green, black, and multi-colored series to feast your eyes on. Various unique 'flower kings' are everywhere, ensuring you won't regret the trip and will leave fully satisfied.

After visiting the International Peony Garden, you can also drop by the Luoyang Folk Museum. It is the largest and best-preserved ancient building complex in Luoyang city. The entire building is covered with gray tiles, trimmed with glazed tiles, decorated with glazed dragon and phoenix ridge ornaments, paved with square bricks, and bordered with bluestone. As a national key cultural relic protection unit, it displays Luoyang's folk customs, with collections of bamboo and wood, coins, bones, calligraphy and painting, gold and silverware, and embroidery. It has strong Central Plains local characteristics and is full of the spirit of the times.

GreenTree Inn Luoyang Luolong District University Town Zhangheng Street Express Hotel / Address: Intersection of Kaiyuan Avenue and Zhangheng Street, Luoyang, Henan Province

Besides spring flower viewing, Henan is actually a tourist city suitable for all seasons. Ruyang Dinosaur National Geopark is a great place for family outings and vacations, and its viewing time is not limited to one season.

Ruyang Dinosaur National Geopark focuses on the protection of dinosaur fossil sites, supplemented by granite landform landscape and stratigraphic sections. It is a comprehensive geopark integrating ecology, human landscapes, science popularization, and dinosaur entertainment.

The park has discovered 10 genera and species of dinosaur fossils, with over 130 fossil sites. Six genera and species of dinosaur fossils have been excavated and named. Standing on the back of these dinosaurs, billions of years of change, fierce Tyrannosaurus rex, robust Stegosaurus, giant thunder dinosaurs—these ancient rulers have taken a time tunnel, waiting for 200 million years to recreate the Jurassic dinosaur world.

GreenTree Inn Luoyang Ruyang County Dujuan Avenue Business Hotel / Address: East section of Dujuan Avenue, Ruyang County, Luoyang, Henan Province, west of the new courthouse

Travel Notes Directory: 1. NO.1 Wangcheng Park 2. NO.2 Shenzhou Peony Garden 3. NO.3 National Peony Garden 4. NO.4 International Peony Garden 5. NO.5 Henan Ruyang Dinosaur National Geopark. Travel Information: Hotel Index, Strategy Index, Airline Index, Website Navigation, Travel Index, Cruise Index, Corporate Travel Index, Franchise Cooperation, Distribution Alliance, Friendly Links, Corporate Gift Card Procurement, Insurance Agency, Agency Cooperation, Hotel Franchise, Destination and Scenic Area Cooperation, More Franchise Cooperation. About Ctrip: About Ctrip, Ctrip Hotspots, Contact Us, Careers, User Agreement, Privacy Policy, Business License, Safety Center, Ctrip Content Center, Intellectual Property, Trip.com Group Algorithm Publicity.