Exploring Villages, Staying in Homestays, Picking Fruits, Tasting Delicacies: This Is How to Play in Yuancheng, Heyuan, Guangdong!

Heyuan, located in the northeast of Guangdong, the middle and upper reaches of the Dongjiang River, and the upper reaches of the Hanjiang River. The jurisdiction of Heyuan has lush vegetation and abundant water resources, with the Dongjiang and Xinfeng Rivers running through the entire area. The ecological environment is excellent, with air quality and water environment quality consistently maintaining superior levels. It is the only city in Guangdong without acid rain, and also an important ecological barrier and drinking water source for the province. Heyuan is home to the Xinfengjiang Reservoir and Fengshuba Reservoir, the two largest reservoirs in Guangdong, and has been awarded the title of "China's High-Quality Drinking Water Resource Development Base." It boasts a large number of ecological and cultural tourism attractions, with its collection of dinosaur egg fossils recorded in the Guinness World Records, earning it the title of "Hometown of Chinese Dinosaurs."

As a "China Excellent Tourism City," Heyuan boasts rich and diverse tourism resources. In early November, we gathered for a rural tour of Yuancheng, Heyuan, and reaped many unexpected delights.

Yuancheng, a district of Heyuan City in Guangdong, is located in the southern part of Heyuan, at the confluence of the middle and upper reaches of the Dongjiang River and the Xinfeng River, within the Heyuan Basin. Yuancheng District has a long history and profound culture, being one of the earliest settlements of Hakka ancestors. It is also the political, economic, and cultural center of the Hakka ancient city and the green Heyuan.

To explore Yuancheng, we visited attractions such as Bavaria Manor, Ketime International Tourism Resort, Yequgou Tourism Area, Chunmuyuan Lingnan Eco-Town, Music Fountain, Taiping Ancient Street, Lexin Farm, Fuyuan Orchard, Beijiao Village, and Shangcun Village. We enjoyed amusement parks, toured villages, stayed in homestays, picked fruits, tasted delicacies, and experienced the pleasures of Yuancheng's rural boutique tourism.

Day 1: Bavaria Manor — Music Fountain — Taiping Ancient Street — Rural April Homestay, etc.

Bavaria Manor:

Upon arriving at Bavaria Manor, the strong Bavarian town atmosphere made me feel as if I had traveled to a small Bavarian city in southern Germany. Heyuan Bavaria Manor covers an area of 10 square kilometers, built by a local enterprise with an investment of 10 billion yuan. Designed with traditional Bavarian architectural style as the main theme, it focuses on the concepts of "health and wellness, Zen cultivation, and resort living," creating a comprehensive resort paradise with themes of "internet, joyful living, flower sea farm, sports education, and health and wellness." Here, you can experience various styles of hotels, a wide range of amusement facilities, and diverse hot springs. Without leaving the manor, you can enjoy a series of vacation experiences including eating, drinking, playing, and shopping. It is very suitable for weekend family trips and leisure vacations.

Music Fountain, Taiping Ancient Street, Ehu Park, etc.:

To explore Yuancheng, I recommend visiting attractions like Bavaria Manor, Ketime, and Chunmuyuan Town during the day. At night, I suggest checking out Taiping Ancient Street, Taohua Shuimu Theater, Dongmen City Tower, Ehu Park, "Cantonese Chef Street," and the Xinfeng River Fountain to experience Yuancheng's night economy and nightlife.

Among them, Taiping Ancient Street is well worth a visit. Originally built during the Qing Dynasty, it has a long history and rich cultural heritage, known as one of the "Four Treasures of Heyuan Old City." The street is centered on Republic-era architecture, with the buildings along the street mainly featuring arcade style, incorporating local Hakka cultural characteristics. Now, shops are interspersed, offering a dazzling array of goods, making it the busiest commercial district in Yuancheng and a popular check-in spot for young people. After a century of vicissitudes, the once prosperous old street has been renovated, combining classic and popular, nostalgic and fashionable, traditional folk customs and modern sentiment, becoming a cultural tourism consumption cluster and commercial complex integrating business, tourism, culture, dining, and leisure.

Rural April Homestay:

To experience rural life in Yuancheng, we stayed at Rural April Homestay on the first night. In the traditional Hakka courtyard, pavilions, towers, small bridges, flowing water, green plants, and flowers are delicately arranged. Decorated with traditional old items and a stylish outdoor swimming pool, the dappled shadows of trees showcase a pastoral rural charm, full of unique flavor.

Strolling in such a rural living environment, feeling the traces of time and the flow of time, away from worldly distractions, slowing down to rest, brings great comfort.

Day 2: Chunmuyuan Town — Shangcun Village (Luo Huanrong's Former Residence, Red Culture Museum) — Lexin Farm, Fuyuan Orchard — Lian'an Xiyue Manor Hot Spring Homestay

Chunmuyuan Town:

Located on Chunmuyuan Avenue, Puqian Town, Yuancheng District, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, Chunmuyuan Town covers an area of 3800 acres of natural beauty with thousands of streams and deep valleys. It is an art life town themed on "vacation and wellness."

The town boasts stunning mountain and water valley resources. It is a grand practice of earth art gathering mountains, forests, meadows, bamboo, and hot springs; a wild paradise with a valley of styles, a river of art, a forest of active living, and a hill of creativity; a wild luxury journey gathering hotels, parks, boxes, art galleries, and other international avant-garde lifestyles.

Currently, supporting facilities include three hotels: Chunmuyuan Palm Tree Hotel, Chunmuyuan Blue Grape Hotel, and Chunmuyuan Heyue Manor Hotel, as well as Green Apple Paradise, Owner's Canteen, Hotpot Restaurant, Western Restaurant, Bar, Film Theater, Dragon Bone Paradise, Indoor Golf, Yacht Club, Youth Hostel, Morse Coffee, Bakery, Supermarket, etc.

At Chunmuyuan, a particularly recommended attraction is Dragon Bone Paradise, a water park for children integrating ecological culture, technology display, and sports experience. It is both a fun children's park and an open-air natural museum. The park is themed around dinosaur culture, with interactive facilities like dragon bone playground equipment, a dragon bone excavation sand garden, and dinosaur footprint wading pools. Dinosaur elements are presented in different forms within the venue, providing children with an educational and entertaining gaming experience.

In addition, the Green Apple art installation created by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando is not to be missed. This is the first "Eternal Youth" Green Apple art installation to land in China, and the third "Green Apple" to land in an Ando architectural base worldwide. Standing on the lakeside lawn, the "Green Apple," as Tadao Ando said, makes everyone who gazes upon it, no matter what stage of life they are in, remember their youthful, ambitious, and energetic state in their twenties or thirties, and recall the meaning of "youth." With the "Green Apple" as a symbol, may everyone possess a "youthful heart" like Tadao Ando, pursuing their hearts in youthful passion forever, with vitality and energy, and keep running forward.

The villages in Yuancheng boast stunning natural beauty, and many are worth exploring. Our group chose Shangcun Village in Puqian Town, Yuancheng District. Located at the southwestern end of Puqian Town, it is the hometown of revolutionary martyr Luo Huanrong and combat hero Luo Huasheng. It is now a cultural tourism characteristic village in Guangdong Province and a red village in Guangdong.

As a red culture education base in Heyuan City, Shangcun Village has attractions such as Luo's Ancestral Hall, Red Culture Square, and Red Culture Museum. Among them, the Red Culture Museum was originally an old building built during the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, with a history of over 150 years. The first floor exhibition hall displays party history and an exhibition hall on the life deeds of Luo Huanrong, making it a red culture party building education base with contemporary significance.

Lexin Farm, Fuyuan Orchard:

Yuancheng has an excellent natural ecology, and its villages are skilled at mobilizing societal forces to participate in rural revitalization. Puqian Town has attracted external investment to successfully create modern comprehensive leisure farms like Lexin Farm and Fuyuan Orchard, which integrate fruit picking and are popular among surrounding tourists.

Lexin Farm is located on Pupo Road, Puqian Village, Puqian Town, Yuancheng District, Heyuan City. It provides eco-agricultural tourism services such as accommodation, dining, poultry, aquatic products, fruit tree, and vegetable cultivation. At Lexin Farm, you can pick grapes, camp, barbecue, taste farmhouse dishes, and bring children to experience hand-ground soy milk, fishing, natural painting, animal feeding, and natural farming activities.

Fuyuan Orchard is located at the intersection of Shangcun, Puqian Town, Yuancheng District, Heyuan City. It is a leisure farm focusing on the cultivation of tropical and subtropical fruits, covering an area of about 1,000 mu. It mainly grows high-quality fruits such as large-fruited loquat, red-fleshed dragon fruit, Thai honey pomelo, Taiwan jujube, American mango, Hawaiian fruit papaya, Taiwan sweet peach, eagle-billed honey peach, bayberry, seedless wampee, etc. It is one of the larger leisure orchards in Heyuan City, Guangdong Province, providing tourists with fruit picking, camping, barbecue, team building, research practice, labor education, science education, and parent-child activities, making it very suitable for parent-child research trips.

Lian'an Xiyue Manor Hot Spring Homestay:

Occupying the hinterland of Heyuan Ketime International Tourism Resort, Heyuan Ketime Lian'an Xiyue Manor Hot Spring Homestay sits on a beautiful "heart"-shaped island with lush vegetation, birdsong and floral fragrance, fresh air, tranquility amidst bustle, and high privacy. Stepping into this place gives you the feeling of being in a resort hotel in Bali.

The more than twenty standalone villas of "Lian'an Xiyue Manor" are scattered in the dense forest, some built by the lake, some surrounded by woods. The private courtyard-style rooms are perfectly integrated into nature, blending with the ecological environment. Surrounded by lake water and flowing streams, the garden area accounts for more than 85%, making it very suitable for vacation.

The homestay design has a unique flavor. Both the outdoor environment and indoor decoration incorporate a strong Southeast Asian style. Each villa has its own private hot spring pool, with rare radon hot spring water drawn directly from 300 meters underground into the room. With the tent curtains, candles, and the outdoor forest-like natural feeling in the room and pool area, every snapshot exudes a full internet-famous vibe.

After staying in a bustling city for a long time, coming here for a couple of days is definitely an ideal vacation choice.

Day 3: Ketime Tourism Resort — Yequgou Tourism Area — Xiangche Meiren Tea Base, Chongzhi Tea Garden — Yang's Small Courtyard, Shuxiang Garden

Ketime Tourism Resort:

Located at the foot of Heyuan Shuijing Mountain, Heyuan Ketime International Tourism Resort is adjacent to natural oxygen bars such as Wanlv Lake, Qizhai Lake, and Gui Mountain, making it one of the most famous tourist areas in the region. Relying on Heyuan's natural resources of mountains, water, lakes, and hot springs, the resort has built a beautiful town integrating vacation, wellness, and investment. It is a comprehensive leisure resort suitable for tourism, entertainment, wellness, and living. Covering an area of 8,000 mu, Ketime Resort consists of Hot Spring Town, Hakka Town, five major dinosaur-themed parks, and special leisure experience areas. It focuses on dinosaur culture, Hakka culture, wedding culture, ecological culture, and wellness culture, divided into nine scenic areas: Original Radon Hot Spring, Dinosaur Water Park, Ice and Snow World, Dinosaur Adventure Park, Nanyue King Palace Wellness Hall, Hakka Town, Zuidegu Manor, Off-road Vehicle Club, and Training and Expansion Base. A visit to Heyuan Ketime allows you to check in various attractions at once, gaining a rich and diverse leisure vacation experience, making it very suitable for family trips.

Yequgou Tourism Area:

Located in Luokeng, Yuancheng District, at the northern part of the main peak of Daguishan, Yequgou Scenic Area is about 10 kilometers from Heyuan city center. Covering a total area of 5 square kilometers, it faces the vast Wanlv Lake and is surrounded by undulating, majestic mountains. Ancient vines and giant trees shade the sky, and waterfalls and springs cascade in layers. With its unique primitive natural landscape of strange trees, odd rocks, deep valleys, and beautiful waters, it showcases wild joy to release life's happiness, wild mystery to interpret ecological culture, and wild beauty to display natural charm. It is a veritable natural oxygen bar and an excellent place for forest adventures.

Xiangche Meiren Tea Base, Chongzhi Tea Garden:

Xiangche Meiren Tea Base is located in Caojundong Group, Bailingtou Village, Yuancheng District, Heyuan City, covering an area of 1,500 mu. It currently has 650 mu of well-grown tea gardens with 8-year-old tea trees. It mainly engages in the cultivation, production, processing, and sale of tea, organizing tea culture activities, and carrying out tea wellness, leisure experience, and science popularization activities. It is a good place for the public to learn about tea culture and receive scientific knowledge.

Chongzhi Tea Garden is located in Yuannan Town, Yuancheng District, Heyuan City, adjacent to Qizhai Lake Park, only 15 kilometers from the city center. Chongzhi Tea Garden is a comprehensive cultural tourism project integrating food, accommodation, learning, and entertainment, relying on a thousand-mu tea garden.

The tea garden features Bai Tea Garden, Guishan Tea Culture Museum, Guishan Tea Intangible Heritage Workshop, Guishan Tea Standardized Production Workshop, as well as facilities such as a restaurant, fishing ground, barbecue ground, and homestay, with complete functions. The tea garden fully explores the cultural connotation of Guishan tea, protects the tea culture ecology, develops the tea culture industry, and promotes tea culture tourism, allowing visitors to breathe fresh air, appreciate the fragrance of tea, experience the skills of picking, frying, and brewing tea, get close to nature, and feel the charm of tea culture!

Yang's Small Courtyard, Shuxiang Garden:

Yang's Small Courtyard Homestay is located in Huangnitan Group, Beijiao Village, Puqian Town, Yuancheng District, Heyuan City, Guangdong Province. It is adjacent to the three major scenic spots of Chunmuyuan, Bavaria, and Ketime, and is only an 8-minute drive from the Pugian exit of the Ganyue Expressway, making transportation and location very convenient.

The homestay mainly features Huizhou architectural style and Jiangnan garden design. Because the host has a fondness for Huizhou architecture, he specially hired Huizhou architectural masters to carefully design and carve, and transported building materials from Anhui for assembly and construction. After careful crafting, this unique boutique homestay was formed.

Strolling in Yang's Small Courtyard, the environment is quiet, with green trees and flowers, pavilions and towers, rural fields and streams, and music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, displaying a fresh and quiet rural living atmosphere, full of pastoral and artistic charm!

Green bricks, small tiles, horse-head walls, corridor grilles, hanging flowers, and window partitions, small bridges, flowing water, and houses – this is the true portrayal of Yang's Small Courtyard. Staying here, you can enjoy the lush vegetable and fruit fields, the line of mountains and water, morning and evening, and find peace of mind.

When staying at Yang's Small Courtyard, you can also visit the "Half an Acre of Sweet Garden" attraction in Beijiao Village, which has amusement facilities, children's facilities, Shuxiang Garden, small trains, and tea and snacks. You can enjoy the pleasant time of fragrant vegetables and poetic fields in Beijiao.

Finally, it's important to remind you that when visiting Yuancheng, you must not miss the local food. Yuancheng is dotted with various restaurants and farmhouses, offering many choices to suit all budgets. The dishes are mostly authentic Hakka cuisine. Hakka stuffed tofu, Wanlv Lake fish, and Wuzhimaotao chicken soup are especially recommended local delicacies.

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