Description : A relaxed province capital with a few sights and lively market.

Comments : This might be one of the most peaceful province capital of China but this is also one of the less interesting... The few sights might be worth a quick stopover but if you miss them, do not loose any sleep.

What to do : Buy your train ticket / Visit the museum / Climb the pagoda / Get lost in the market / Degust ice creams / Shop in the pedestrian streets / Relax in your hotel room

What you may not like : The distance between the old city and the new city / Being here instead of more interesting places /

How long ? Half a day is enough...

Where to stay ?

• Hao Yuan Hotel (602 1286), near the Bus Station and the South Gate / Dorm 15 (4) without bath / Bed 26 (3) with shower / Dbl 60, 76 (tel) or 110 (air cond..) / OK toilets / Common bath / HW morning, noon & evening // Go there for the great comfortable rooms at very reasonable prices and the best location in town, near the markets. / What you may not like : paying an additional 16Y for having a telephone in your room (but without, how can professional girls contact you ?)

• Yinchuan Hotel (602 3035), opposite the Post Office on Jiefang Road / Without bath : 29 or 39 Sgl, 48 or 50 Dbl, 75 Trpl / With bath : 80 or 86 Sgl, 98 or 108 Dbl, 120 Trpl / OK toilets / Common shower / HW 7 to 24 // Go there for the cheapest Sgl or Dbl without bath in town, the proximity to the ice cream parlor, the terrace in some of the rooms... / What you may not like : not getting the best deal in town for rooms with bath

• Yinchuan Railway Hotel (306 9119), near the train station / Bed 35(3) or 50(2) with bath / Sgl with bath 100 / HW 7 to 1am // Go there if you want to stay next to your train and for the relatively nice rooms. / What you may not like : the ugly and boring surroundings...
  

Hao Yuan Hotel	hao yuan
Yinchuan hotel	yinchuan fandian
Railway Hotel	tielu binguan

What to see/visit ?

• Haibao Pagoda & monastery : (3), Y2 (monastery), Y5 (climb pagoda, Exp)

• Ningxia Museum & Chengtian Monastery : (3), Y1 (entrance), Y5 (museum), Y3 (climb pagoda)

• Nanguan Mosque : (3), Y5, Exp / A look from outside will do...

Where to eat ? The night market is the place to head for meals but you might want to go back near the Yinchuan Hotel for an iced dessert (good slices 2Y) and cold draft beer (Y2.5)

Internet ? China Telecom, intersection between Zhongshan Beijie and Hubin Jie, Y9 an hour plus Y50 deposit. 


Bus Schedules :

Notes : To Lanzhou, sleeper at 18:30 / To Baotou, sleeper at 15 / To Hohhot via Baotou 

Trains << Click there

The trip to Baotou East : Train / Night / Y137 / 8 hours

Difficult to buy a sleeper ticket in Yinchuan for the same evening. It should be however possible to get an upgrade once on the train but this would require that you catch the staff attention as plenty of Chinese will have the same objective as you but more experience in pushing other people away...

Whatever the ticket you buy, make sure you ask for "Baotou Dong" (Baotou East Station) as this is where the bus station is. If you get off at Baotou East with a Baotou ticket, you will be asked to upgrade your ticket at a ridiculous cost of Y9 (1Y for the ticket but Y8 for the service), even so you might manage to leave the railway via the entrance way...

Spending some times at the train station might enable you to watch an old steam locomotive in action, probably the best sight of Baotou...

See also trip from Zhongwei to Yinchuan...