China · Henan
Where to Stay in Kaifeng, Henan
Where to stay in Kaifeng
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Where you stay in Kaifeng turns on the old city. The streets inside the City Wall keep the temples, the pagodas, and the Song-themed parks within reach, and staying in the old town suits anyone here for the ancient capital. The night market fills the square after dark.
Rooms cluster near the walls and the lakes. Out toward the newer districts and the station, the city spreads into wide, plain streets. A room away from the centre trades the old town for malls, parking, and an easy way to Zhengzhou.
The plain opens flat past the suburbs. If you want the temples and the markets, stay in the old city; if you want the modern town, take a room outside. Either way, the old walls are close at hand.
About Kaifeng
Kaifeng was once the greatest city on earth.
What is Kaifeng known for?
As Bianjing, capital of the Northern Song, it held more than a million souls and dazzled the medieval world, and the tall Iron Pagoda and the Dragon Pavilion still stand from its long history. The Yellow River has buried the old city again and again. Glory and flood mark its past.
What are the main landmarks in Kaifeng?
The Iron Pagoda is Kaifeng's landmark. Its dark glazed-brick tower has stood for nearly a thousand years, the great sight of the city, above the northern plain. Song splendour fills the parks.
The Dragon Pavilion crowns the imperial grounds, the Daxiangguo Temple keeps its old halls, and Millennium City Park brings the painted world of the Qingming scroll to life.
What is the history of Kaifeng?
Kaifeng once ruled all of China. As Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song, it grew into the richest and most crowded city in the world a thousand years ago, its markets and canals painted in the famous scroll of the Qingming festival. A million people lived within its walls.
The great Iron Pagoda and the Daxiangguo Temple rose in those golden years, and merchants, scholars, and even a community of Jews made their homes in the city. Then the river turned against it. The Yellow River burst its banks and buried Kaifeng in silt again and again over the centuries, so that the old capitals lie stacked one beneath another under the modern streets.
War and flood ended its glory. The Song fled south, invaders sacked the town, and the greatest floods drowned it whole, yet the people always rebuilt on the ruins. The City Wall of Kaifeng and the Dragon Pavilion still recall the imperial age.
Kaifeng still recalls its days as the heart of the world.
Where is Kaifeng?
Kaifeng lies on the flood plain of the Yellow River. The city spreads across the flat, fertile land of eastern Henan, just south of the great river that runs high above the plain behind its dykes. Wheat fields stretch to the horizon.
The river hangs over the city like a threat.
What is the climate of Kaifeng?
A dry continental climate settles over Kaifeng. Hot, wet summers bring the monsoon rains to the plain, and the winters turn cold and dry under grey northern skies, with dust blowing off the fields in spring. Storms swell the great river in summer.
The seasons swing hard on the plain.
How do you get to Kaifeng?
Kaifeng lies just east of Zhengzhou in central China. Fast trains and freeways link the two cities in minutes, and the rail lines run on across the plain to the coast and the capital. Buses reach the towns along the Yellow River.
Most arrive by rail from Zhengzhou.
Good for
More cities in Henan
Updated August 2026