Old Town & Lijingmen: tickets, hours and how to visit
Rebuilt Tang-style streets, water banquet restaurants, and the night food street.
Old Town & Lijingmen at a glance
Rebuilt Tang-style streets, water banquet restaurants, and the night food street. Plan on 2 hours here, plus half an hour either side for entry, security and parking.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tickets | Free to walk. Some courtyard houses and the drum tower charge CNY 20–30. |
| Opening hours | Shops from 10:00; the food street peaks 18:00–22:00. Lijingmen gate lit until 22:30. |
| Time needed | 2 hours; 3 if you eat your way down the street. |
| City | Luoyang, China |
What to see
Three things carry this sight. If you are short on time, do them in this order.
- Lijingmen gatethe rebuilt Tang-style gate, best photographed at dusk
- The water banquet restaurants24 dishes served as soups, the local ceremonial meal
- The lanes behind the main streetactual residents, cheaper food, no English menus
Tickets and booking
How the ticket works, and what foreigners usually get wrong.
Before you buy
- Price. Free to walk. Some courtyard houses and the drum tower charge CNY 20–30.
- Booking. The main street is a reconstruction built for tourists and the restaurants on it charge accordingly. Walk one block west to the lanes around Xigong Street for the same food at half the price, cooked for people who live there.
- Payment. Most Chinese sights take WeChat Pay or Alipay only. Cash works at staffed windows but not at self-service machines; a licensed guide can pay on your behalf and settle with you at the end of the day.
Getting there and when to go
In the old city, 10 minutes walk from the drum tower. Cars cannot enter the main lane after 18:00; the nearest drop-off is Zhongzhou East Road.
Shops from 10:00; the food street peaks 18:00–22:00. Lijingmen gate lit until 22:30.. The first hour after opening is the quietest — tour groups arrive around 09:30. Late afternoon gives better light but the main viewpoints start clearing people out, so shoot early if that is your priority.
Public transport reaches Old Town & Lijingmen, but connections and waiting times add up. With luggage, older travellers, or two sights in one day, a car and driver removes the guesswork.
The one thing that goes wrong
Luoyang local note
- The main street is a reconstruction built for tourists and the restaurants on it charge accordingly. Walk one block west to the lanes around Xigong Street for the same food at half the price, cooked for people who live there.
Pairing Old Town & Lijingmen with
These are usually on the same day or the same trip.
Old Town & Lijingmen: questions travellers ask
Is the water banquet worth trying?
Evening or daytime?
How booking works — three steps, itinerary before price
No deposit to get a plan, and nothing is locked in before you agree.
Send the brief
Dates, party size, how you arrive and what you want to see around Old Town & Lijingmen.
Get a route and a price
We order the stops by location and traffic, then quote per car per day with fuel, tolls and the driver included.
Confirm and travel
Only after you accept the route and the price do we assign the car and guide.
