Nanxi hot spirigs in Ninghai, Ningbo China - in a valley in the mountains

Started off from my apartment. I live at the edge of the town in Zhenhai, Ningbo. I took the bus to the subway and then subway to the train station. I didn't book the ticket in advance but just bought it there. I did check online before hand to see when the train would be departing to Ninghai and if there were seats available, and there were, a lot. But, when I arrived at the train station and got my ticket, I was informed that there was only standing room available. No problem, it was only 30 minutes away.










Arrived in Ninghai, I walked to the bus station and showed the person at the counter the name of the hot springs that I wanted to go to.  She pointed me to one place, then I asked someone else, and they pointed me to another place, then I found the right bus, got on the bus. It was cheap, 5 rmb.  It was a rickety old bus, and I really enjoyed the ride from that city up into the mountains. I always like the trip from the city and going into nature.  

 


I arrived at my destination, which was about 30 minutes from the city. The bus driver let me know when to get off, but I think it was the last stop anyways. I got off the bus and wasn't sure where to go from there, so  I walked around for a while and went into a few  of the hotels in the vicinity and asked where the hot springs were.  It turned out that the Hot Springs where exactly where the bus let me off. I went there, went in and asked the price.

The first place they told me it was really high 228 RMB. I kind of said jokingly that it was expensive, in my best Chinese, and that, maybe, they can lower the price. And they did. I paid 150 RMB.  I paid and they gave me a rubber wristband which was for my locker. The wristband looks like a watch, and the would be watch part has a sensor in it and can be swiped at your locker to open it. You put all your stuff in the locker, including the clothes that you are wearing, and the locker, manager, guy, comes and gives you a robe. You only wear a bathing suit.

Then I went up a few flights of stairs to the men's bathroom, which was full of numerous shower stalls. There I took a shower and then went into the next area. The first pool was just like a normal pool, coolish water, where you can kind of swim with a few areas in the pool that look like lounge chairs with water jets.

Following that, I went through the doors and into the outdoor hot springs area. They have a map posted there, so you can where all the hot springs are. I think there are about 12 to 15 different pool.

I went up the staircase and was surrounded by mountains and streams. It's basically in a valley.  Very sloppy, I went from one hot pool to the next. They all had slightly different temperatures and different purposes. I didn't really know what the purpose for each pool was because it was all in Chinese. One of the pools, have the type of fish that eats your dead follicles, skin. That was very ticklish:)

The weather was great. I spent about three or four hours there and then slowly made my way out, took a shower, went out of the hotel and started walking down the mountain.

 I decided to try and hitchhike because there were no more buses.  I flagged one down, and the person was going where I was going which was back to the main town, Ninghai. It turned out that this car was a taxi, an uber, and there were two people in the back already. So I got a ride into town with them.






Beautiful day. If I ever go again, I would go much earlier because on the way up, from the bus, I saw many trails that, I guess, go up into the mountains and looked like it would be great!

A few hotels pics and the breakfast buffet: