Ningbo Five Dragon Pools (Wulongtan) Scenic Resort 宁波五龙潭风景名胜区is one of the so called “Ten New Sceneries” 宁波新十景in Ningbo, an AAAA rated scenic area. It is situated in Longguan Town 龙观乡, about 35km southwest from Ningbo city.

Natural landscape of Five Dragon Pools

Five Dragon Pools scenic area boasts natural sceneries of creeks, waterfalls, cliffs, rocks and peaks, and embodies the traditional Chinese dragon culture and the rural and folk customs in eastern Zhejiang.

The scenic resort covers an area of 16.17sq.km, mostly country hills. Within the resort, there are rolling mountains, towering ridges and peaks, perpendicular cliffs and serene creeks and canyons laid out in a myriad terrain. The landscape is quite impressive. You will see marvelous hills, crystal clear waters, canyons and so on. If you want to enjoy peace and quiet, and escape crowds, I recommend visiting early in the morning. Weekdays normally are fine though, with fewer tourists (except national holidays). I have noticed whenever I visit a site in the morning, it is usually empty, people start coming in the afternoon.  

The Five Dragon Pools Waterfall area

The Five Dragon Pools Waterfall scenery area covers an area of 6.2sq.km. It mainly consists of the Five Wells and Twelve Waterfalls, the Five-dragon temple, the Dragon Altar and others. At the Five-dragon Temple stand statues depicting a fairy tale about one mother and five children. The five dragon pools, namely Fuze Pool 孚泽潭, Zhaoze Pool 昭泽潭, Runze Pool润泽潭, Lize Pool 利泽潭and Xianze Pool 显泽潭once received imperial titles from emperors of SongDynasty.

Hiking trail

Wulongtan scenic area is a wonderful spot to enjoy nature. It is a very suitable place for sightseeing, holidays, mountain climbing, as well as pilgrimage. There is a well-marked trail, with signs showing directions. Like in any decent scenic area, trail is paved and easy to walk. There are a lot of stairs though and climbing up the mountain will make you sweat a bit. For this reason, take plenty of water with you. You will find some vendor stalls selling food and drinks too. Usually I take my own water and snacks with me.

Don’t miss the best spots

I walked through most of the park, however when I came to the exit I checked the map and realized that there were more places to go. Apparently I did similar trip as most of the tourists who visit first four pools and then head back. If you keep following the trail you will get to the last pool. There is a lake too which is accessible to tourists. Luckily, I climbed to the Ancient Altar where I was rewarded with a mesmerizing mountain panorama. There you will see the 70-ton green malachite Dragon Altar, which is a totem column. For the other spots that I didn’t visit, I will come back and update! 

Chinese culture and dragon worship

The scenic resort is distinctly associated with the traditional worship of dragon inherent in the Chinese folk culture, whereby it aims to create a domestic tourist destination characterized by “descendants of the dragon” touring the dragon pool, experiencing the dragon customs and worshipping the dragon ancestor.

Getting there: you can go by buses 661-1 or 638 heading to 宁波五龙潭风景名胜区. The trip by bus might take you quite some time. From downtown it will take around two hours. If you go by car (taxi), then you will reduce it by half. But it will cost you around 150RMB. So if you go alone and are on budget, bus sounds like a better option.  

Opening hours: like most of these types of scenic spots, Wulongtan is open from 8am-4pm.

Price: entrance ticket costs 50RMB