Loquat Hill Park (Pipa Shan)

Loquat Hill Park, known locally as Pipa Shan, occupies the highest point in Yuzhong District, Chongqing, on Loquat Hill Centre Street, and is one of the best free vantage points over the city's dense downtown skyline. Visitors climb from the entrance near Qixinggang Station up a series of paved paths and staircases through wooded grounds dotted with pavilions, exercise areas favored by local residents, and open lookout points, eventually reaching the summit plaza, which offers a 360-degree view over the Yuzhong peninsula, the surrounding rivers and the mountains beyond. Because the park sits directly above the city center, the view from the top takes in both close-up high-rise towers and, on clear days, the mountains that give Chongqing its nickname as the mountain city. A visit takes about one to one and a half hours, mostly spent walking the paths and lingering at the summit viewpoint. The best photo vantage point is the main summit plaza, particularly angled toward the western skyline, which is most dramatic at sunset. The park is open around the clock and free to enter, with local residents using it for exercise throughout the day, but the summit viewpoint draws the largest number of visitors between 5:00 and 7:00PM, when the setting sun lights the skyline before the city's evening illumination takes over.