I work in Suzhou (Jiangsu province of China) and I have managed to travel to quite a few interesting places in China. It has indeed been a wonderful journey to explore this beautiful country. In January, 2019 I had an opportunity to travel to Hubei province. As a part of my provincial trip, I visited the world famous Three Gorges Dam in Yichang city (that happened to be my 29th Chinese city). It was indeed a pleasant experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the dam visit. In fact, the two most fascinating aspects of my Hubei trip were – eating the Hubei Hot Dry Noodles and visiting the Three Gorges Dam.
The Three Gorges Dam Power Station Project, with an installed capacity of 22,500 MW, is arguably one of the top travel attractions in China, not just in Hubei. So, in this post, let me share with you some of my personal experiences of travelling to the dam, photos and other relevant memories.
Btw, I’d write a separate post about the top things to do in Yichang city.
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Name
The Chinese name of the dam is: San Xia Da Ba (三峡大坝, Sānxiá dà bà). If you are new to the Chinese language, here is a simple breakup of the dam’s name-
- 三: three,
- 峡: gorge,
- 坝: dam,
- 大坝: big dam.
Where is Three Georges Dam?
The dam is constructed on the Yangtze river (in Yichang city, Hubei province).
Map of Three Gorges Dam Power Station Project
Here is a simple map of the Three Gorges Project, I have marked some of the sightseeing places in English-
How to get to the three Georges Dam
You can assess the dam from Yichang city. There are several trains connecting the city with Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, etc.
Once in Yichang, you can navigate with the Baidu Map and use taxis or local buses to get to the dam. For example, if you are coming from the city center, you can take bus 50 (RMB 2) from the Yiling Square (夷陵广场), and then transfer to bus 216 (RMB 10). Bus 216 brings you to the dam’s tourist center where you can buy a bus/ferry ticket to the dam.
The tourist center
In fact, the tourist center is located very close to the dam. Around the center, there are quite a few restaurants and souvenir shops. Also, there are many vending machines to buy the drinks.
Ticket pricing
Well, there are mainly two types of tickets to explore the dam-
- By bus – RMB 35. The bus departs every 10-15 minutes from the tourist center (to the dam). No meal, drinks included in the ticket price.
- By boat –RMB 180. The boat is only available in the afternoon (around 1.30pm). I guess some meal and drinks are included in the price.
I took the bus as I was visiting the dam in the morning and I’m more than glad to do so. 🙂
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Three Gorges Project Model Room
Once you take a bus from the tourist center, the bus would bring you to Three Gorges Project Model Room. Here, a guide will explain (only in Mandarin) you the model of the dam.
From the same place, you can take the escalators to the tourist park – you’ll need to ride three escalators up in order to get to the tourist park.
The tourist park gives you a very clear glimpse of the dam with water on both the sides. Obviously, on one side of the dam, the water level is relatively higher. Here is the photo-
The 185 Park
If you want to get very close to the dam, you need to head to the 185 Park (185园区). From the aforementioned tourist park, it was just some 5-10-minute walk to the 185 Park. Keep in mind that you can’t enter the dam (there are security guards who’ll stop you). However, there are spots in the 185 Park for taking photos.
This park mainly allows you to see the side views of the dam.
You can also enjoy a meal at the restaurants while watching the dam.
Interception Memorial Park
From the 185 Park, you can take a free bus to the Interception Memorial Park. While going/coming to the memorial park, your bus would cross the Yangtze river via the Xiling Yangtze River Bridge (西陵长江大桥, Xīlíng chángjiāng dàqiáo).
This park allows you to see the front views of the dam.
The park also has sightseeing cars (for additional RMB 10). However, I didn’t use the sightseeing car.
Magic Water Fountain Tap
In the Interception Memorial Park, you’ll also see the water coming out of a magic tap. The tap looks like hanging in the air.
After visiting the Magic Water Fountain Tap, the free bus transported us back to the tourist center (10min).
Subsequently, I took the bus 216 from the tourist center. Later transferred to bus 50 to get to the Yiling Square.
Basically, just for a RMB 35 ticket, I was able to explore the dam.
In summary, it was a memorable trip to visit China’s world-famous power station and travel attraction. Although it was a winter season, but then in January, there weren’t too many tourists. As such, if you are travelling to Hubei, do consider a trip to the Three Georges Dam, it’ll absolutely be worth it!
That’s all in this post about the Three Georges Dam. If you have any question about traveling, living or working in China, do let me know! Feel free to post in our forum so that others could also contribute and learn. For regular updates like us on Facebook, or follow on Twitter!
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Wish you a great time exploring the Three Georges dam and everywhere else in China
Cheers!
Last updated: Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Thanks for taking me on the tour. As a kid I always liked geography and history. While I was in the service being in the infantry I was transported by ship from my base to about 13 different ports in 13 different countries some in the Caribbean and some in southeast Asia. Most were just 2 or 3 day stops. But it was a chance ti see in person these different places and beautiful cultures. My father left my mother and my brother after he helped us move into a government housing projects. You know you are poor but don’t think you are, you know some kids always get that new toy of the year and you get clothes. Well at least you get to open surprise packages even if they are clothes. Well anyway there’s no easy I could have traveled to so many places without the military. Sometimes we had to go to work and sometimes it was just practicing our job. Sometimes it was practical application. But I loved places and have the memories. All that before I turned 20.I lost a lot of pictures and most I have are from around the base and out in the field on maneuvers. Not interesting except to me since they are my buddies. I never took enough pictures.
Thanks for your comments and sharing. Do visit China sometime (preferably after current crisis), it’s gonna be a memorable experience. 🙂
A GOOD TOUR IN READER’S MIND.THANKS
Thank you.
Well hello. I visited China in 1987 before all the developments took place. I did the Yangtze river cruise down to Wuhan where there is a Dam I believe was built with help from Russia Of course I enjoyed the visit to the Great Wall and Terracotta Army.. It was a wonderful holiday, we had fantastic Couriers, our last visit was to the caves at Guilin. So many memories! Thank you for pictures of the Dam which is built near the Three Gorges as I would never have been able to see it otherwise; it was still a Project in the time of my visit. Keep well
Wow! That sounds great! Hope you enjoyed your trip. Lots have changed in the recent past. China is a great place for travelling. Welcome to visit again. 🙂
Do you know that because of the Three Gorges Dam, the earth’s rotation has slowed down by a few microseconds per year !!!???
🙂