Yulin Town, in the far northern section of Shaanxi Province, lies at the boundary between a Yellow Soil Plateau and the Mao Wu Su Desert (Maowusu shamo). The town is renowned as a garrison and patrol post that worked the northern fringes of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) empire. Although a tiny town and not especially old, Yulin still retains much of its charm through being little renovated.

The town boasts a large number of sights for its size and the most notable include the fortress and beacon tower at the  Zhengbei Terrace (Zhengbei tai), the Incense Burner Temple (Xianglu si), the remainder of the ancient Great Wall (Changcheng) and an old Bell Tower (Zhong lou). The nicest section of town is the Old Quarter, which still retains its Ming (1368-1644 AD) and Qing (1644-1911 AD) Dynasty look, hidden behind encircling walls and old, stone gates. This area is great to walk around, with pebble paved alleys, grey-tiled quadrangular courtyards (Siheyuan) and delicate copper rings upon wooden gates and windows. In places you will come across the original city walls.

How to get there: Flights to Yulin (RMB500) departing from Xi'an are supplied subject to demand (see Xi'an transportation for airport details). There are also four daily buses (RMB35, eight hours) that head between Yan'an and Yulin before noon.

Accommodation: You may find some good guest houses offering standard rooms for about RMB100 per night. Try either of the Yulin Hotels on Xinjian lu, the Yulin Hotel (Yulin fandian, Tel: 3283825) , 2km north of the bus station (RMB25 per bed) or the Yulin Hotel (Yulin bingguan), just north of the city walls (RMB200 per double room).