Cycling around scenic Chongming Island makes for a delightful autumn weekend for individual bikers and the whole family.

The “eco island” has winding roads, fresh air and attractive sceneries, making it a popular venue for international cycling races.

Families can cycle and go camping in forest parks, live like a “happy farmer” or a “happy fisherman” and get close to nature, farm life and country cooking.

Some can do some heavy cycling or try a bicycle built for two for a leisurely tour.

Cycling past fields of lavender in a light autumn breeze is one of the attractions of the island county.

There are plenty of interesting routes and stops for cycling tourists. Here’s a two-day cycling itinerary where visitors can enjoy the scenery and have fun in the countryside.

Day1

9am

Driving to Chongming Island via the Changjiang Tunnel Bridge, visitors enter a green island with azure skies, lots of birds and fragrant sweet osmanthus along the roads.

10am

An alluvial island in the mouth of the Yangtze River, Chongming has attractive beaches and is crossed by beautiful streams. Starting from South Gate Pier, head to Mingzhu Lake on a 20-kilometer ride along the paved coastal road. There are lush fields of green reeds stretching to the shore and there are fishing boats in the distance.

Stopping and walking along a raised wooden footpath, you are in the middle of rustling reeds and catkins. It’s a place for reflection.11am

Freshwater Mingzhu Lake in the southwestern part of the island covers four square kilometers and is filled with many species of fish and crustaceans — Chongming crabs are famous. Visitors can fish in designated areas. Baskets, fishing poles, nets and waders are provided.

12:30pm

Appreciate your catch and take it to nearby cooks who will prepare fish and crabs any way you prefer. In a pavilion visitors can grill their own catch, with simple seasonings to bring out the natural flavor.

It’s a place to chat with friends and drink home-distilled Chongming bai jiu (distilled spirit) made from sorghum or wine made from glutinous rice. The sorghum is sweet and sour and packs a punch, though it is said to be low in alcohol.

2pm

Xisha Wetland and Mingzhu Lake are separated by a bank and connected by the Rainbow Bridge. The wetland is a renowned haven for migrating birds, water birds and rich flora and various small fauna.

Xisha Wetland Park covers 4 square kilometers in a tidal zone. Visitors can walk along an elevated wooden path, enjoying the scenery and observing water birds and other wildlife. Gulls rise from the reeds and disappear into the sky.

The park has created a maze through tall wetland grasses. Visitors can give it a try and test their memory. If they can exit within 15 minutes, they win a gift. Vendors sell fresh sugar cane and souvenirs made of reeds.

5pm

Xisha Wetland is the best place to watch the sun set on Chongming Island. When the sun’s disc disappears, the wetland of reeds and grasses is colored intense orange and red in the twilight. The surroundings are so tranquil that you can hear your own heart beating.

And then the moon rises and it’s time for a country-style evening.

6pm

After a day of cycling, it’s time to head for dinner in Dongping Forest Park and enjoy grilled steak and sausages. It’s a perfect place for outdoor cooking under the stars. The temperature is comfortable.

As one of the highlight of Chongming Forest Tourism Festival running through the end of this month, the Dongping Forest Park prepares a food and music carnival featuring barbecue, beer, camping, open-air cinema and an outdoor rock concert.

All kinds of beverages and BBQ food can be purchased, from meat and lamb to fish, and lots of local vegetables like sweet corn, potatoes, and yams. If you’re thirsty, there’s sugar cane juice, white liquor, beer, wine and sodas.

The 10,000-square-meter barbecue area can accommodate as many as 200 people. Grills can be rented. Visitors should take their own plates, cups, cutlery and napkins.

8pm

Restored by a hearty meal, visitors can enjoy a local rock band performance with a laser light show in the park. Everyone is welcome to dance. There’s even a well-arranged spot for karaoke to find the best voice in the forest.

10pm

After music, dancing and screaming, it’s time to lie down on the grass and count the stars in the sky. Away from urban pollution, the night sky in Chongming is dazzling. Electronic tablets with Sky Safari app can help beginners learn about the constellations and stars.

The park provides complete camping facilities, including tents, waterproof pads, hot water showers and lockers. Pitch a tent, play games with friends and children and fall asleep to the sound of chirping and croaking.

Day2

6am

Cycling in the morning fog, we are heading for Dongtan Wetland Park in the eastern part of the island to welcome the sunrise.

8am

Bird watching is the most popular activity in the park when hundreds of thousands migratory birds, some of them very rare, spend the winter in the park, including egrets, cranes, heron, snipe, moorhen, grackle and wagtails. You might spot moorhen walking on the duckweed and a wagtail just flying over your head.

Experts say that the best time to watch bird at Dongtan Wetland is from the end of October to November. Also, the Dongtan Wetland Bird Watching Festival featuring birds photography contest, birds protection knowledge class runs through this month to March next year.

You can also try to catch tiny crabs known as pang qi (ó¦òà) in the marsh. A famous local dish is pang qi with fermented sweet glutinous rice.

1pm

Don’t leave Chongming without trying home-cooked specialties. Many homey, traditional restaurants along Beichen Road offer typical dishes. And you can choose your own fish from tanks.

Fresh mackeral pike (saury) can be steamed, stir-fried or cooked as a soup with burclover. The steamed fish is so tender that by lifting the fish head, the bones are separated.

Winter is coming and it’s a tradition to eat mutton that’s filled with yang (“warm”) energy for the winter. Mutton is supposed to boost male potency. Chongming mutton, from local sheep and goats, is famous, simmered for several hours with homemade sauces.

Chongming cake is a famous dessert. It’s commonly stuffed with sweet red bean paste and the surface is covered with crushed walnuts, osmanthus sugar, pine nuts and melon seeds. It’s glutinous but not too sticky and pleasantly fragrant.

3pm

Enough eating. It’s time to visit nearby Yindong Village, once an obscure town, now becoming an “ecology town” famous for sustainable “harmonious” development of agriculture and tourism.

Fishing traditions are maintained and there are fish raising ponds as well as fishing boats. Visitors can go out with fishermen, return with their catch and have it cooked.

Cycling on the country roads, visitors can see traditional farmhouses built during the 1950s. There’s traditional farm equipment, millstones, waterwheels and, of course, spinning wheels.

Visitors can try the waterwheel or push a wheelbarrow to get a sense of the physical labor that urbanites are unfamiliar with. The town contains an exhibition hall of village history, a fishing museum, and a basement for traditional cock and goat fights.

By driving: Changjiang Tunnel-Bridge Expressway Ñ Chenhai Road Ñ Sanhua Road Ñ Mingzhu Lake

By bus: Shenchong No. 3 Line starts from Wenshui Road in PuxiÕs Zhabei District. Shenchong No. 6 Line starts from Jufeng Road in Pudong.

By ferry: Take Metro Line 3 to Baoyang Road Pier for the ferry Ñ every half an hour from 6:30am to 5pm.

Bike rental:

Yimi Bicycle Rental stations at South Gate Pier, Yingzhou Park, Xisha Wetland, Mingzhu Lake, Dongping Forest Park, Qianwei Ecological Village, Ruihua Fruit Garden

Website: www.cmyimi.net

Cost: 75-100 yuan per bike per day

¥ Mingzhu Lake

Address: 333 Sanhua Rd

Tel: 6629-8530

Tickets: 45 yuan

¥ Dongping Forest Park

Address: Beiyan Highway (between Jianshe and Panlong roads)

Tel: 5933-8333

Tickets: 70 yuan (no overnight campers admitted after 4:30pm)

¥ Dongtan Wetland Park

Address: Dongwang Rd (near the windmills)

Tel: 3936-7000

Tickets: 50 yuan