The city of Ningbo faces the East China Sea on the northeast coat of the Province of Zhejiang near to Shanghai in the south of Hangzhou Bay. Thanks to its location and long use as a port since the Tang Dynasty, it has become one of the four most important international harbors in mainland China, being ranked second in 1997.

Ningbo's tropical climate and historical sites which make it a particularly popular place to visit in the spring and autumn, when temperatures are pleasant and the risk of sudden rains is minimized. Transport into and out of Ningbo is relatively easy by air, land and water and travel around the city is simple too, if visitors are careful to avoid buses during rush hour.

The local cuisine of Ningbo is not Zhejiang Cuisine as one might expect. The city has its own food style, which includes seafood specialties such as Bingtang Jiayu (Crystal Sugar Turtl), Guoshao Heman (Dry Fried River Eel), Huangyu Haishen (Yellow Croaker Fish with Sea Cucumber) and Fupi Bao Huangyu (Fried Yellow Croaker Fish Wraps). The foods are often heavily flavored with salt and visitors can sample these foods at smart restaurants or little handcarts and holes-in-the-wall. One of the lively areas where visitors can try street food is Lao Waitan, known locally as Old Bund, popular with those who come to enjoy bars and KTVs alongside the food.

Entertainment in the city is not limited to the Old Bund. Visitors can also enjoy browsing by day or night at the Little Goods Market near Chenghua Temple, where they can haggle hard for local goods. Of course, the city also has more cultural means of entertainment: the Ningbo Grand Theater stages western musicals and traditional Chinese performance arts. The program at the Fenghuang Baihua also features Chinese opera and movies, as does the Ningbo Concert Hall. In addition, the city hosts several unique festivals: the Ningbo International Tea Culture Festival, Xu Xiake Tourism Festival Ninghai China, China Fishery Festival and the Ningbo International Fashion Festival.

Ningbo has 243 historical sites protected by the government. The most important and well known of the sites in Ningbo is the collection of Neolithic artifacts unearthed in the 1970s: Hemudu Culture Relics. The buildings, handicrafts and ceramics of these ancient people are among the artifacts on display and the collection has been named in the top 100 most important cultural sites in China. Nearby is the Tianyi Pavilion Library: the oldest private library in China, housing over 300,000 antique volumes in a unique building known as the ''Book City of South China''. Other important sites in the city such as Baoguo Temple and Chiang Kai-shek's Former Residence in Xikou Xuedou Mountains Scenic Area are dotted about the city too.

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