We went to the park east of Nanjing on a Sunday morning. We didn't know about the Plum Blossom Festival though. This means masses of people there. But if you turn right on a small path just before reaching the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, you can avoid these crowds and get to the small and picturesque Zixia lake. You can even swim there (which people really did in mid of February). It was absolutely worth it to relax a bit. The 20-30min walk from the metro station does not a lot of efforts. You can easily go there even with children.

This is a great place to wander through on your way to the purple mountains. The park itself is nothing to write home about but the lake is serene. A perfect place for a picnic, the only negative point is that you are always in earshot of a local clearing his throat and spitting.