Beijing Travel Forum

I wish to confirm if the underground city is still open now. I will be visiting in Sept and am interested to visit it.

My itinerary for the day (in sequence) is: (Sat) Panjiayuan market, Temple of Heaven & Imperial Sacrificial Altar, Hongqiao/ Pearl market + toy market (behind), Yonghegong Lamasery (Lama Temple) and Drum & bell tower.

1. Where should I fit in the underground city visit in my schedule? Is it before Lama Temple?
2. What is the min time one should allocation for this visit?
3. What do I get to the underground city via public transport from the previous location in my suggested itinerary?

If it is too much in a day, I am willing to cut the shopping/ markets.

Any input is appreciated.

He he, that is one busy day you have scheduled for yourself there! In my opinion you would be very rushed to do the things on you itineary in one day. I visited the underground city last fall and I must say that it really was not all that interesting to see. I have also read that it is no longer open to the public but I am not sure of this. Either way I would skip it and be more than happy to be able to do the following: Get up early and go to the Panjiayuan market at around 7. Spend a couple of hours there, leave time for breakfast and transport and enter the Temple of Heaven park from the south entrance at around 10. I would say that spending anything less than three hours to see the Circular Altar, Echo Wall, the temple itself and to just suck in the atmosphere would be a crime. You will be blown away by the people practising Beijing Opera, Tai Chi and stuff. leave the park by the east gate and the toy market and pearl market are just a few hundred meters to the north across the street. The Yonghegong is reachable by subway from the stop near the Pearl Market but it closes at 4:30. Im actually sitting with my ticket in hand right now :)

The pearl- and toy markets stay open till 7 so maybe you should dash of to the lamasery and then return to the markets later.

Hope you enjoy your trip

Mick