Beijing Travel Forum

I have a chance to fly to Beijing next week. Until I fly, I will be working long hours in the office so I may not have time to surf and compare tips. VT members help - I've never been to China before, let alone Beijing. Please recommend anything that you would do in five days while there. Info on transportation from airport to the city centre would be very helpful too. I would not like to miss a visit to a Chinese Theatre and would very much like to see the Great Wall of China. Thank you!

I will be in Beijing for 6 nites in September. Basically, the things we will do and see (most recommended by forum people or taken from tour brochures) are:-

1. Great Wall at Mutianyu - Badaling is the closest section of the wall but it is very crowded and touristy, Im told Mutianyu is a nicer section to visit, and only a little further out from Beijing.
2. A nite show at the Chinese Acrobatics - or if you prefer the Chinese Opera.
3. Daily visits to the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Behai Park.
4. We are staying in the Dong Cheng district - Im also told this is the best district for shopping (Wangfujing Street - we are staying not far from here), Good Restaurants and it is close to all the main attractions.

So, you might like to plan your stay around some of these things, I would say these are the main tourist attractions for a short stay in Beijing. I am sure if you list your interests, you will get more detailed answers as well.

Cheers!

Thank you Lindy!

To VT members who won't mind sharing some tips: I like going to museums, concerts and gardens. I find joy in observing the way people live in a different country. I'd like to stay in a hotel where it is peaceful and clean and decent. I'd appreciate any last minute tips. I just got a word that I will get my visa on Monday!

The Capitol Musuem is really nice. Don't forget to cover the floors on both sides.

There is beautiful elliptical shape National Theatre. At night, it is beautiful and glows in blue color. I did not get to watch but something is always showing. There are other separate theatres too for acrobatic and Beijing Opera and the tea shops with shows.

If you have time, you can go to Botanical Gardens and the Beijing Zoo to see pandas. The aquarium (next to zoo) admission is relatively expensive and more for school kids as it include a dolphin show. Both are not exactly world's bests. There is a combined ticket but I would just recommend a quick visit to the zoo to see the pandas, zoo admission is cheap.

Hou Hai and Qian Hai are nice lake areas with cafes and souvenir shops.

Penelope, Lyndi is correct about Mutianyu. Although further from Beijing proper, it is less congested than tourist bus laden Badaling.
Secret is finding a good tour guide or private driver so you can cut out all the mandatory shopping stops.
You're fortunate that you have a couple more days than most.
Many (ourselves included) kept it to 3 days and rushed through many of this incredible country's rich cultural history.
We plan a trip back very soon.

Take the time in places such as Forbidden City and Summer Palace.
Do not miss the hutong district or just plain walking around mingling with the locals.
People in China are extremely friendly, you just have to watch out for the touts and vendors or, people trying to steer you towards buying something you may not want.
If you follow ours or, many fine members tips on here, you will be just fine.

Enjoy China, it's amazing!

Homer

Hi Penelope,

Ive asked this question about things to do in Beijing not too long ago.

If you go to page 5 of the China forum you will find my question titled "Beijing and Xian attractions" - I think that is what it is called. Anyway, there you will find many ideas and suggestions. Happy hunting!

Lindy

Ok I can see that you have plenty of responses here including my "mentors" Homer and Eddie. They were the original people who used Alvin and recommended him to us which we were eternally grateful for.

We used Alvin to go to a different section of the wall (which we enjoyed as there were few tourists)and to the Summer Palace in one day. I would second that you walked along Wangfujing, ate lunch at a couple of food halls and onto Tiananamen Square and possibly the Forbidden City. You could easily spend a day at the Forbidden City as there are so many things to see if you include the halls on either side. I would also recommend catching the subway to a number of other tourist sites including the Military Museum, Temple of Peace etc. That way you do actually mingle with the locals. You'll find them generally friendly and eager to help.

Lyndi, SLLiew, Homer and Eddie, Alice - many thanks to all of you! After reading your responses, I feel more comfortable about my short break. Once again, vielen, vielen Dank!

Have been to both the Great Walls of Badaling and Mutianyu. There are buses that go to both although Badaling is more frequetn and easier and you can go the Ming Tombs too.

Mutianyu is slightly further and if you go to Mutianyu, for easy hike, you can take the cable car up, walk eastward downhill towards to ski lift/tobagoon. So you can buy one way ticket instead of round trip tickets. Tickets are sold at the top too. If you come from the other direction, it is tougher walk. So for a first, either Badaling and Mutianyu is OK. Weekdays is probably less crowded.

Other travellers prefer more rustic Great Wall like Simatai, etc which will require longer hours of walk.

The usual must-sees would be Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven (go on a morning to see locals exercising in the park surrounding it), Great Wall (Mutianyu, Simatai, or Jinshanling-Simatai), Summer Palace and Yonghegong Lamasery. Also do include Nanluogu Alley hutong area for some local life.
For museums, my top pick would be Capital Museum. You'll need a full day here. It's easily reached by metro line 1, Muxidi stop.
Chinese theatre? Do you perhaps mean Peking opera? If you're not sure if you'd like the full experience, you might want to try Lao She Teahouse near Qianmen, south of Tiananmen Square. There you'll get to see Peking opera as well as snippets of other traditional performing art forms.

Just want to add two places of great area views of Beijing Forbidden city and environs.

If you exit Forbidden city on the north side (after the Imperial Gardens), you can enter the Jinshan Garden and climb that hill to the top for a great view of Forbidden City and the egg shape National Theatre.

If you go the next to door Bei Hai Garden, you have to climb all the way to top of the Bei Hai Lamma "dome", each section, small admission, to get a higher view of Beijing.

My favorite building is the L shape CCTV buidling. Don't forget to take a photo of that. There were some blue sunny sky days when I was there for some nice photos.

I have been there for a few weeks this month working long hours too. I'd recommend good lunches & good dinners, your jaws will drop at the excellent quality of the food, yet the relatively low price it costs, Beijing Roast Duck is a must.

For sightseeing, in the city, Forbidden City, Summer Palace. Great wall too, but that will take more than half day.

For theatre, National Centre for the Performing Arts, the egg shaped building.

I have bought a ticket for myself for Chinese Orchestra on 4 July, priced RMB80, and another ticket for Kun-Qu traditional Chinese Opera <Mu Dan Ting> on 5 July, priced RMB160. Now that my return to BJ is likely to be delayed to mid-July, I will miss the shows. If you're interested, let me know soon, I can send the tickets to you. 1 ticket for each show, I was planning to go alone.