Places to visit in and near Beijing

Since I’ve been to Beijing several times, I’ve visited many of the attractions in the city. Since a lot of people are in Beijing for the Olympics, I’m going to write about some of the attractions you should see and how to get there.

1. The Forbidden City(Now called the Palace Museum)

The Forbidden City was home to the Ming and Qing (Manchu) Emperors and has many ancient cultural relics that are of interest to any tourist. Its a great place to take pictures with part of China past. Its also one of the more expensive parks in Beijing with Tickets around 60 yuan per person. There are several halls and courts in the forbidden city in which only the emperor, guards, and high court officials could enter. This is a must see if you come to China. Mountainview Park(Jing San) and the North Sea park(Bei Hai) and right next to it. One day should be enough to cover all three parks.

To get to the Forbidden City take the subway and get off at the Tianmen East stop. The Forbidden City is right behind Tianmen Square.

2. The great wall.

What trip to China would be complete without a visit to the great wall? Its the absolute cultural symbol of China’s past and present. There are three places near Beijing where you can visit the Great Wall. They are at Ba Da Ling, Shi Ma Tai, and Mo Tian Yu . Ba Da Ling is the closest to Beijing and by far the most popular one. Thousands of people climb it every day there. Mo Tian Yu is a lot more peaceful and less crowded but also less developed. Shi Ma Tai is newly open and very natural. Shi Ma Tai is also a favorite party place at night for Young couples, I hear it can be quite romantic there(although I can’t see a wall being Romantic myself).

I’m most familiar with Ba Da Ling because I’ve been there several times. If you have your own car, take the Ba Da Ling expressway to get there. If not, go with a tourist group. One-day tours can be had for around 100 Yuan(130 if you want to visit the Ming Tombs while your at it).

3. The Summer Garden Palace(Yi He Yuan)

This is probably the best park to take your significant other on a date to. There are many places to take pictures and lots of temples and gardens to visit in the Summer Garden Palace. You can also ride in the giant Dragonboat across the lake. Paddle-boats and peddle-boats can also be rented if you want to row or peddle out on the lake yourself. Boats can seat four or six people and you can bring food and have lunch on the lake as long as you don’t get seasick.

The summer garden palace is on many bus routes, check the Beijing Public Transportation routes to see which buses stop there.

4. Silk Street Pearl Market(Shu Sui Jie) - For women and girls, this is like shopping paradise. Many floors full of clothes, bags, ornaments, and other accessories. Its not bad for the guys either as there are always many things of interest you can buy here. But know that all the name-brand stuff sold here are fakes so be sure to barter down on price. If you are not Chinese, they will ask an astronomical price for what you are buying. Try to cut at least 80% off the asking price. Sometimes you can cut it by 95% or more. Please note that Fake Prada bags and Dolce and Gabana bags that look the same as the real thing can be brought for about 120 Yuan. Don’t pay the asking price of 1000 or more.

The Silk Street Pearl market is right at the subway station of Yong An Li. Take the exit to the far front of the subway and you should be there.

5. Tianmen Square - Tianmen square is well known mostly due to what happened there in 1989. But its still a good place to visit. You can go to the top of the tower for a modest fee or visit the Chinese History Museum nearby. Mao Tse Dong’s memorial is also there if anyone is interested.

To get to Tianmen square take the subway and get off either at Tianmen East or Tianman West.

6. Wang Fu Jing — This is a great shopping center with lots of stores for everything. In the stores, there is very little bartering. Wang Fu Jing is also the place to go if you actually want to buy real name-brand stuff. There is a small side-street where bartering is rampant. This side-street is where I go most often also as there is tasty stuff-on-a-stick for sale there. Prices at Wang-Fu-Jing are high, but they do have alot of quality Jade as well as other things.

Take the subway and get off at the Wang Fu Jing stop.

7. Yong He Gong(Lama Temple) — This is a huge temple/park in China. If you believe in Buddhism or want to burn incense, this is the place to do it. There are many people burning incense in here every day and many altars to burn incense to different Buddhas. Even if you don’t believe in that stuff, its worth a visit.

Take the subway and get off at the Lama Temple stop.

Thats my top seven places to visit in or Near Beijing, other places of interest are listed below.

8. Yuan Ming Yuan — This was even bigger than the Summer Garden Palace before it was burned by the French and the British in the early 1900s. Its been restored to some degree and is a nice visit for tourists. To get here, check the bus route as many of them stop at Yuan ming Yuan.

9. Xiangsan — This is actually one of my favorite places to go as the scenery is really great. Its also a great place to get a workout as the climb uphill is several thousand steps. If your too weaksauce(or old) for that, you can take the cable car. Xiangsan is the endpoint bus stop for several buses, check the Beijing Bus routes for more information.

10. Xi Dan — This is also another shopping place with a great restaurant inside to boot. There’s not as much stuff as Silk Street though and you can’t barter. To get here, take the subway and get off at the Xi Dan stop.

11. The Military Museum - If your interested in the glory(or made-up glory) or communist history and the greatness of Mao and other leaders, then stop by here. You can also see lots of old tanks and aircraft here, its pretty cool if your into weapons and stuff. Just don’t try to Hi-Jack anything. To get here, take the subway and get off at the Military Museum stop.

Thats it for my list of attractions for now. Of course, there are many more, but you can to get familiar with the city first.