Live Your Best Lives
I still remember my first trip to Beijing, when I was in fifth grade, visiting relatives with my mother. My most vivid memory is visiting Zhongshan Park. The rest of the time, I spent time with relatives in the city's old alleys, never visiting any of the attractions. Even now, 20 years later, I've always wanted to truly visit Beijing. Finally, this summer, my sixth-grade son and I boarded a high-speed train to Beijing for a 5-day, 4-night trip.
Accommodation:
Holiday Inn Temple of Heaven, Beijing (near Beijing subway entrance, convenient transportation)
Our hotel is between the Second and Third Ring Roads, Jingtai Station of Line 14, 2 stops away from Beijing South Railway Station, very convenient
Itinerary:
Day 1: Nanjing South (9am) - Beijing South (arrive at 12:20pm); afternoon shopping at Qianmen Dashilan
Day 2: Morning Temple of Heaven; afternoon Forbidden City
Day 3: Morning Badaling Great Wall; afternoon stroll around Old Summer Palace, Tsinghua University, and Beidamen; evening Wangfujing
Day 4: Morning Summer Palace; afternoon Nanluoguxiang; evening Shichahai
Day 5: Morning Imperial College Museum, Prince Gong's Mansion; afternoon check out of the hotel, pack up and go home
Transportation: Subway, shared bicycle (Beijing subway is quite convenient, basic attractions can be reached by subway) Here's a subway map for your reference. Our hotel was between the Second and Third Ring Roads, at Jingtai Station on Line 14. Beijing's major attractions are all on Line 1, and most are accessible by subway. So when choosing a hotel, we considered two factors: proximity to a subway station and proximity to a COVID-19 testing center. (During the pandemic, you had to scan your Beijing health code everywhere, and it seems the COVID-19 test is only valid for 24 hours. During the insurance period, you'd need to get tested daily.) Our hotel met both criteria and offered excellent value for money. After getting off the high-speed train at noon on our first day, we took the subway on Line 14 two stops to Jingtai Station and walked about eight minutes to the hotel. The overall service at the hotel was good, though the facilities were a little old and the air conditioner was a bit loud. The breakfast was rich and the price-performance ratio was quite good. After checking in, my son wanted to eat shabu-shabu (shabu-shabu). There was a restaurant called Jia Yaer Li Ji Shabu-shabu near the hotel. It was our first meal in Beijing and the food was quite good.
After lunch, we took the subway to Qianmen Dashilan (transfer from Line 14 to Line 8 outside Yongdingmen to Qianmen). Due to the pandemic, there weren't many people, so there were many snacks, such as noodles with soybean paste, but after eating shabu-shabu, we didn't have room for anything else, so we just looked around.
As soon as we got out of the subway, we could see Zhengyangmen.
After walking around the Arrow Tower, it was a 5-minute walk to Zhengyang Bridge, which is a pedestrian street. Dashilan is nearby.
After visiting Dashilan, because the weather was too hot, we both wanted to find a cool place to rest. There was a nucleic acid test place nearby, so we did a nucleic acid test by the way. In the evening, we took the subway back to the hotel and had Qingfeng steamed buns near the hotel. To be honest, the zhajiangmian was just average.
The next day
I slept naturally, got up a little after 7 o'clock, took a shower, and went to the hotel for breakfast. The breakfast was still very rich.
Please ignore the burnt bread from some kid, haha, it was too dark.
After breakfast, we went to the Temple of Heaven. I looked at the map and it was very close to the hotel. My son and I each picked up a shared bike and rode to the South Gate of the Temple of Heaven in less than 10 minutes. We rented audio guides at the entrance (they can be returned at any other gate, which is quite convenient). A full morning at the Temple of Heaven was plenty of time. We exited through the South Gate (since we were familiar with it, and the weather was so hot we worried about getting lost), then rode shared bikes to the subway station. Our afternoon itinerary was to visit the Forbidden City (I'd reserved tickets online in advance). A colleague's child craved roast duck, so we took the subway to Qianmen and had Hutong Roast Duck, which we'd seen while shopping the day before. It was quite good, and we bought a meal for two from a group buy online, which was more than enough.
After dinner, I thought there was a place nearby to do nucleic acid testing, but the nucleic acid test was not until 2 pm, so we could only read some books in the bookstore next door before going to do nucleic acid testing. It took some time to do the nucleic acid test. In addition, we crossed Tiananmen Square and walked all the way to the Forbidden City to check in and take photos. A child had to go to the toilet, etc., which resulted in us arriving at the Forbidden City at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so the time for visiting the Forbidden City was quite tight (I suggest that if you go to the Forbidden City and want to visit every place carefully, it will take a whole day. If you take half a day, it is best to go in before 2 o'clock, because the Forbidden City starts to drive people out at 5:30)
Cross Tiananmen Square, check your tickets and enter the Forbidden City. There is also a place to rent audio guides at the door.
When we exited the Forbidden City, we walked east through Donghuamen and, after about ten minutes, arrived at Wangfujing. Hot and tired, we looked for a nearby restaurant and saw a small pear soup restaurant. After dinner, the mall was right below the Jinyu Hutong subway station, so we took the subway directly back to the hotel.
Day 3
Finally, it was time to visit the Great Wall! I'd read in travel guides that there were several ways to get there:
1. Bus
The advantage is that you don't have to worry about anything. You'll arrive at your designated subway station, board a bus, and take the highway to the foot of the Great Wall. The downside is, I think it costs 80 yuan per person, with different packages. But when I was about to book the day before, they said they couldn't accommodate groups of tourists from outside the province due to the pandemic.
2. Bus
The advantage is that it's cheap, but the disadvantage is that the journey time is a bit long. If you get stuck in traffic, the journey time is even more uncertain.
3. High-speed Railway
The advantage is that the journey time is relatively fast, at 30 minutes. The disadvantage is that it's a bit far from our hotel, and it takes over 40 minutes by subway.
Trains to the Badaling Great Wall depart from Beijing North Railway Station and Qinghe Station (if your hotel is close to Qinghe Metro Station, you can choose to depart from Qinghe Station). We booked a high-speed railway train departing from Beijing North Railway Station between 8:15 and 8:52 AM, leaving the hotel at 7 AM, which was plenty of time.
After exiting the high-speed railway station at the Badaling Great Wall, it's a few minutes' walk to the hiking trailhead. After entering the trailhead, it's divided into the South City and the North City. What's the difference between the South City and the North City? The South City is steeper and more rugged, but it's shorter and takes less time. It's also less crowded than the North City, making it a better choice for photo opportunities. The North City is gentler and slightly longer. Many people choose the North Slope, claiming it boasts many attractions, such as Haohan Slope. If you're more physically fit, you can climb the South City first and then the North City. We were confident we could complete the South City climb and then the North City, so we booked our train back to Beijing for around 5:00 PM. The weather forecast was 37 degrees Celsius, and we were definitely quite brave for climbing the Great Wall. However, after descending the South City around 12:00 PM, we didn't want to continue to the North City in such heat. So after lunch, we decisively refunded our tickets and rescheduled them for a 2:00 PM return trip to Beijing. Since we planned to visit the Old Summer Palace that afternoon, we booked a return train to Qinghe Station, which is closer to the Old Summer Palace. After dinner, seeing it was still early, we went to the dome theater, which was quite unique. The show lasted 20 minutes and cost 110 yuan per person. The high-speed rail station was just a few minutes away. After a short rest on the high-speed train to recover our energy, we exited the train at Qinghe Station and headed directly to the subway station to take Line 13, transferring to Line 8 to the Old Summer Palace. The Old Summer Palace is quite large, and exploring each area would take at least half a day. (If you have more time, we recommend combining the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace in one day, as they're close together.) We were exhausted and hot, so we took a sightseeing bus halfway through to see the Great Fountain. From there, we took a boat back to the South Gate. Peking University and Tsinghua University are near the Old Summer Palace, but due to the pandemic, neither could enter, so we could only take a look from the outside. The Old Summer Palace is quite large, and exploring every area would take at least half a day. (If you have more time, we recommend spending a day visiting both the Old Summer Palace and the Summer Palace, as they're close together.) We were hot and tired, so after halfway through our visit, we took a sightseeing bus directly to the Great Fountain. From there, we took a boat back to the South Gate. Peking University and Tsinghua University are also near the Old Summer Palace, but due to the pandemic, neither could enter, so we could only take a look from the outside on our bikes. That evening, one of the kids was craving hot pot, so we took the subway to Goldfish Hutong and had Donglaishun. After eating at Donglaishun, we went for a walk in Wangfujing to digest the food and bought the Bing Dwen Dwen I'd been craving.
Day 4
After the previous three days, we were quite physically demanding. We planned to sleep in naturally this day and then explore the Summer Palace. The rest of the day was free to schedule. The Summer Palace is indeed quite large. We took the subway to Xiyuan and walked five minutes to Beigongmen (the back gate of the Summer Palace). Here's a map of the Summer Palace for your reference.
The route we took at that time was to enter from Beigong Gate, visit Suzhou Street, take a boat directly from Suzhou Street to cross Kunming Lake, get off at Seventeen-Arch Bridge, visit Nanhu Island, turn back, walk all the way north along the edge of Kunming Lake - Bronze Bull - Zhichun Pavilion - East Palace Gate - Virtue and Harmony Garden - Virtue and Harmony Garden - Renshou Hall - Yulan Hall - Leshou Hall - walk halfway along the Long Corridor to Paiyun Hall - Tower of Buddhist Incense - go down the mountain and walk along the Long Corridor to Marble Boat, then return to Wanshou Mountain (next to Paiyun Hall), go up the mountain - Sea of Wisdom - Four Continents, finally return to Suzhou Street, exit from Beigong Gate and take the subway. We stopped and rested a lot on this route from around 10am to around 3pm, so we didn't visit any of the attractions on the Xiti side. So if you want to fully explore the area, I personally recommend taking a full day.
After leaving the Summer Palace, we took the subway directly to Nanluoguxiang to have some food (we didn't eat in the Summer Palace, so we just had some ice cream and fries at a small shop). We had braised pork and fried tripe at Du Yi Chu in Nanluoguxiang. One of the kids didn't like those and was craving shabu-shabu again for dinner. After a quick stroll, I navigated directly to Nanmen Shabu-shabu. After walking through an alley and walking for seven or eight minutes, I arrived at the Drum Tower for a nucleic acid test. I continued navigating for another 10 minutes and arrived at the Houhai branch of Nanmen Shabu-shabu. It was a little after 5 p.m., so there was no line and only one table left, perfect timing. After enjoying our meals and drinks, I wandered around Houhai and the Lotus Market. I was surprised to see Prince Gong's Mansion nearby. I booked my itinerary for the next day and walked to Beihai North subway station before returning to the hotel to rest. Day 5: Check-out was at 2:00 PM, so we planned to return to the hotel before then. One of the children wanted to visit the Imperial College, so after breakfast, we took the subway directly to the Lama Temple stop and walked about 10 minutes to the Imperial College. After touring the Imperial College around 10:30 PM, we scanned a QR code and rode our bikes to Prince Gong's Mansion to experience the splendor of other people's homes. After the Mansion, we took the subway back to the hotel for a quick bite, packed our bags, and checked out. There's a Daoxiangcun shop right next to the hotel, so I bought Mom's favorite pastries for her. Conclusion: I finally fulfilled my long-cherished wish to visit Beijing. Despite the scorching heat, I couldn't dampen my enthusiasm. I'm also very grateful to a certain child, whether it was simple luggage moving or subway route planning and ticket buying, they were all very helpful. It's a pity that I didn't have a deep understanding of the Forbidden City. I can only hope to have the opportunity to visit again in the future.
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