Category Archives: Beijing Attractions

Yanqi Lake is located on the edge of the Great Wall at the foot of Yanshan Mountain, and flocks of wild geese come to live in the lake every spring and autumn, hence the name. It was officially opened to the public in 1987 to receive tourists. In 2001, Yanqi Lake was rated as an AAAA-level tourist scenic spot; the 2014 APEC leaders’ informal meeting was held here. In May 2017, the “the Belt and Road Initiative” International Cooperation Summit Forum was held here to discuss cooperation plans, jointly build cooperation platforms, and share cooperation results. Yanqi Lake once again became the focus of world attention.

Yanqi Lake is composed of two lake areas in the east and west. The water surface is wide. The scenic area of ​​Yanqi Lake is 21 square kilometers, the lake surface is 230 hectares, and the slow traveling system around the lake is 14 kilometers. Yanqi Lake has a flat terrain and wide water area, which is very suitable for various water and land entertainment projects. It is a well-known tourist scenic spot and water park in the suburbs of Beijing. There are dragon boats, painted boats, speed boats, self-driving speed boats, battery boats, big yellow duck boats and other water sightseeing boats in Yanqi Lake. In addition, there are more than a dozen terrestrial entertainment projects such as torrents, water landing, entertainment sports cars, ferris ring cars, pirate ships, bumper cars, cartoon trains, and carousel, etc., to meet the entertainment needs of different groups. Tourists can take a boat tour around the lake, around the island, or take a car tour, a cycling tour or a walking tour on the road around the lake.

After 30 years of development and construction, Yanqi Lake Scenic Area has made full use of its unique natural tourism resources to build an ordinary medium-sized reservoir into a city-level scenic spot and a national AAAA-level tourist attraction, making an ordinary reservoir management institution develop into a tourist resort integrating sightseeing, leisure and vacation together, and it has contributed to the establishment of a good tourism image in Huairou, Beijing.

Beijing Zoo is located in Xizhimenwai Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. It is the largest urban zoo in China and has a history of more than 100 years. The Beijing Zoo is divided into three areas: east, south and north area. The main entrance of the zoo is located in the east area. In the north area of the zoo, there is the Beijing Aquarium (separate ticket purchase is required).

There are a lot of rare animals such as giant panda, golden monkey, Siberian tiger, white-lipped deer, elk, pony, red-crowned crane, and representative animals from all over the world, such as chimpanzee in Africa, kangaroo, jaguar, Mexican manatee, European bison, etc. The Amphibious Reptile Pavilion is divided into upper and lower floors, exhibiting more than 100 kinds of reptiles from all over the world, including one of the world’s largest crocodiles, the estuarine crocodile. You can refer to the signs in the zoo or the guide map on the official website to choose your favorite venue.

When playing in the zoo, you can also take children to the Science Museum to learn about animals. The Science Museum often holds various science lectures. The specific time and courses can be found on the official website.

The Beijing Zoo is lined with trees and has a large green area, which is very suitable for outings and parent-child activities. Beijing’s “Gu Guo Si Snack” has a branch in the zoo. There is a Beijing clothing wholesale market near the zoo. The National Library, Beijing Planetarium and Zizhuyuan Park are also nearby.

Beijing Zoo is not only a paradise for children but also a favorite place for adults. The area of the scenic spot is very large, it is best to prepare the strategy in advance and arrange the route reasonably. Remember to bring snacks and water to add energy. Choose the best season such as the spring season to take a visit there, you will enjoy yourself in the zoo.

Beijing Happy Valley is located in the southeast corner of Sifang Bridge, East Fourth Ring Road, Chaoyang District, which is covering an area of 1 million square meters. Beijing Happy Valley has carefully set up more than 120 experience projects, including more than 40 entertainment equipment, more than 50 cultural and ecological landscapes, more than 10 artistic performances, more than 20 themed games and commercial auxiliary projects, making it can meet the needs of different groups of people.

Here, young people can enjoy the stunning experience of the world’s six entertainment devices such as Crystal God Wings and Apollo, and fully feel the romance and mystery brought by Shangri-La’s “Golden Face Dynasty”. The elderly can follow the footprints of the Aegean Harbor and Mayan town, board the soothing Atlantis gathering spaceship, look for historical relics, sort out the veins of civilization, and feel the fantastic humanistic charm of the major theme partitions. Children can walk into the kingdom of ants and learn a lot about the knowledge of society, nature and ecology. They can appreciate acceleration, weightlessness, experience the diversity of vegetation, the fun of art, color, nature, music and sports.

Beijing Happy Valley is composed of seven cultural themed areas including “Fjord Forest, Aegean Port, Lost Maya, Shangri-La, Dessert Kingdom, Atlantis, Happy Hour”, etc. Through thematic cultural packaging and story interpretation, the building and sculpture, Gardens, murals, performances, entertainment and other forms, it shows visitors a colorful earth’s ecological environment and regional culture. The world’s classic civilization and creative wisdom are selected in the park, and more than 50 theme landscapes, more than 10 themed performances, more than 30 themed rides, more than 20 themed games and commercial auxiliary facilities have created a mysterious and dreamy world. More than 300,000 square meters of greenery and 80,000 square meters of lake surface give Happy Valley a good ecological environment; seven major theme areas give Happy Valley a unique humanistic temperament; the international and domestic double standards of safety testing, humanized service support and intelligence information system of the whole garden gives Happy Valley world-class quality. It is a great place to enjoy a holiday with your family.

Prince Gong’s Mansion is an antique attraction within the Third Ring Road of Beijing, and it is also the largest royal palace in China in the Qing Dynasty. Although the overall scale has reached 60,000 square meters, on the whole, it consists of two parts of the mansion house and the garden. If you don’t enjoy it carefully, you can finish visiting it in less than an hour. And it is near other attractions such as Shichahai where you can experience the city and bar culture directly in the neighborhood.

Prince Gong’s Mansion is a very well-preserved palace building complex in China, with more than 30 various types of architectural complexes, which are characterized by elegant layout and extraordinary style. The whole is divided into two parts, the mansion house and the garden, with the mansion in the front at the south and the garden in the back at the north. The structure and architecture of the entire royal palace are also well preserved. The first half of the building is quite temple-like, and the back garden part is lively.

The mansion house covers an area of about 30,000 square meters, and is composed of multiple courtyards running through a strict axis. It is divided into three roads in the middle, east, and west.

Middle Road: The main buildings of Middle Road are Yin’an Hall and Jiale Hall. The roof of the hall is made of green glazed tiles, which shows the majesty of Middle Road and is also a manifestation of the identity of the prince.

East Road: The front yard of East Road once became the actual Princess Palace.

West Road: The courtyard of West Road is small and exquisite.

The garden is located in the north of the mansion, also known as the Cuijin Garden. It covers an area of more than 28,000 square meters and has 31 ancient buildings. At that time, Prince Gong built a garden and mobilized hundreds of skilled craftsmen. After its completion, it is the essence of the garden art of the existing royal palace in Beijing. The theme of the whole garden is clear.

In short, when you are visiting Beijing, Prince Gong’s Mansion seems to be a must visit, because this royal palace is a royal palace in China that is the most complete preserved.

Beihai Park

Located in the city center of the Beijing city with its northwest near the Forbidden City, the Beihai Park covers an area of 71 hectares . It is once the emperor hall of the Liao Dynasty, King Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty and it is one of the completely-preserved emperor gardens with long history in China. It has been an AAAA level scenic area and listed as the key-protected relics unite in China.

Beihai Park

Featuring a long history of more than 1,000 years, the Beihai Park is made up of four parts: Jionghua Islet, Northwestern Shore Scenic Area, Tuancheng (Circulate City), and Eastern Shore Scenic Area. Among which the Jionghua Islet is its center part which is connected with other parts by a stone bridge and ferry boats, and you’ll find the island covered with luxuriant trees and decorated with a lot of exquisite and elegant pavilions stew in random; besides, the  white pagoda is the symbol of the Beihai Park which stands conspicuously there. The Beihai Park follows the Chinese traditional architectural ideas and artistry and feature its unique gardening art, which makes it the essence and the precious cultural heritage of the classical gardens in China. All kinds of the boating recreational activities and exhibitions in Beihai Park also makes it a best place for travelers from home and abroad to visit. You will surely enjoy yourself here.

Beihai Park

Travel information: 1) Opening time: 6:30 a.m. to 20:00p.m. during November to March and 6:00 a.m. to 21:00 p.m. in April, May, September and October; 6:00 a.m. to 22:00 p.m. from June to August; 8:30 a.m. to 18:00 p.m. for the Qionghua Island. 2) Ticket price: 20 Yuan/adult and 15 Yuan/ Child; 3) Best time to visit: Middle July to end of August as the lotus at that time is the most beautiful. 4) Ways to go there: Take the city bus No. 101, 103, 109, 685, 614 and 619 to the south gate of the Beihai Park; take the city bus line 107, 111, 118, 701 and 623 to the north gate of the Beihai Park or take the No. 5 bus to the its east gate. 5) For the Boat Tour on Houhai Lake: 1 hour duration.

Water Cube

The National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, is located on Olympic park and it is one of the symbolic architectures covering a capacity of 17, 000 seats including 6,000 permanent and 11,000 temporary for the Olympics Games. Built at December 2003 and finished at January 2008, the Water Cube is the main natatorium for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 where the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo sport events were held at that time and where Michael Phelps—the great champion of swimmer got eight medals then. It has been known as one of the Games’ iconic structures after the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games.

water cube

The competition hall of the Cubic Water is its key area with its length 116 meters, width 70 meters, height 30 meters and area 8,120 square meters. There are two swimming pool inside it, whose standard is 25 meters * 50 meters, depth of water 3 meters; jumpping pool 25 meters * 30 meters with about 4.5 meters to 5.5 meters water depth. The good-quality air, natural light, excellent sound effect together with the graceful architectural design make the atmosphere of the inner Cubic Water comfortable, enjoyable and excited. It is now a multi-functional center for sports, recreation and fitness. The amusement water park inside it is the one of the large-size water parks in China featuring world-standard facility, where you will surely enjoy yourself there.

Water Cube

Tips: 1) Opening time:  Swimming Pool: 12:30 p.m. to 17:30 p.m. for the normal days and 9:00 a.m. to 20:30 p.m. For the weekends ; The Amusement Water Park: 10:00 a.m. to 22:00 p.m.; 2) Ticket price: 30 Yuan/ adult for the Water Cube visit only; 50 yuan/ adult for swimming only 200 yuan/ adult including water amusement park; 3) Ways to go there: type 1—subway: take Line 10 to Beitucheng Stop and then transfer to Line 8 to get off at Olympic Green Stop. Use Exit A and walk southwards for 5 to 8 minutes to the entrance of the Southeast Gate of Water Cube; type2—city public buses: take the No. 696, 689, 658, 753, 660, 839, 944, 983, 939, 407, 386, 611, 82, 538, 81, 86 to the Olympic Green Stop.

Located in the Haiding District with a distance about 15 kilometers away from the Beijing City center and an area of 290 hectares, the the Summer Palace is the biggest and the best-preserved imperial garden in China nowadays, and it is one of the four famous gardens in China also. It is a large-scale mountain and water garden and also a completely-preserved imperial palace garden which sets the Kunming Lake and the Longevity Hill as the base address, and uses the scenery of the West Lake in Hangzhou as the blueprint, and absorbs some design methods and atmosphere. It has been honored as the ” Royal Garden Museum.”

The Summer Palace

The Summer Palace, also called Yiheyuan and The Garden of Harmonious Unity,  is an outstanding example of imperial parks and private gardens characteriezd by both northern and southern China and it is a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design, where you can view the beautiful and natural landscape inluding hills, pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges with fantastic charm. Famous both for its general design and its individual structures, the Summer Palace shows its unique beauty and do not forget to view its official sector in its  eastern part and its Long Corridor, which is one of the longest of its kind in Chinese history. The Palace Theatre and the Marble Boat should not be missed also during your visit to the Summer Palace.

The Summer Palace

Travel Tips: 1) Opening time and ticket price: 6:30 a.m. – 18:00 p.m. for the entrance in the peak season from 1st, April to 31st, October with the ticket price of 30 RMB/ adult;  7:00 a.m. – 17:00 p.m.for the entrance in the slack season from 1st November to 31st March with the ticket price of 20 RMB/ adult. 2)Best time to visit: summer is the best time to visit the Summer Palace as the weather is temperate at that time. Winter is not recommended time for you to visit there as the lake is frozen and the cruise is not available then. 3) How to get there: Take the no.4 subway line to the North Palace Gate or the West Garden and then walk in the west direction for 500 meters from the Tongqing Street to the East Palace Gate of the Summer Palace. 4) Do not forget wear those shoes which are suitable for long walk.

The Bird’s Nest

Being the main architecture of the China’s National Stadium, the Bird’s Nest is located in the south of the central area of the Beijing Olympic Park. It is the main stadium of the 29th Olympic Games in 2008. Covering a floor area of 21 hectares with the architecture area of 158,000 square meters, the Bird’s Nest offers a capacity of 91,000 seats for the audience inside and 11,000 seats for temporary

Audiences. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and the Paralympics, the track and field events and the Football final competition are all held here. It has been the large-scale professional site where Beijing citizens wildly take part in and enjoy Sports and Entertainment after the finish of the Olympic Games in 2008. Moreover, it has been the Olympics heritage and the Sports Architecture with the Landmarks character.

The Bird’s Nest

Being the world’s largest steel structure and the most complex stadium ever constructed, the construction of the Bird’s Nest began on December 24, 2003, and was completed in March, 2008, whose cost totals more than 423 million dollars, a tiny fraction of the 40 billion USD spent on Beijing in preparation for the Olympics. In order to make it much more magnificent and majestic, it’s built on the city’s north-south axis, which also includes the Forbidden City, Tian’an men Square and the Temple of Heaven.The main feature of the Bird’s Nest is that its eastern and western stands are higher than northern and southern stands in order to improve sightlines. Viewing in outside, you’ll find it unbelievable and unspeakable.

Then significance of the Bird’s Nest, most professors in the area of the architecture think is that is it not only set up a symbolic building with the unique history character for the Olympic games in 2008, it also has creative effect on the history of the world architecture, and provides great historical witness to the development of the architectures for both China and the whole world in 21 century.

Beijing Hutongs

Hutong, called as Mongolianese, is a small city lane featuring the unique Beijing customs and old Beijing living way. As the there was strike rule for the city building in ancient times, so the Hutong sets in the straight style in complicated distribution with more than 7,000 lanes named not only with person’s name such as prime minister Hutong, but with market or shop’s name such as goldfish Hutong, and with something certain Beijing dialect such as stuffy pot Hutong etc. Among which the west-eastern Jiaomin lane is the longest one with a total length 6.5 kilometers; the shortest Hutong just 1 inch wide and 10 meters more long, and the narrowest one is undoubtedly the Money Market Hutong in the front of the fence area with the width only 0.7 meter, where person of certain fat can go through there only with the breath controlled. There are hundreds of thousandths Hutong lanes in Beijing surrounded around the Forbidden City, and most of them were built in the Yuan dynasty, Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty in China’s history. There are the unique cultural building of the Beijing in China or even in the world.

Beijing Hutongs

Hutong is not only the pulse of the Beijing city, but also the living sites of the Beijing common people. The Beijing citizens have special emotion to the Hutong as there are not the passage for the common people go out and in home, but one and one customers museums which leaves lots of the vestige of the society and life in Beijing. Therefore, it means a lot of to the Beijing citizens. The Hutong is normally near the downtown, where it is convenient for people living there to go shopping. There are not so much crowed in Hutong when compared with the city centers, but you can sense the kind and close neighbour relationship.  You will truly experience the Beijing old life in these friendly and well-preserved Hutong during your Beijing tour.

Beijing Hutongs

Hutong, ancient but unique in Beijing, has been the bridge of the Beijing culture showing and transferring its unique culture to the other area of Beijing and other countries in the world. The living phenomenon of the old Beijing is set and showed in the corner of these Hutong, within every brick and tile of these Siheyuan and the neighbour relationship among the Beijing citizens there. People who have never gone there cannot really experience the special meaning and feelings there.  Just have a visit there in person during your Beijing tour by hiring the rickshaw, and you’ll have a true taste of Beijing!

tian’anmen square

Tian’an Men Square, the heartland of the Beijing city, is the biggest city central plaza in the world. It covers an area of 44 hectares with its width from the west to east 500meters and its length from north to south 800 meters. Its ground surface is decorated with the light color granite stones which have been dealt with special workmanship technology. It is the most solemn ceremony when the national flag rises in the morning and drops down in sunset. You will raise endless infuriation and move when seeing the bright-color national flag of the People’s Republic of China shinning in the morning glow. It is the happening place for numerous important politic events and historical events, moreover, it has witnessed the up and down, the decay and development. It has been listed as one of the sixteen famous attractions in Beijing.

tiananmen square

The Tian’an Men Square is a majestic and must-see attraction in Beijing, with whose north is to Tian’an Men Hall, south to Zhengyang Gate, north to Historical Museum and west to People’s Hall. It is a largest square with a capacity of 1 million holding functions here. The Monument of the People’s Heroes and the solemn Memorial Hall of the Chairman Mao are standing in the middle of the Square and both sides lies Working People’s Cultural Palace and Zhongshan Park. All of these architectures make the Tian’an Men Square grand, distribution symmetrical and magnificent to be a great and spectacular attraction in Beijing.

tiananmen square

Having witness numerous times of the Chinese people fighting for democracy and freedom and fighting with reactionary rule and the foreign invasion, the Tian’an Men Square is an virtual and holy place for important celebrations, assemblies and welcoming guests of foreign fairs. It has been the symbol of the coagulative power and the prosperity of the People’s Republic of China. When you are walking around the Tian’anmen Square, viewing the magnificent distribution, feeling the majestic momentum, appreciating the vast and profound landscape, you will upsurge a burst passion and honor.