While planning, I saw a number of people complaining that they had difficulties finding their way, most signs were not in English and it was impossible to get around. People kept suggesting to hire a guide, not to try to plan the trip myself, as, even though I am an experienced traveler, China is another world and I wouldn’t be able to find my way. I am not the one to give up on planning an independent trip though, however difficult.

So I planned everything myself and I found travelling to China much easier than to a number of other countries, especially because everything is so well-organized. Yes, there were some difficulties involved, as with any travel, but with the right planning, everything went smoothly. We loved the culture and the people and we can’t wait to visit again. If you have any difficulties, ask people around, they are super nice and will try to help, even if they don’t know any English – body language and Google translate always work wonders.

Based on our experiences, I have compiled these tips to help you plan your trip and avoid any difficulties.

Best Time to Visit China

Summers are rather hot in China, particularly in the bigger cities, where air is polluted and it’s difficult to breathe. Winters are cold. So I immediately discarded those seasons, as options.

Springs may have more showers than autumn, so we decided to go for mid to end of October. The thing is, this time is already colder than beginning of October, but 1-7 is the Chinese National holidays and everyone will advice to avoid this period. It really would be impossible to move around at this time. The attractions are still crowded any time of the year, mainly with the local tourists, but it’s still possible to navigate.

Visa Requirements for Entry to China

Citizens of selected countries can enter China visa-free – this list may change, therefore, make sure to check the official website before your travel. Certain country nationals also may qualify for 24-hour, or 240-hour transit visa exemptions. It can get confusing, so make sure to double check exactly which cities may allow citizens of your country to travel either through visa on arrival or free transit.

If you need a visa, there is a possibility to order your visa via travel agencies, but this would cost more than going to the Embassy. The process was extremely easy. You will need to fill in the online form, which you can find here. You will then need to bring to the relevant Embassy the printed form together with passport and a passport sized photo, the information about your flight and hotel bookings (I brought the printed copies) and a letter from your work/study place (the documents may be different according to the embassy requirements, so make sure to double check).

Upon arrival, you need to have your fingerprints taken. The machines are standing before the line for passport control. They worked well, and we were able to go through the process in several minutes. You will get a small paper slip with OK written on it with huge letters. When you join the queue, you will need to have this paper slip in hand, as well as the immigration fill form. We filled this form, while queuing not to lose time. The whole process took about 45 mins, even though the queue was quite long. The officer didn’t ask us anything else.

Money Matters in China

In many cities of China, cash is rarely used. Particularly after COVID-19, everyone uses one of the two payment apps – WeChat or Alipay. To use these apps, you need to have the NFC compatible phone. You will need to register for the app, link your credit or debit card and ensure you have internet connection for the times you will be paying with these apps.

Using the above mentioned apps, you will either scan the code displayed at the cafes and shops or have them scan your app. Even the small stalls at the markets have those codes nowadays.

Theoretically you could try asking to use your bank card, however, whenever we tried they had no option for this. They only have an option to pay via the apps and that’s it.

As a tourist, you still can sometimes use cash though. You can exchange money for Chinese yuans at the banks. Do not exchange money at the exchange offices, as their rate is really bad not only at the airport, but everywhere, and they also add the commission for exchange. So you would lose at least 10%. We found Bank of China at the Departures part of the Beijing airport. Find the counter 3 and the bank is in the back. They will exchange your money with usual exchange rate. We didn’t have to wait in queue, however, it took about half an hour for them to go through all procedures. The exchange in the banks can be done only until 5pm though. If you arrive later, try to have some yuans exchanged in your country or get money from the ATM, it definitely will be better than exchanging at the exchange office. Next day you can find a bank in the city.

I heard that in banks many people had to wait in long lines, so try to find a quieter branch. We exchanged money second time in Suzhou and there were no queues. However, the exchange process itself took half an hour again, so there’s no avoiding that. 

Accommodation Guide for Visiting China

I do suggest booking hotels, instead of flats because hotels will register you with authorities, as is require upon 24 hours of your arrival. If you don’t stay at the hotels, you would have to do this yourself.

Where to Stay in Beijing

The attractions are spread out in this huge city and it’s impossible to stay anywhere convenient to walk to attractions. Therefore, your best bet is finding accommodation somewhere close to a metro station. Keep in mind that buses can be very inconvenient for foreigners. It’s difficult to find any information in English about their destination or stops. On top of this, they get stuck in traffic and are extremely slow, so you will lose a lot of time with them.

Where we stayed: I chose a hotel considering the cost efficiency, as well as location. Happy Dragon Alley Hotel was located 3 minutes walk from Zhangzizhong Road metro station on Line 5 and this saved us a lot of time. Plus, the hotel provided rooms for families so I was able to book for the three of us. It was a very small clean hotel, which met our needs.

Where to Stay in Pingyao

As the city is small, basically anywhere inside the old city walls is central and convenient to walk around. The main thing is that no other transport but the hotel’s own transfer cars can enter the city walls. Therefore, consider that you will either have to book their transfer or walk a bit from the gates.

Where we stayed: We stayed at Pingyao hotel. We loved its cute courtyard and beautifully decorated rooms. It was very clean, very cute and the people who met us were very nice.

Where to Stay Xi’An

Xi’An attractions are quite spread out, therefore, you won’t be able to simply walk among them. Therefore there is no one central location, which will be convenient for everything. That said, staying near Bell Tower will put you closer to some of the main locations you will be visiting. Otherwise, it’s best find a place close to metro stations.

Where we stayed: The hotel we stayed at doesn’t exist any more, I wouldn’t recommend it anyway, as it was inconvenient location wise. Before booking, I thought buses would be convenient, but they took too long to get anywhere. However, taxis were cheap in this city, so we took taxis sometimes. Instead I recommend Campanile Hotel Xi’an Bell Tower, which is in a great location. They have discounts at the time of writing for high season, if you book early. The location is very central, near the Bell Tower and the Clock Tower and metro links. This will allow you to get around the city easily.

Where to Stay in Shanghai 

In the Shanghai area, you can either stay in Shanghai itself or its surroundings. As usual with bigger cities, it’s best to find a location which is close to a metro station, because you will need to use public transport often. As I was searching, I found that Shanghai hotels near transport links are quite expensive. So I decided to stay outside the city, in Suzhou (the train from Xi’an stops in Suzhou before arriving to Shanghai, so this was the most convenient option).

Where to Stay in Suzhou

Suzhou is one of the cities, which has its sightseeing spots very spread out. I highly recommend to stay near a metro station in this city as well.

Where we stayed

Internet in China: Using Google and Other Apps

China has not only banned access to Gmail and other Google services, Facebook and other websites, but also banned downloads of VPNs. Therefore, if you want to access any of these apps and websites, while in China, do what all foreigners do – either get an E-SIM before arrival or download a VPN before you arrive.

Most free VPNs barely work in China – they keep turning off, but you can get 5 minutes on your email at least or not … A couple of my VPNs worked the first day, then none of them worked for some days, then they started working again. I have no clue why. If you can’t survive without your Fb access, then you will need to pay for a more advanced VPN service in order to get a reliable access. People recommend LetsVPN – however, I haven’t tried that one, so not sure if it works.

Maps – you won’t be able to download offline China maps on Google maps. And the map access may be difficult. I decided not to rely only on VPN and downloaded other apps. That was somewhat annoying, as I am too dependent on my Google maps, but well

• The most useful was maps.me, which works fine in China. I moved all my Google map pins there and was mainly using this app.
• Another good option is OsmAnd maps. You can download offline maps and change the language from Chinese to English.
• Visit a City app was also helpful for putting all the sights together. 

E-SIM vs. SIM Card for China

Having mobile data is quite essential while traveling to China. Especially nowadays, when you will need Alipay or Wechat for payments.

As noted above, E-SIM cards are the best option, as they will allow you to have access to the websites and apps most of us rely on. Airalo offers a great option

If you are opting for prepaid SIM cards, make sure they are compatible with your phone. For instance, Chinese Telecom cards don’t work with phones produced outside China. You can buy the SIM card with the data either online before arrival or after arrival at the airport or in relevant shops. You can top up your card in local stores if needed or through Wechat or Alipay.

Essential Apps for Traveling in China

Download these essential apps before departure:

• A VPN or several. One may not work, but another will. In my case, none worked on some days. The VPNs I had were Tunnelbear (this one is actually my go-to free VPN usually), Windscribe, express vpn (7-day free trial) and Hide.me. They worked sometimes, but keep in mind that none of these will work all the time. Some people recommend LetsVPN, that might work better – however, I did not try it.
• Maps – As already noted maps.me worked well. OsmAnd and Visit a City will also help.
• Translate app – Google translate offline works fine. You can also download Baidu and Pleco, but they don’t translate full sentences, only words.
• For taxis, download Didi app – we didn’t use it, as I couldn’t sign up with my number and we didn’t get a Chinese sim card.
• MetroMan – really helpful for metros in any city. It gives metro maps and schedules offline.
• Wechat – it’s an app used by most Chinese. I contacted one of the hotels via Wechat, for instance. It is also used, instead of bank card to pay for services and goods (see above in the section about money). It is difficult to sign up though and keeps getting blocked, but it worked for me in the end.
• Alipay – like Wechat, Alipay is used for paying for services and goods.
• Trip.com – a Chinese travel agency, which I relied on quite a lot. I used them to book train tickets, the tickets for Mubus, as well as for booking hotels.
• Find another search engine, as Google may not work. Baidu is Chinese search engine, but I couldn’t understand, how to switch it to English. Bing is a good option.
• Download a web browser – Firefox will do. Chrome and Opera may not work.

Transport in China

China has one of the best developed public transport networks in the world. Trains are the best mode of transportation and I highly recommend using them, wherever possible. We always used trains for long distance travel and metro inside the cities, unless they were not available. Buses were a more complicated option.

For the detailed information on public transport, see the post here.

Food in China

Food in China is different from what you find in Chinese restaurants in many parts of the world. I had heard before that the food is adapted to local tastes and real Chinese food is different and I agree with this. We found out that Chinese don’t so much like salt, but they heavily rely on sugar and spices. Most things we tried came with sweet and hot sauces and/or with sugar. The food is quite greasy most of the time, but we found some things that we really liked:

• We loved dumplings in some places. In our experience, shrimp dumplings were mostly too greasy, but the classical meat ones were good mostly.

• We loved the different versions of rice dishes, especially with shrimp.
• Our favourate sweets were mango desserts, you will find mango pudding in many places and it is delicious. We also liked mango pancakes.
• Another sweet dessert we liked were tea cakes.

• Fish was mostly great, but they often bring it with sweet sauces or fried in a sweet sauce.
• We were not a fan of Peking duck, it was too oily, although tasty for a bite

In many restaurants you will have to wait for your table, unless you enter a fast food place or unpopular restaurant. Almost everywhere we went for lunch or dinner, we had to wait 15-45 minutes, depending how busy they were.

Here are a few restaurants we liked and can recommend:

Shanghai

• Shanghai Grandmother restaurant – conveniently located near Bund and old town area with modern atmosphere.
• Yang’s fried dumplings – the restaurant is a chain and has locations in several places. We were not huge fans, as for us it was greasy. But it came highly recommended and Chinese food lovers may like it.

Hangzhou

• Grandma’s – local chain with several branches.
• Green Tea Restaurant – another local chain with various locations.
• We liked their dumplings.

• Honeymoon Dessert – this dessert place had amazing mango based sweets. Just try everything, all of them are great. We actually tried once, then went back second time and got some to take back with us – yes, we actually carried the desserts all the way to Georgia. I am not kidding, the mango desserts pictured below travelled 10+3 hours, not including the way to and from airports and waiting time during transfer

Xi’An

• Three Sister (or 3rd sister) Dumplings – nice no frills place near South gate with great dumplings.

Pingyao

• Buy local pastries anywhere in town.

Best 10-Day Itinerary Tips for Visiting China Independently

(this can be arranged and rearranged according to your wishes)

Day 1 – Beijing – Tiananmen square, Forbidden city, Jinshan park, Wangfujing road.

See the detailed guide for visiting the Forbidden city.

Day 2 – Beijing – Mutyaniu section of the Great wall.

See the detailed guide for visiting Great Wall and which section to choose.

Day 3 – Beijing – Beijing zoo, Summer palace, Starry Road.

See the detailed guide for visiting Summer Palace in Beijing.

Day 4 – Beijing – Temple of Heaven, Lama Temple, Drum and Bell tower, Hutongs, Houhai lake, Beihai park.

See my 4-day detailed itinerary for visiting Beijing.

See the detailed guide for visiting Temple of Heaven.

Day 5 – Pingyao – (high speed trains will get you from Beijing to Pingyao in 4 hours and Pingyao to Xian in 3 hours).

See the detailed itinerary for visiting Pingyao.

Day 6 – Xian – Terracota warriors, Xian city wall (enter from South), Giant Goose Pagoda

See my detailed guide for visiting Terracota warriors.

Day 7 – Xian – Bell and Drum towers, Muslim quarter including Great Mosque, maybe Shaanxi museum, Tang paradise.

See the itinerary for visiting Xian.

Day 8 – Suzhou – Canglang Pavilion, Pingjiang road, Boat ride on the canal, Humble Administrator’s garden, Lion Grove garden, Shantang street and the lighted up canal at night.

See the detailed guide for visiting Suzhou.

You can spend a couple more days in Suzhou and visit Tiger hill, Hanshan temple, The Master of the Nets garden and the Lingering garden. I adored this city and would have spent much more time here.

You can also visit the water towns from here, like Tongli and Zhouzhuang.

Day 9 – Shanghai – People’s square (if you are here on the weekend, you will see the Marriage market), East Nanjing road, the Bund, Ferry to Pudong, skyscrapers, Oriental Pearl Tower with glass floors, French concession.

See the detailed itinerary for visiting Shanghai.

If you spend more time in Shanghai, you can also visit another skyscraper, Yu garden (after Suzhou gardens, it’s not that great), City God temple, Shanghai museum and/or water towns, like Zhujiajiao

Day 10 – Hangzhou – walk around the West lake, Yongjin bridge, Orioles Singing in the Willows, Leifeng pagoda, Dragon ferry to Three pools island, Baoshi hill with the Taoist temple, Broken bridge.

If you have more time in Hangzhou, you can explore more parks and pavilions around the lake and go to Lingyan temple and Feilaifeng

Other Tips for Travelling Independently in China

• If you look different (lighter skin, red hair, darker skin, tall or whatever else), you will feel like a celebrity or an attraction People were taking selfies with us, repeating the word “beautiful”, asking where we are from, etc. I was aware of the scams and was apprehensive at first, but none of the people who talked to us wanted more than to take a photo with us and to genuinely help.

• Chinese are very keen to help, even if they have no clue, what you are asking. If you get lost or need something, just stop someone on the street. We were able to ask for help with body language or through a translation app – this last was extremely helpful.
• Still be careful of the people aggressively pushing their services or products. For instance, in Xi’an, when looking for 306 bus stop, a lady tried to push us to some buses, loudly shouting at us. Not sure, if the service would be ok (from what I heard the scammers take tourists to souvenir shops and ask for a lot), but I am always apprehensive, when they ambush me. So just say no and stick to what you have planned to do.
• Public toilets are quite easy to find in a lot of places, especially near tourist attractions. They are always free. The toilets can be squat or a western version, but former is in bigger supply.
• Carry toilet paper and hand sanitizer everywhere. You will find paper in some toilets before you enter the stalls, but in many cases, you will find none. Soap is also rare.
• Bargaining is an important part of Chinese markets. Check prices of anything you want to buy in many spots to get the idea of what it may cost. For instance, for exactly the same chopsticks we were seeing everywhere, we were quoted 10, 20, 100 or even 200 yuan. Keep in mind that in most places they will quote to a foreigner far higher price than any Chinese would be willing to pay. You can bargain. My mom is great at this and on several occasions she managed to make them decrease the price threefold or more (which I am sure was more than Chinese would pay, but as tourists we were fine paying that amount).
• Blowing your nose loudly is impolite in China. On the other hand, you will find a lot of people spitting on the street, so don’t be surprised.
• If you are used to a lot of personal space, Chinese cities provide definitely the opposite. I guess it’s due to the huge numbers of people living in cities, which doesn’t make it possible to keep enough distance.
• Have a lot of fun

<p>The post China Travel Guide: Essential Tips for Planning your Trip first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

The palace was built in the 18^th century for the dowager empress Chongqing. It served, as summer residence of the emperor’s family. The Palace complex was destroyed in the mid 19th century and rebuilt in 1886 by Empress Dowager Cixi, who moved here. From the history I read about her, she sounds like a powerful woman, who loved art and culture. The Palace is particularly revered, due to its gardens and beautiful lake surroundings.

Practical Details for Visiting the Summer Palace

How to Get to the Summer Palace

If you are staying near any metro station in Beijing, getting here will be easy using Beijing’s extensive metro network.

• Xiyuan Station exit C2 is 10 mins away from the East gate of the Palace.
• Beigongmen station exit D is 3 minutes away from the North gate, walk to your left after getting out of the station.

You can enter from one gate and exit from another, that’s the best use of your time. We entered from the North side and walked all the way to the East gate to get to the Xiyuan station, nearby which there were a number of food and coffee places.

Note: Keep in mind, if you want to find any food, head towards the Xiyuan station, as there is a shopping area and a lot of food options here. More about this later.

Tickets of the Summer Palace

Through ticket: 60 yuan (high season price)

General admission ticket: 30 yuan (high season price)

Discounts for children and pensioners available for either option.

Important Note: Suzhou Street, Dehe Garden, and the Tower of Buddhist Incense are closed on Mondays, except on national holidays. Other areas remain open.

If you want to visit most places around the grounds, I suggest buying the Through ticket rather than buy the general ticket to access the grounds and then buy tickets one by one at the entrance of each site.

You have several options for buying the tickets:

• You can buy the ticket at the ticket office, however in high season, especially on weekends, the queues can be huge. There is also a chance that the tickets may sell out.
• As most tickets in China, you can buy Summer Palace tickets on WeChat. I am pretty used to using most major booking platforms, but WeChat is quite a unicorn for me. It kept getting stuck and logging me out. It was a nightmare. Hopefully it works for you though. If so, you can get tickets for the same price, as at the ticket office of the Palace.
• Easiest option for international travelers is buying buy a ticket on either Klook or Trip.com or GetYourGuide for a small surcharge.
• This doesn’t seem to be a viable option: the official website is supposed to have a link for purchasing tickets, however it doesn’t work – try opening https://www.summerpalace-china.com (at least it doesn’t at the time of writing. I am still including it for ease of reference).

If you choose buying tickets online, you can do so a week in advance of your visit.

When purchasing tickets online or in person, you need to have your passport with you during your visit.

While exploring the Summer Palace is easy on your own, there are options for getting a tour guide to explain to you the history of the Palace. You can either hire one on the spot or purchase the tour beforehand after reading the reviews.

Moreover, if you have a very limited time in Beijing, you may consider a whirlwind tour of the city, which includes the major attractions. However, I wouldn’t advice doing this, unless you have only a day and don’t anticipate visiting Beijing again.

How Much Time do you Need to Visit the Summer Palace

You should keep in mind that the Palace grounds cover a huge area around the lake. The Palace complex consists of over 3000 man-made structures, from pavilions to towers to bridges. For exploring all main areas of the grounds on a comfortable slow stroll, you would certainly need the whole day. We spent over 5 hours here and that wasn’t nearly enough. Therefore, depending how much time you have in Beijing, try to allocate at least half a day to the Summer Palace.

Map of the Summer Palace

I couldn’t find a great map for the palace grounds; this TravelChinaGuide map gives some idea.

While this map from ChinaHighlights may be more convenient and simple, although doesn’t show everything

The sightseeing route for the Summer Palace

I will give you the information from North gate to the East, but you can follow the route in the reverse order.

When you are coming from the North gate, the first thing you will see upon entering is the so-called Suzhou street. This market area is located on both sides of the canals. You can marvel at the place from the bridge or go down and walk around seeing the shops.

Longevity Hill

Crossing the bridge, you will end up at the foot of the hill. The Longevity hill lying in front of you is no easy climb, but it’s worth the effort. My mom made it and was very happy that she did.

First, you will see the Four Great regions, which houses 3 statues. It has quite high steps to climb. After you make it, the way towards the Sea of Wisdom Temple is the most complicated, with uneven and steep stone steps, but there are a couple of easier ways, from where even elderly people manage to climb. We looked around a bit and found those steps for mom to be able to climb. I guess best option is to follow the locals, when you see them

The Sea of Wisdom temple located on top of the hill houses a buddha statue. It’s an architectural marvel with beautiful carvings and colors. It has 1000 Buddhas on its walls, which is a lovely sight.

The temple doesn’t have views, however, you walk a bit more and closeby, you will find the Tower of Buddhist Incense (or fragrance, however you prefer to translate it). Here, you will not only find a beautiful 8-storey pagoda, but also amazing views towards the lake and over the Hall of Clouds.

To go down, I suggest to take stairs, which are located in front of the tower towards the lakeside, as you will have great views, while walking. Alternatively, you can go back to the entrance of the pagoda and take easier stairs down, however, with less marvelous views.

Downstairs, you will end up at the Hall of Dispelling Clouds. This was being renovated at the time we were there. It is another beautiful place. What I like the most were its corridors, particularly, the staircase corridors, which were, unfortunately, closed for visitors. This Hall was used by Empress Dowager Cixi to receive guests and hold various ceremonies.

Kunming Lakeside

Finally, you are at the lakeside. This is where we encountered swamps of people. Up on the Longevity hill, the number of people were far less and it was more quiet and nice. But here, you won’t manage to find a peaceful spot.

From here you have two options – to go along the Long Corridor to your left, which will lead you to the Main court area or to your right to the Marble Boat. From there the boats can bring you to the 17-arch bridge and the island and then you can get off at the east side or go to Suzhou street. If you have enough time, I suggest to do this boat ride.

The Long corridor itself is considered a marvel. It is certainly beautiful, but similarly are all the other corridors we saw all around the summer palace. So instead of trying to get nice picture here, which you won’t manage among the hordes of people, find other beautiful pavilions. They are in so many places, just wonder a bit away from the main tourist groups.

The Court Area

The main court area located closer to the East gate consists of several halls and gardens. Here, the most beautiful was the Dehe garden (of virtue and harmony), where you will find the largest (three-story) concert stage in old China. This part was apparently built by the end of the 19^th century, when the Summer palace was rebuilt by Empress Cixi. This stage has highly contributed to the development of theatre and opera.

Don’t miss the Hall of Joyful Longevity nearby, where you will find the huge stone, which is associated with bad luck by many, as its original owner came to financial ruin. This Hall was the living quarters of Empress Cixi.

The Hall of Benevolence and Longevity was the place, where the official business was conducted by the dowager empress Cixi. You will find interesting ornaments and statues here.

Hall of Jade Ripples was used, as living quarters of Emperors. During the time Cixi lived here, she even confined an Emperor Guanxu here for years.

The Heralding spring pavilion has beautiful views over the Tower of Buddhist incense and the lake, so don’t miss a chance to walk around it.

The Wenchang gallery located near the East gate is not as interesting, as we expected, but it was very nice and peaceful in the evening hours. The gallery houses some cultural artifacts.

Finally, you will get to Eastern Gate, which is actually the main entrance to the palace.

Of course, these are not the only things you will be seeing, there are numerous gorgeous pavilions, corridors, small halls and other beautiful sites to admire. But this list will help you not miss the major sites on your way.

Overall, this is an extremely beautiful place and if you have time, I do recommend to spend the whole day here. With more time, you will be able to wonder to the less crowded places, do the boat tour and enjoy your time.

What to Do Next Near the Summer Palace

If you end your visit at the East Gate, as we did, it is about 10-minute walk to the Xiyuan metro station. Nearby the station you will find the so called starry street shopping area with a number of cafes and restaurants.

I do recommend the Green Tea restaurant. This is a popular restaurant chain with dishes from Hangzhou. It has beautiful atmosphere and good food and isn’t too expensive. We came here in the evening at about 7pm and had to wait for our table for about half an hour, but we were used to this in Beijing and it was worth the wait. You will also get a menu meanwhile, so that when you get inside, you already know what to order.

<p>The post Visiting the Summer Palace in Beijing: Step-by-Step Guide first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

Practical Details for Visiting Shanghai

Below are Shanghai specific tips. For general tips for visiting China, please, see my relevant post here.

Accommodation in Shanghai

As in most big cities, accommodation in Shanghai is very expensive. If you do decide to stay in the city, I recommend to find a place outside major central areas, near a metro station. Given the well-developed public transport, it will be easy to get around.

I decided to stay in a hotel in Suzhou instead and do a day trip from there to Shanghai, which was the best decision. We loved Suzhou far more, accommodation there was cheaper, and it was very easy to commute by train between the two cities. It took us about 30 minutes (see below).

In Suzhou we stayed at the PACE Hotel Suzhou Renmin Road and absolutely loved it. It was our favourite hotel not only in China. I 100% recommend it to anyone.

Transport in Shanghai

Shanghai has 4 major railway stations and is served by 2 airports. If you, like us stay in Suzou, you can arrive to the Shanghai Railway Station from Suzhou North station in less than half an hour. Keep in mind that the trains from Suzhou also go to Shanghai Hongqiao, which is far from the city center, while the Shanghai station is quite central and you will end up at People’s square really fast by metro.

Trip.com was the most convenient option for me to book all railway tickets, while in China.

Shanghai metro has a huge network and it in itself is a sightseeing destination. I have seen metro systems in a number of cities, but this really was another level. The People’s Square station had an underground square with people swarming in different directions. That also was the longest change between the lines ever, it took us ten minutes to walk That said, the metro is very well-organized and convenient. You can rely on it.

Buses in Shanghai: We never tried buses, as like in other cities, here they also have signs only in Mandarin, while the transport apps don’t help significantly. Either way, metro is so well-developed that buses were absolutely unnecessary.

How to travel from/to the Shanghai main Railway Station: Three metro lines (1, 3 and 4) link to the stop Shanghai railway station. With the red line 1 you can get to the People’s square easily. There are also a number of buses.

How to travel from/to the Shanghai Pudong Airport: The fastest way is the Maglev train, which connects to the Longyang Road. Maglev is an attraction in itself. Alternatively, you can travel with metro line 2 to a number of locations in the city.

Important information: Do you have one day layover in Shanghai? You can actually take advantage of this free tour offered by the trip.com. You may be surprised, but it is a fully legitimate tour directed at supporting tourism.  Besides, if you have an overnight layover in Shanghai, some airlines offer free accommodation – check with your airline.

Shanghai Transport Tickets

There are several options for purchasing Shanghai metro and bus tickets:

• Easiest way is to use your bank card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, etc.) to tap at the gates. However, not all stations have that option.
• You can get single entry metro tickets or 1-day or 3-day metro pass at the machines of some stations. The machines are easy to use, they have English language option. You will have to indicate, which stations are you traveling between and pay relevantly 3-10 Yuan. You can pay by cash or card. Most of the machines don’t accept paper bills of less than 5 Yuan. They also have the coin part. As far as I know, most of them give change, but we tried to have exact amount, while buying tickets.
• You can use a Shanghai metro app DADUHUI (download this, when you arrive to China) and link your foreign bank card to it.
• You can download Alipay or WeChat. Once you link your card, you can generate QR code to enter with.
• If you are staying at least a few days, you should get the Shanghai transportation card, which costs 20 Yuan and can be charged to be used on all transport in the city. The transport card doesn’t offer any discounts, therefore getting it for a day trip would not be a good idea.

If you wish to use taxis instead, you can download the DiDi app, hail them or find the designated taxi stands at the train stations, airports and other locations.

Here is the general information and tips about transport in China

Finally, even though I personally preferred to DIY my travel around Shanghai, you may not want a hassle of finding your way around. In that case, there are a number of 1-day tours you can take. Check via Klook, GetYourGuide, Trip.com. Of course, this option is more expensive than using public transport, but can be convenient, when you don’t speak the language.

Things to Book in Advance when Visiting Shanghai

You don’t need to book most of the Shanghai attractions in advance, unless you wish to do so. However, there are several places you either must (only museums, like Shanghai museum) or better reserve:

• Shanghai Museum: Reservations are required through the official channels. No resellers are authorized to sell these tickets.
• Oriental Pearl Tower: This is not needed to book in advance, if you are visiting in a low season and a weekday. However, you may want to reserve, if you are visiting in high season and on the weekends. You can do so via their official Wechat channel, but Wechat can be quite slow and annoying (at least it is for me :)). So you also have an option of third party websites, like Booking or Klook.
• Shanghai Tower Observatory: Similar to Oriental Pearl Tower, you don’t have to prebook but may prefer to do so in high season. You can’t book via official website, it only lists official resellers, including trip.com.
• Shanghai Disneyland: This does not apply for 1-day itinerary but if you are in Shanghai for longer and plan to visit, you can avoid huge queues by booking in advance. Here is the official website for reserving your Disney tickets or you can use trip.com and Klook for ease.

We somehow expected to find more people speaking some English in Shanghai, due to its business status. However, that wasn’t really the case. But as everywhere else in China, translation apps helped

Use E-sim or Consider Using VPN

Given restrictions on social media and communications sites, you may need to do either of the two options: Using e-sim (like Airalo or Saily) will allow you more freedom and access everything without VPN. Alternatively, you can use a VPN to be able to access the restricted websites.

Shanghai 1-Day Itinerary

The following itinerary considers only visiting the sites in Shanghai proper. While there are a lot of beautiful towns and cities within half an hour to an hour distance, you may want to consider visiting them on separate days.

Shanghai Old City

If you haven’t visited a number of lovely cities in China already, start your day by exploring the old city area of Shanghai. For this take subway line 1 from the Shanghai Railway Station and transfer to line 14 to Yuyuan garden.

You can arrive at the Yu Garden (High season price: 30 Yuan) first thing in the morning. The garden was built during the Ming dynasty period and has typical features of traditional Chinese gardens. However, it doesn’t come close to any garden in Suzhou. So if you have enough time, do go there instead.

You can buy Yu Garden tickets on the spot easily. Just bring your passport with you. If you want to book them in advance, you can do so using WeChat. For me WeChat was not easy to navigate, so there’s an option to book via Trip.com, Klook or other agencies.

After Yu Garden, explore the City God Temple (Price: 10 Yuan). It is best for you to purchase tickets of the Temple on the spot. Alternatively, you can book with WeChat, but it’s unnecessary.

While wandering around the narrow streets of the old city, you can also make a stop at the oldest teahouse in Shanghai – Huxinting.

Overall, Shanghai’s old town is cute. However, if you have a short time in the city and have already explored Beijing, Pingyao with its cute narrow historical streets, Suzhou with its gorgeous gardens and other cities of China, this area of Shanghai doesn’t offer much to you. Therefore, you can actually skip it.

People’s Square

If you are coming from the old city, you can either walk here, take subway line 14 to Dashijie station (it will be 1 stop). Alternatively, if you skipped visiting the old city, you can come here from Shanghai railway station by taking line 1 and transferring to line 14 to Dashijie.

Once you arrive to the the People’s Square, just walk around to soak in the atmosphere. Obviously, the sheer size of the buildings, streets, the number of people here is dumbfounding. We passed the Concert Hall and the Shanghai Museum. If you are in the city for longer time, you should definitely see this museum, which is I believe largest in China.

Note: For visiting Shanghai Museum, you may wish to book your tickets in advance, given the huge queues and the limited tickets. Keep in mind that according to the Museum’s official website there are no authorized “online platforms, organizations, or individuals to sell tickets or reserve entry other than the Museum’s official channels”. So if you wish to book, you should do so through their official website, WeChat official account or the mini-app. You can book no earlier than 14 days in advance.

The square has nice green areas with birds flying around. People are relaxing or exercising. We found many just strolling and enjoying the nice weather.

Shanghai Marriage Market

If you are at the People’s Square on the weekend, you will also be able to witness the most fascinating thing I have seen in a while – the marriage market.

When I read about it in the guides for Shanghai, I was simply amazed. I thought it would be just at a small corner of the People’s Square, several old people quietly talking to each other, so I didn’t pay much attention to it and didn’t search for detailed information about it. But apparently I was wrong. I definitely didn’t expect what I saw.

Walking around the square, we stumbled upon the rows of colorful umbrellas with papers on them. First, we had no idea what it was about. Then we saw the papers, although in Chinese, you could see the numbers, like 81, 165, etc. People were checking the signs thoroughly and stopping and talking to each other.  Some young people were smiling, while looking at the papers on umbrellas, that made us even more interested to understand what was going on.

I am not sure how long passed before we realized that we were seeing the marriage market. This actually is a very lively “market”. The sheets pinned on the umbrellas provide information about the age, height, weight, education and income of the people of “marriageable age”. People exchange phone numbers, arrange meetings, look for matches.

You find older people – parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles trying to make a match for their daughters, sons and relatives, who may or may not even be willing to be the objects of this. But you rarely see any young people here and if you do, they are either tourists or the curious, who seem to be amazed by all of this.

Interesting fact: This tradition started only in 2004, which in the age of internet is rather surprising.

It was a truly strange experience walking around this place. Some of the people standing at the umbrellas pointed at us and then started talking to us. Not speaking any Chinese, we obviously didn’t understand anything. We hurried along in fear that they might wanna make matches for us

East Nanjing Road

Passing the market, we walked to the pedestrian road – East Nanjing Road. This street is full of malls and shops the size of the malls. Crazy numbers of people move about with their shopping bags. If you need to buy something, I was told this is a good area, while West Nanjing Road is more high-end and expensive. We didn’t buy anything, that wasn’t in our plans. We just wanted to watch people in this huge megapolis.

The Bund

By following East Nanjing Road, you can reach the Bund, which is considered the heart of Shanghai and has truly beautiful views. If you want a clear view of the Pudong and want to get pictures without at least a dozen other people in them, walk along the Bund to the left side. Views are the best from here and compared to the intersection with East Nanjing Road, there are less people. After that, you can walk southwards to enjoy the views and see the 20^th century buildings lining the street. Here you will find buildings from the 1920s and 1950s, the banks, old hotels, etc. This map from ChinaHighlights is the most comprehensive:

Walking down the Bund and enjoying the views is of course a must. We enjoyed it a lot and took dozens of photos of course.

Ferry across Huangpu River

Price: 2 Yuan.

From the Bund, you can take a river cruise. You will find tour boats at several spots, while walking on the Bund. Actually there is also a public ferry crossing over from Bund to Pudong. I had to look for the ferry stops for a while to find any information online. Here are the stops on both sides:

This ferry is the most convenient way to go across the river quickly, however, it doesn’t give the feel of a boat ride. It is a closed space and the little windows don’t allow you to see much of anything during the short ride. So if you want to get the feel of a cruise, you don’t have another choice, but to find the tour boats.

If you have more time and wish to experience the river tour, you can consider booking a Huangpu River Cruise. In the low season, you can grab tickets directly at the pier, however you may need to book in advance in the high season. You can do so via Trip.com, Klook or GetYourGuide. They offer a number of options, from night cruises to dinners to day sightseeing.

Pudong and Shanghai Skyscrapers

When you go across the river, walk around Pudong and just marvel at the skyscrapers. I am normally not a huge fan of them, but well, when in Shanghai …

As you may have heard, the Shanghai Tower is a 128-story skyscraper, which is the world’s third highest building after Burj Khalifa in Dubai and the new Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur. It also has the world’s second fastest elevator. You can buy tickets on the spot, however, if you don’t wish to queue, then you can buy them on either Trip.com or Klook.

The other high buildings are Jin Mao Tower (online tickets on Klook and Trip.com) and Shanghai Financial Center (online tickets on Klook and Trip.com).

The Oriental Pearl tower is somewhat away from these three skyscrapers and stands closer to the river.

While walking around Pudong, we wandered into the fanciest mall I have seen. You wouldn’t be able to find any mid-range shops here, I guess Dolce&Gabanna would be the cheapest among all the shiny shops

After passing these towers, you will find elevated walkways leading towards the Oriental Pearl Tower. This is not only the most convenient way to walk to the tower, but also very picturesque with great views of the surrounding skyscrapers.

It was a tough choice to decide which of the towers to climb. We opted for going up the observation deck of the Oriental Pearl Tower. You might prefer another one, depending on your preferences.

Find out about your choices and our experience at the Oriental Pearl Tower here.

We ended our day with an evening stroll on East Nanjing Road. You have several options for this, to walk across Bund again to take in the night views and the lights or to walk on East Nanjing Road and do some shopping or watch people.

Day Trips from Shanghai

Many people may like Shanghai’s modern feel and decide to stay in the city for a few days. Here are a few recommendations:

• Longhua Temple
• Centry Park
• Jing’an Temple
• Jade Buddha Temple

However, I do suggest to instead explore its nearby areas, which are numerous and lovely:

Suzhou: A cute city with lovely gardens and canals you can explore for 1 or 2 days.

Hangzhou: Lovely city located next to the lake.

Nanjing: Former capital throughout many dynasties.

Cute canal towns:

• Zhouzhiajio
• Nanxiang
• Wuzhen
• Zhouzhuang
• Tongli

If you don’t want a hassle of figuring out public transportation to these smaller towns near Shanghai, you have an option to book group or individual tours according to your preference via Klook, GetYourGuide, Viator, or Tripadvisor.

See also:

Useful tips for planning your trip to China.

Tips on taking public transport in China.

A detailed 4-day itinerary of Beijing.

2-day itinerary of Xi’An.

<p>The post Visit Shanghai: 1-day Itinerary of the Megapolis first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

China’s capital has a history of almost 3 millennia and it’s not surprising that it counts 7 UNESCO World Heritage sites. Beijing has undergone transformation from a small less significant city to its current glory. Its prosperity started in 1403, when it became the Imperial capital. The monuments built in the 15th century (Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven) still remain the most prominent here.

Based on my own experience of traveling with my sister and mother, I developed this guide to help you navigate Beijing with ease. You will find the tips for finding accommodation, choosing transport options, booking tickets and more.

Below I will list the Beijing-specific tips. For general tips for visiting China, which also applies to Beijing, please, see the relevant post here.

How Many Days to Spend in Beijing?

With 7 UNESCO sites, wonderful museums and attractions, Beijing has a lot to offer for any length of stay. You need at least 2 days to get a glimpse and visit the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. However, to experience the major sites, you need at least 4 days in Beijing.

Actually, if you are a citizen of one of the 55 listed countries (see the official website), including the US, Australia, UK, Japan, Argentina Brazil or certain EU member states – you may be eligible for a free transit visa if you are flying to a third country after Beijing. It used to be a 144 hour visa free transit, however, in 2024, it became 240 hours. Keep in mind, that in this case you will stay in designated area – in case of arriving to Beijing it would be Beijing municipality.

For overall information about the visa procedures and entry, see my dedicated article. 

Where to Stay in Beijing: Accommodation Guide

I didn’t want to hassle of figuring out how to register, therefore, decided to book exclusively hotels in China. I advice all travelers to do the same, as it’s one less thing to worry about.

While Beijing has a lot of different options for accommodation, it’s one of the most expensive cities to stay in China. I believe the fact that it’s a tourist hub contributed to this. Staying near the Tiananmen square would break the bank.

However, it is noteworthy that sightseeing in Beijing is very spread out around the city. Thus, you will definitely need to take public transportation almost every day. Therefore, my main suggestion is to stay near a metro station on one of the main lines. The metro network is very convenient and efficient. Keep in mind that buses are very inconvenient around China. It’s difficult to figure out routes, when you don’t speak the language. Besides, they get stuck in traffic and are extremely slow, so you will lose a lot of time with them.

Where We Stayed in Beijing

I chose our hotel, due to its relatively reasonably price compared to more central accommodation options and the proximity to metro. Happy Dragon Alley Hotel was 3 minutes walk from Zhangzizhong Road metro station on Line 5 and this saved us a lot of time. Plus, the hotel provided rooms for families so I was able to book for the three of us.

The hotel staff were nice and happy to help, even though only some of them speak English. The facilities were quite good for the price, basic but with every amenities everything available. The room was clean but a bit cold in October, which is understandable, as the central heating still wasn’t on.

There was a bit of an issue with the toilet, which will probably not effect most travelers – the water wasn’t filling up to flush. The staff was very nice and tried to help. Despite them bringing a technician next morning, it wasn’t fixed till the third day. However everything else was working so we made do with collecting water from the sink to flush when we came back from sightseeing, we found out that the water didn’t collect to flush the toilet.

Transport in Beijing

How to Get to Beijing

Beijing has extensive plane and train connections. It has 4 airports, 2 of which are international. It also has 3 major train stations. Beijing South Railway Station is from where high speed trains run to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, etc.; while Beijing West Railway Station serves high speed trains running to Xi’an, Hong Kong, Chengdu and many other major directions.

How to get from Beijing Daxing International Airport to City Center: The connection to the city is really convenient with Daxing Airport Express linking with metro line 10 at the Caoqiao station. We took this route. There is also the high speed train connecting to the Beijing West Railway station. Shuttle buses are also available.

How to get from Beijing Capital International Airport to the City Center: Airport Express train is connected to the Dongzhimen metro station, while various shuttle buses have routes all around the city.

How to get from Beijing West Railway Station to the City Center: The most convenient way is hopping on the metro – lines 7 and 9 serve this train station.

How to get from Beijing South Railway Station to the City Center: Once again, metro is the best option – just take either line 4 or 14.

Getting Around in Beijing

The city is vast, so wherever you stay, you will need to use transport. If you are taking buses or taxis, roads can be extremely congested, especially during the peak hours, therefore consider this before choosing your transport options.

Metro is a great option, it’s convenient, easy to orient, very clean and even has toilets at every stop. I expected to have difficulty figuring out metro stations, however, that absolutely wasn’t the case. Signs were very clear with English information. I had far harder time figuring out metro stations in Japan – those definitely lack clear directions

Buses in China aren’t as easy to figure out, unless you can read and understand some Mandarin. Although the map apps may help, it’s still very difficult to use buses.

Beijing Transport Tickets

There are several options for purchasing transport tickets in the city:

• You can get single tickets using cash at the ticket machines.
• You can also get single tickets or Yikatong Card at the ticket counters, however, not all stations have them.
• Alipay or WeChat are the most commonly used methods. You need to link your card – they accept foreign cards now. Then you can purchase individual tickets or day passes and generate a QR code to pass the gates with.
• Some stations allow payment by foreign bank cards, including Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
• If you are visiting for at least a few days, you should get Yikatong Card, which costs 20 yuan. You then charge it and use for all transport around the city. Like London’s Oyster Card, it’s very convenient because you don’t have to figure out the fares.

Here is the general information and tips about transport in China

Beijing is not a difficult city to get around by public transport. However, if you prefer to take tours, check via Klook, GetYourGuide, Trip.com.

What to Book in Advance for Visiting Beijing

There are a few major attractions that are either a must or recommended to be booked in advance. Here is the relevant list:

• Forbidden City: The Forbidden City ticket booking requires more detailed explanation. Therefore see my thorough guide in my dedicated article.
• National Museum of China: This Museum located on the Tiananmen Square is free. However, you must reserve the visit online. The free tickets are available via Trip.com. However, they sell out very fast. Therefore, check them at 5pm China time 7 days before you wish to visit. You will need to be fast though.

• Tiananmen Square: While the “ticket” is free of charge, you still need to make a reservation in advance. This can be done either via official website or WeChat. ALternatively, if you can’t figure out the official platforms (for instance, WeChat kept me sighning out), you can use GetYourGuide, Expedia or Viator. They charge about 30 yuans, as a fee, but if if necessary, this commission isn’t too high.

Other major attraction tickets, like Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Great Wall, Jingshan Park – can be purchased on the spot. However, if you are traveling during the high season, you may encounter long queues. Therefore book these attractions in advance, if you prefer. You can see my relevant guides on where to purchase tickets linked.

Food in Beijing

While we are not foodies, we enjoyed some restaurants in Beijing. Here is what we tried and liked:

Beijing

• The Grandma’s inside a mall on Wangfujing road – this is a chain from Hangzhou, which is very popular. We had to wait for a table for a while.
• Jingzun restaurant – this place is very popular for its Peking duck. I found a recommendation to come here to try it. While we generally were not fans of the dish itself, it was well-prepared.

• Green Tea restaurant – another chain from Hanzgzhou. The wait was half an hour, which is very normal in Beijing. The environment was lovely.

• Li Qun Roast duck restaurant near Qianmen square – while we didn’t get a chance to try, it came highly recommended for trying Peking duck. It’s on the expensive side, but very close to major tourist sites.

Other Tips for Traveling to Beijing

• Air quality in Beijing (like in many spots around China) is often quite bad. That’s the reason, why locals often wear masks, not just to protect themselves from COVID.
• As expected, hardly anyone spoke any English. But people were very nice and tried to help using WeChat. We also used Google translate to try to communicate, whenever we needed something.

Beijing Perfect Itineraries

Beijing in 2 days

Day 1 highlights: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Jingshan Park Wangfajing Road

See the step-by step itinerary here.

Day 2 highlights: Great Wall of China, (if time permits) a short visit to the Summer Palace, Sanlitun area

See the step-by step guide for day 2 here.

Beijing in 3 days

Day 3 highlights: Beijing Zoo, Summer Palace (you can also spend the whole day in Summer Palace instead), Starry Street.

See the detailed guide of day 3 here.

Beijing in 4 days

Day 4 highlights

Temple of Heaven, Lama (Yonghe) Temple, Bell and Drum Towers, Hutongs, Beihai Park

See the detailed guide of day 4 here.

See also:

2-day itinerary for visiting Xi’an

Guide for visiting Shanghai

<p>The post Visiting Beijing: A Practical Travel Guide to China’s Timeless Capital first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

Shanghai Observation Deck Comparison

Shanghai Tower

Price: 180 yuan for 118th floor, 268 – 118th plus 126th Floor Damper Show. You can buy tickets on the spot, however, if you don’t wish to queue, then you can buy them on either Trip.com website or Klook.

Obviously, China’s tallest and the world’s third tallest building (after Burj Khalifa and Merdeka 118) was on my list. The observation deck is located on 118^th floor. It is quite convenient to visit, with less queues and crowds than Oriental Pearl Tower. Being the tallest building around, it also gives a bird’s eye view over the whole city. Its elevator also looks fascinating. I saw a number of photos with the views from there and they definitely are fascinating. But having neither an open observation deck nor the glass floor made this not so appealing to us.

Jin Mao Tower

Price: 120 yuan for observation deck, 388 – for observation deck + skywalk. You can find discounts on Klook and Trip.com if you buy online.

Jin Mao tower interested me a lot. This was the tallest building till 2008, when Shanghai Financial tower was completed. But the reason for my interest was that they have a cool Sky Walk. This means, that they allow you to go out on the 88^th floor. You can walk across the glass walls on a glass floor, while you are securely fastened to the building with the special equipment. If you are not faint hearted and like heights, this is definitely for you.

I was certainly considering this one, despite its exorbitant price. But the day we visited was windy, so it was unfortunately closed, as the weather conditions are always taken into consideration for safety reasons. Otherwise, the observation deck is not so special, so we decided against visiting this one.

Shanghai Financial Tower (IFC)

Price: 135 yuan for all floors. Online tickets on Klook and Trip.com.

This used to be the most popular and tallest building in the city before Shanghai Tower was built. It remains the second tallest building in Shanghai. It has a corridor with the floor to ceiling windows and a glass floor on the 100^th floor. Seeing the photos of this though didn’t impress me as much, given that glass floor tiles are smaller. I heard from the people who visited that the glass floor doesn’t give much of a view.

Oriental Pearl Tower

Price: 195 yuans for two balls including outdoor observatory and sightseeing galeria, 399 yuans for three balls with space capsule and light show. 

This is definitely not the highest building in Shanghai and your views won’t be as high, as from other skyscrapers – though it does have nice closer views of the surrounding area. This tower is also oldest on the list. Main reason for my visit was that it has a lovely glass floor and it didn’t disappoint.

Visiting Oriental Pearl Tower: Our Glass-Floor Experience

Tickets for Oriental Pearl Tower

There are two ticket options to visit the tower:

• Tickets for the lower floors, up to 259 meters. This one has the nicest views and the glass floor. Cost: 195 yuan;
• Tickets including the small space capsule with the light show at 351m. Cost: 399 yuan.

We didn’t care about any other offers the tower was making – like the space capsule, multimedia show or the museum, so we opted for the simplest and cheapest ticket, which gave us access to 259 m.

You have an option of buying the tickets on the spot, however, depending on the time you are visiting, it may be very crowded. During popular periods, like summer months, national holidays or weekends, you are better off buying tickets in advance. If you decide to buy tickets online, you can do so on Klook or Trip.com.

The Queues at the Oriental Pearl Tower

I had heard about the nightmarish queues, so we prepared ourselves for the long wait. While buying tickets on the spot was not difficult, we did have to wait for the elevators. I would say we waited about half an hour for the way up and a bit less for the way down. There were tons of people upstairs too. There are certainly not enough facilities to accommodate everyone, who wants to visit.

Despite this, we loved our experience and if you don’t mind the heights, I would recommend visiting this tower. The glass floor was awesome. We took hundreds of photos (some people even thought we were doing some photoshoot :D) and spent a lot of time there.

What to Do Next in Shanghai

After coming down, we visited the Yang’s Fried dumplings near the Oriental Pearl Tower. I read good reviews about the place, but it wasn’t to our taste so I have no idea why people like it. The dumplings were extremely greasy and didn’t taste at all. We tasted a number of other dumplings in China and this was by far the worst in my opinion. However, people do love it, so we just have different taste. Oh, well, I didn’t expect much so close to the Pudong attractions anyway

Which Shanghai Observation Decks are your favourite? Share your tips.

See also:

Detailed tips for planning your trip to China.

1-day Itinerary tips for visiting Shanghai.

<p>The post Choosing a Shanghai Observation Deck: Comparison and Tips first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

Building of the parts of this UNESCO World Heritage Site started in the 7^th century BC. Around 220BC the unifier of China emperor Qin Shi Huang has ordered to connect these sections in one system dedicated to protect China from attacks from Huns in the north.

Which Section of the Great Wall of China Should you Visit?

I spent quite a lot of time deciding, which section to go to. If you are staying in Beijing, 3 major sections are accessible by public transport – Badaling, Mutyaniu and Jinshaling. We were traveling together with mom, so I had to take into account accessibility and walkability, in addition to other things.

Here is the breakdown of the pros and cons of each Section and my reasons for choosing Mutyaniu section of the Great Wall.

Badaling Section of the Great Wall

Entrance ticket price: 40 yuan (high season)

Cable car roundtrip 140 yuan (one way – 100); Tobogan roundtrip: 120 yuan (one way – 80)

You can get your tickets at the tourist ticket office on the spot. You can also get entrance tickets with optional combination with cable car online via Trip.com or Klook.

Badaling is the closest to Beijing and the most visited section of the Wall. It was the first section that was renovated and opened for tourists. It was visited by a number of officials and famous people.

Wondering how to get to Badaling? It is easy to reach from Beijing and takes from 20 minutes to 1.5 hours with several public transport options:

• Zhangjiakou intercity railway from Beijing North Railway station (next to Xizhimen metro station) takes 20 minutes. This driverless train costs 30 yuan.
• S2 trains from Huangtudian station (next to Huoying metro station). Price: 6 yuan.
• Tourist buses from Qianmen’s Arrow Tower. Price: 50 yuan one way.
• Bus 877 from Deshengmen – near Jishuitan metro station Exit B2. Price: 12 yuan.

While Badaling is very easy to reach, there are a number of tours that you may prefer in order to maximize your time. These tours combine visit to Badaling section with another site on the day (for instance, Ming Tombs).

The section is also the best one for accessibility – it is not only served by the cable car and tobogan, but has the ramps and lifts for the people with disabilities.

The downside is that this section is always very crowded. It also isn’t very authentic looking, as the surroundings are too well renovated. In my opinion, this section has lost its authentic look.

Mutyaniu Section of the Great Wall

Entrance ticket: 40 yuan.

Cable car roundtrip: 120 yuan (100 one way). Chair lift/tobogan: 120 yuan (100 one way).

Mutianyu is the second most visited section of the Wall and the most popular for foreigners. It’s one of the most beautiful sections with lovely views and well-renovated and preserved towers. It is already quite easy to reach nowadays with a number of reasonably priced tourist buses serving it (see transportation options below). The buses take up to 2 hours to get there. The section is well renovated and easy to walk, however, still retains its authentic look with views over the surrounding mountains. It is served by a cable car and the tobogan.

The downside is that this section is still quite crowded. It is actually considered the most popular section among foreign travelers, which is understandable.

We chose this option, due to the fact that it’s easily walkable, which would make it possible for mom, and still retains its authentic look (see details below).

Jinshanling Section of the Great Wall

Entrance ticket price: 65 yuan (high season)

Cable car roundtrip: 60 yuan (one way – 40)

You can get your tickets at the tourist ticket office on the spot. You can also get entrance tickets with optional combination with cable car online via Trip.com.

Jinshaling section is less renovated and not easily accessible, but it is served by the cable car. The main plus is also that this is the least crowded section among the three I considered. It is also one of the best preserved with amazing towers and views and with an authentic feel.

However, the main downside is that this section is only partly renovated, so it has uneven steps, loose stones and many rough parts, so you have to be in good shape and careful to walk here.

Getting to Jinshaling is more complicated than to the other sections. It is also farthest of the three:

• Tourist bus #8 running from Dongzhimen Wai Bus Station on the weekends (Dongzhimen metro station Exit B and walk).
• Bus running from Dongzhimen transport hub (Dongzhimen metro station exit E and walk) daily at 7am during the high season. It takes about 3 hours to get to Jinshaling.
• There is also a city bus option #980, but it involves changing buses and is too much hassle to be worth it.

As it’s quite a hassle to get to the Jinshaling section, you may want to consider either group or private tours. There are a number of options you can choose from either via GetYourGuide or Klook.

This would have been my choice, if we were not looking for better walkable section for mom.

Other Sections

I didn’t consider other sections, given that none of them are easily walkable or close to Beijing. You could consider an overnight stay and a 2-day hike from Simatai to Jinshaling, the completely unrestored Jiankou section, Huanghuacheng with lakeside views, etc. If you have more time and are fit, you can consider some of these options instead. But I honestly wouldn’t go to these without seeing the more preserved Jinshaling or Mutianyu first.

Visiting the Great Wall: Mutianyu Section

When to go to Mutianyu Section of the Great Wall

If you have a while in Beijing, it’s preferable to go during weekdays, rather than on the weekend. However, basically any attractions would be better to visit on weekdays, so it may not be possible. In summer, the Wall would be set in greenery. When we visited in the middle of October, it had beautiful views of yellow leaves. I believe winter would be the worst time, as the trees will be bare and views would not be so beautiful, unless they are covered in snow.

Either way, you may or may not be lucky with the weather. It was foggy on the day we went, so the visibility was not that great, as you can see from the pictures (Beijing was sunny on that day). Probably due to this fact, the crowds were manageable, when we went. Obviously, you never have a chance to find a photo opportunity with no people in it, but it was quite all right.

This is how your photos will turn out, if the day is foggy and visibility is not that great. But it was still nice.

On the other hand, of course, it would be nicer to double check the weather and ensure that there’s better visibility.

How to Get to the Mutyaniu Section of the Great Wall

You have several options for getting to Mutyaniu (you can find more info at Beijing Travel’s detailed guide for taking public transport) :

You have an option to get there by public buses – by taking bus 916 and switching to local bus H23 and H24, H35 and H36. This obviously didn’t appeal to us, as it takes a lot of time and effort. So I searched for other options.

Note: Apparently lately they added bus 867 (cost: 16 yuan), which works throughout April to November and is supposed to directly go to Mutianyu. However, I am not sure how reliable this information is. Let me know, if you have taken it and it works.

There are several tourist buses running from different parts of Beijing to Mutianyu. All of them have certain departure times from Beijing with relevant return times. The tourist buses are direct buses with no stops at shops or wherever. They directly get you to Mutyaniu. Here is the breakdown of options:

• Dongzhimen Transport Hub (Dongzhimen metro station exit E and walk) to Mutianyu tourist bus: The bus runs daily at 8.30 am with the return journey at 4pm. The ticket costs 80 yuan one way and you get it on the bus paying cash.
• Qianmen (Exit B of the Qianmen metro station) to Mutianyu tourist bus: Another good option. The main issue with this is however that the bus doesn’t go unless it gets full, so the waiting time can be long from 6.30am to whenever. But once you get to the Wall area, you will have 5 hours to explore, before return journey. Tickets cost 80 yuan for return trip, which is exactly the same, as the previous option.
• Xiushui Street Market (near Yong’anli Station) to Mutianyu tourist bus: Similar as previous buses, the trip costs 80 yuan for round trip. Bus has exact schedule, leaving Sihui at 9am and departing from Mutyaniu at 2.30 pm.
• ZANBUS: The return ticket and admission ticket combination costs 120 yuan. This isn’t the cheapest possible option, but not much more expensive. Major advantage is that it can be prebooked via Trip.com.
• MUBUS: the return ticket and entrance ticket combination costs 150 yuan. This is no longer the best option, if you want to save the money. However, if the guide telling you stories at the bus matters to you and you want the tickets pre-booked, then it may be worth it. I booked MUBUS tickets on Trip.com. It can also be bought via GetYourGuide, Klook, and Viator. You don’t really need to prebook the tickets though, as many people just showed up and bought tickets on the spot, so they added another bus to accommodate everyone.

On top of these transportation options, there are a number of private and group tours that include Mutyaniu section. If you want to avoid the hassle finding above mentioned buses, check the tours on Klook, Viator or GetYourGuide.

Our Experience of Traveling to Mutianyu with MUBUS

We used Mubus, due to the fact that at the time of our trip in 2019 it cost 80 yuan (not including admission) and it was the only viable option. If I was travelling now, I would choose Dongzhimen to Mutianyu tourist bus, which seems to be the best option.

If you do go with Mubus, their buses leave from the East side of the of Swissotel Beijing Hong Kong Macau Center. After getting out of the metro stop Dongsishitiao exit C, you should head to your right to the nearest Dongzhong street corner. Across the street, the Mubus employees will stand in their red uniforms and the bus is parked nearby. You will also see Starbucks coffee shop for orientation.

There are buses twice a day at 8am (returning from Mutyaniu at 3pm) and at 10am (returning from Mutyaniu at 5pm). This gives you about 5-6 hours on the spot. I am not sure, if you can take the 8am one and return with the 5pm one though. I guess, it’s worth asking.

I normally don’t like having guides, but Mubus had great guides – they were not invasive, but made the bus ride interesting. The best thing is that you don’t have to follow them, when you get there, they drop you off and you can go independently until the meeting time.

The bus will drop you off at the bus station. We were told that normally it’s a requirement to pass the small village with stalls, but on the day we were there, this wasn’t necessary and the bus parked at the nearby bus stop, which was great for us, as we didn’t have to walk too much to get to the entrance.

Tickets and Options to Go up the Mutianyu Great Wall

The admission ticket: 45 yuan (with discounts for children, disabled, etc).

You can get your ticket at the tourist ticket office on the spot. You can also get entrance tickets with optional combination with cable car or chair lift online via Trip.com.

This map from Chinadiscovery gives you the best overview of where is what. I will explain your choices step-by-step:

You have three options to go up the Mutyaniu Section of the Great Wall:

1.On foot – free. You can choose between two trails going either to Tower 8 or Tower 10 on foot. We didn’t attempt this, and I don’t think I would in any circumstances, simply because it takes 1-2 hours and has no views. You will need your energy once you are on the Wall.

2. Cable car – 140 yuan return and 100 – one way. To reach the cable car station from the bus station you will have to walk up the steep hill for about 5-10 minutes. This is not very complicated walk, mom managed it quite well.

The cable car goes up to the Tower 14 (see on the map above). This is a higher point than the towers on the east, however the highest point of the whole section is Tower 23, from where the unrenovated wild parts start. From the cable car, you have an option to go left and climb up to the Tower 23, if you are fit and don’t mind a long climb on steep steps. Or you can head to the right, towards Tower 6, from where the chair lift/toboggan can bring you down.

Note: Keep in mind that the cable car going to Tower 14 and the char lift/toboggan for Tower 6 are operated by different companies, so you can’t buy return ticket to take one up and another down. You will have to buy two single tickets in this case.

3. Chair lift (open cable car) up and toboggan down – 100 yuan one way and 120 both ways. To get to the place, from where you can take it up, you will have to walk up the hill a bit, but the stop is located much downer than the cable car stop. Chair lift goes up to Tower 6. I believe this is the worst option, if you go up only to this section, as it’s neither highest, nor gives access to highest points.

Best Walking Routes on the Mutianyu Great Wall

Route 1

Go up by the Cable car to Tower 14 and go to your left all the way up to Tower 23. I was told this would take us about 1.5 hours. You will then have to come back to Tower 14 to take cable car down, so keep your energy. This option will cost 45+120 yuans overall. This is also the most beautiful parts of Mutianyu.

We would have chosen this option, if we were not travelling together with mom and had more time at the Great Wall overall. She would not be able to walk even halfway there and we didn’t want to leave her for so long. If you do have about 6 hours from the time you get off the bus to the time you return to the bus and if you are sufficiently fit though, I suggest this option.

Route 2

Go up by the Cable car to Tower 14 and walk to your right to reach Tower 6. From there you can go down by toboggan or the chair lift (open cable car). This option is much easier, but it will be more expensive, as you pay one way for the cable car and one way for chair lift or toboggan separately. Price: 45+100+100 yuans.

Route 3

Go up to Tower 14 and just walk around there. This option is best, if you aren’t very fit and for seniors. You can go to your left and reach Tower 17, which has nice views and is not too strenuous to get to. Then come back and stroll to Tower 13 before going back to take the Cable car down. We chose to do this with mom, instead of going all the way to Tower 23. We actually enjoyed this a lot, as we leisurely strolled along, enjoyed the amazing views and took tons of photos.

Note: Either of the transport options work till 5pm on weekdays, and 5.30pm on weekends (winter hours are half an hour shorter, so be sure to double check). 

We visited in the second half of the day. The crowds relatively cleared after 5pm, when people headed down I guess not to miss the last cable car. But be sure to be at the cable car stop well before its last departure at 5.30 to make sure you don’t have to walk down.

How Easy is it to Walk on the Mutianyu Great Wall?

The Mutianyu section is well renovated and easy enough to walk, however, still retains its authentic look with views over the surrounding mountains. Certainly, it is still not easy for people with mobility issues, who aren’t able to climb any stairs. I was quite worried that mom would not be able to move around here much, but except for several steep steps from the cable car to the wall and the steps to go up the towers (which is not necessary), it was quite easy for her.

If you are looking for the fully accessible section though, Mutianyu wouldn’t work for that. Badaling is a better option.

See also:

Detailed information about other sites in and around Beijing.

Tips and itineraries for visiting China.

Tips for visiting Beijing Summer Palace

<p>The post Visiting the Great Wall of China: Tips for Mutianyu Section first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

Due to its high importance, being “a symbol of the relationship between earth and heaven”, it was inscribed, as UNESCO World Heritage site.

Practical Details for Visiting Temple of Heaven

Opening Times

I had heard a lot about the park around the temple, which is famous for the morning routines of dancing, martial arts, music. Locals come here during early mornings, more so on the weekends to practice. So to enjoy all of this, in addition to visiting the Temple itself, go early in the morning.

The park is open from 6-6.30am (depending on the season), while the major sites open at 8am. I would say arrive before 8am, if you can to people watch and avoid the crowds as much as possible. This will also ensure that you will get to the sites as soon as they open.

We arrived at about 7am and wandered around the park before visiting the Hall of Prayer upon its opening. That was a good idea because we didn’t have to explore it with the sea of people. Plus, we entered from the East Gate, as opposed to the popular South gate (see the map and route below), which also contributed to ease of our exploration. By the time we got to the Circular Mound though within a couple of hours, the place was full of tour groups and impassable.

Note: Some of the smaller buildings (such as Hall of Abstinence) are closed on Mondays, however, none of the major sites close, so this shouldn’t significantly affect your visit.

How to Get to the Temple of Heaven

You have two main options for starting your visit of the Temple of Heaven. You can either go from South, which is not very easily accessible by public transport or from the east – Tiantan East metro station. 

Coming from the East Gate is easiest. The closest metro station is Tiantan East Gate station. walk to the right after getting out of the metro station and you will see the East entrance in less than a minute.

Tickets for the Temple of Heaven

Through ticket: 35 yuan (high season price) – includes all entrances.

General admission ticket: 15 yuan (high season price) – only for the Tiantan park entrance. I don’t suggest this, as visiting the sites is a great experience. Getting those tickets separately is just more hassle and will end up more expensive.

There are several options for purchasing the Temple of Heaven tickets:

• In-person at the gates: While this can work out well, if you arrive very early, it’s still risky. The queues can become long, especially on the weekends and holidays. When we visited, there were no queues for tickets early in the morning. The locals have yearly passes, as I heard.
• Using Wechat app: This is slightly more budget friendly than third parties. You can buy tickets here, when they officially become available 7 days before your trip. You will have to have your bank card linked (they accept all major versions) and will need to upload your passport copy. I hated the app’s interface and it kept throwing me out, so can’t recommend it. But try it yourself, maybe it will be easier.
• Through the third party websites: There are several options for this – you can use the Chinese Trip.com or Klook, GetYourGuide or several other agencies. This option is significantly more expensive, unless they offer “discounts”. However, if WeChat doesn’t work for you and there is a risk of huge queues during your visit – in high season, on the weekends or holidays, this can be a more convenient option.

Whichever option you choose, make sure that you are getting the combination ticket with all entrances included and not just the park entry tickets.  Besides, you need to provide your passport details and carry your Passport with you – you will need to provide it with your ticket.

If you don’t wish to navigate the temple independently and prefer to be accompanied by a local guide, you can either request one upon purchasing the tickets at the ticket office (if available) or select one of the guided private or group tours in advance.

If you have very limited time and don’t expect to return to Beijing, you can consider a 1-day whirlwind tour of the major sites in Beijing.

How Much Time Do You Need to Visit Temple of Heaven

As I mentioned above, the Temple grounds are quite spacious. Except for visiting the temple buildings, you should explore the park and see people relaxing and exercising here. Therefore several hours would be good. We spent about 4 hours here and were able to do everything we wanted from wandering the park to exploring all three major sites and the halls, pavilions and towers. You can also quickly go through the major sites within 2 hours, if you are in a rush. So expect to spend 3 to 5 hours here, depending on your itinerary.

The Map of the Temple of Heaven

To better orient yourself, here is TravelChinaGuide’s map of the Temple complex, which I found most useful for planning our route. However, this map doesn’t show all the green spaces of the park.

The park is mostly accessible – the pathways are flat and smooth enough for wheelchairs. Main halls have the ramps incorporated. Similarly it’s not difficult to walk for the older people. Mom navigated the whole area without any difficulties.

The sightseeing route

Actually, the East Gate is the best to come from not only because it’s easily accessible by metro, but also to see the locals performing their daily exercises. For this, don’t follow the main road straight from the east gate, but wonder to your right and walk around the park. You will see people practicing their singing skills, learning or practicing martial arts, dancing, etc.

After wandering around here, get to the corridors (Seventy two long corridors on the map above). This area is also full of people sitting around and playing different board games, knitting or doing other handcrafts. It’s definitely interesting to see. Wonder around the corridors, sit for short and experience the local customs. They are very friendly and welcoming.

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests

By these corridors you will end up at the entrance of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. This site was used to hold sacrificial ceremonies for, obviously, praying for good harvests and to express gratitude for them. The corridors you just walked, were used to bring the goods for the ceremony.

The hall was rebuilt at the end of the 19^th century. The Hall is surrounded by several constructions, where the goods were stored, where the emperor rested before and after the ceremony, etc.

The Temple itself is wooden construction with no nails. It has lovely white stone base (three levels), which gives it unique appearance.

By the way, the corridors and the Hall were not very crowded by the time we were there at about 9.30, as the tourist groups coming from South still haven’t gotten here. When we headed south, we encountered hordes of people, so definitely get here early, if you manage.

If you have a lot of time, before heading South by the main Danbi bridge, you can go west and visit the rose garden, flower garden and the Palace of Abstinence.

Imperial Vault of Heaven

The Danbi or the red step bridge is connecting the Hall of Prayer to the Imperial Vault of Heaven. The bridge is very wide, as it had ceremonial purpose. The Vault is constructed in the same way as the Hall of Prayer you just visited, but on a smaller scale. It only has one level of the white stone base.

The main thing that everyone is interested in here is the Echo Wall surrounding the Vault. The idea of the wall is that you can speak in a low voice on one side and another person will hear you on the other. Well, we didn’t get to experience this, I guess simply because it was too loud around. The place was swamping with very loud tour groups. If you come earlier, maybe you will be able to understand, why the wall is called Echo wall

Another interesting thing here are the three echo stones in front of the vault. You will find people standing here and clapping or jumping. The thing is that standing on the first one, if you clap, you will here echo once, on the second stone – twice and on the third – three times. Again, this is impossible to experience with so many people around. We heard nothing but as I read, if it is quiet around, it does work.

Circular Mound Altar

Circular Mound Altar is located south of the Vault. The building has three levels of white marble stone base (like the Hall of Prayer) with an empty circular platform on top. The central stone here – the Heart stone is a place, where you should stand to hear your voice become louder. The Altar is constructed with the multiples of nines – nine stones, nine steps, etc. This symbolizes the nine layers of heaven. The altar was used for sacrificial ceremonies during the winter solstice.

Note: you can find toilets nearby the entrance to the Vault and the Altar. The area around is very lively, with children playing ball games, small shops and sitting places.

To finish your visit, you have an option to leave from the South gate and find a bus, which is a complicated thing for foreigners, as all bus routes and schedules online or on the spot are only in Chinese. You can also do as we did and walk back to the East gate through the park and get on metro, that should take you 15-20 mins and you can again enjoy the park grounds, which are lovely.

During your walk you can again see people exercising. We spotted a group performing martial arts. It’s also a great peaceful stroll in this area, as tour group rarely reach here.

See also:

Detailed information about other sites in Beijing here.

Tips and itineraries for visiting China.

Tips for visiting the Summer Palace

<p>The post Visiting Temple of Heaven in Beijing: Practical Guide first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

Before I start guiding through the day-by-day list of activities, see my article with the tips on booking accommodation, finding transport and more. 

Note: Whether you have a full 4 days or just a short stay in Beijing, this itinerary is fully flexible.

• Only 1 day? Follow my Day 1 guide for the must-sees.
• Visiting for 2 days? Use Days 1 and 2 to cover all essentials.
• Staying 3 days? Customize Day 3 to your interests – but don’t skip the Summer Palace.
• Got 4 days? Follow the full step-by-step itinerary below.

Have fun exploring Beijing!

Arrival to Beijing: Details to Sort

I am not counting this day in the itinerary, as this day will only be dedicated to getting into the city and orienting yourself. As tons of other people, we also arrived to the Beijing Daxing international airport to start our visit to China. From the first moment, we felt the sheer size of the place. The airport itself is vast.

See the detailed information on how to clear immigration and get to the city center.

After clearing the immigration, we needed to sort several things before we could go to our hotel. Firstly, the money exchange. We found the bank at the departures part of the airport. We were lucky that we managed to get to the bank before its closing time – 5 pm and we didn’t need to lose time on changing the next day.

Find detailed information about money, Sim card and other tips for visiting China.

Another issue to sort was finding the metro station and getting the Yikatong card and charging it sufficiently for several days.

Find details on transport above, as well as on this link

From the train we could see the crazy traffic of the city. It was the evening rush hour and we were happy not to be stuck in a car to enter the city center. Two metro line changes later, we finally got to our hotel in Hutongs.

Beijing Day 1 Itinerary

Tiananmen Square

Free of charge, requires reservation.

You can make reservations using official website or via WeChat, which is not always easy. There’s also an option to get this registration done using GetYourGuide, Expedia or Viator. They charge about 30 yuans, as a fee, but if you can’t manage via WeChat, this commission isn’t too high.

To get to Tiananmen Square from anywhere in the city, take metro line 2 to Qianmen station (access to the Square from the south) or line 1 to Tiananmen East and Tiananmen West (access to the Square from the north). We walked from the south. As you get out of the metro station, to enter the square, you have to queue for the security check and show your reservation.

I bet you have seen this square in numerous photos and heard a lot of it. The Tiananmen square is currently the world’s largest square. It can fit about a million people at one time.

We headed there on our first morning in Beijing very early in the morning. Once we neared the square, we saw the hugest number of people we have ever seen at one time. We could hardly see any foreign tourists among the numerous Chinese visitors here. And it was an ordinary day, not even a weekend or a national holiday. I can only imagine what it would be like during the national holidays.

First, we didn’t understand, what all these people were queuing for, but then we realized it was to enter the Mao Zedong mausoleum. If you aren’t familiar with this type of mausoleums, the idea is that his body is embalmed and people visit to pay their respect. I would assume, it would take these people about 3 hours to get inside. That’s some dedication. We decided to bypass the queues, as we were not planning to visit the mausoleum.

If you are planning to visit the National Museum of China (entrance is free, but reservation is required – see above), it is located east of the square. We decided to skip the National Museums on our first visit, as all places we visited were museums themselves and we wanted to see everything in its glory. However, the Chinese museums are some of the most fascinating in the world and next time, with more time, I do plan to visit them.

The Tiananmen square is also where flag raising and lowering ceremony is taking place every day. The ceremony is linked to the sunrise and sunset. When we visited in October, the flag raising was before 6.30am. Here is the timetable to check when it will happen on the dates you are visiting.

Forbidden City

Price: 60 yuan

From the Tiananmen square, we headed to the Forbidden City.

Find the step-by-step guide to visiting the Forbidden City, including purchasing the tickets and our experiences in my dedicated article.

We spent basically the whole day in the City until almost 5 pm (which was closing time in October), wondering around the many buildings and taking in its grandeur.

You will finish your visit in the North side of the City. After exiting the Gate of Divine Prowess, it would be rather difficult to find any transport to leave the area. The nearest metro stations are quite a long walk away and figuring out the routes of the buses is really complicated, as there is no English information online or on the spot.

Jingshan Park

Price: 2 yuans

The official website of the park states that foreigners need to call a day before visiting in order to make a reservation. However, in reality people have purchased tickets on the spot without any issues, like we did. You can check Reddit for this discussion, I haven’t seen anyone complaining that they were not let in. You could ask your hotel to help you make the call or you can turn up, like most people do. There’s also an option of paying a significantly larger fee for GetYourGuide to do the reservation for you, however, this is unnecessary.

I suggest heading up the Jingshan park hill, as soon as you leave the Forbidden City. For this, you will have to cross the street using the underground passage on your left after exiting the city.

The climb of 300 stairs is definitely worth it. It’s not very difficult. My mom managed to slowly go up, although with a difficulty. If you have limited mobility, keep in mind to take the stairs, which you see immediately after entering the park on your right side. They are the stairs with easier steps. The other routes seemed far more difficult to climb with higher and uneven steps.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the park served, as royal gardens. At the top of the hill, you will find the Wanchun Pavilion, a beautiful building, which offers wonderful views over the Forbidden city. The place is very crowded in the evening, as most people visit after the palace. It provides gorgeous sunset views. So if you have more time in Beijing, you can come here at another time to enjoy less crowded park.

There are also 4 other pavilions around, if you have time to explore more. Towards the North you will also find the Hall of Imperial Longevity, which served, as the place, where Qing Emperors paid respect to their ancestors.

If you are visiting the park in spring and summer, it has beautiful flower gardens, which you should check out.

After visiting the viewpoint, it was already dark, when we came down. So we didn’t continue our sightseeing for the day. If you are here in summer or have more time, head to the Beihai park next. It is closeby, at 15 minutes walking distance and definitely worth a visit. You can leave the area through the Beihai North metro station.

Wangfujing Road

We walked to the Wangfujing road from here to find food and see the famous street. This is a pedestrian road, where you find a number of malls, restaurants and the stalls outside. This is supposed to be the busiest street in the city. You can find many stores here selling everything from tea to crafts to silk.

However, during the evening we visited, we didn’t find as many people, as we expected. We don’t know if it was not the right day, or if the area is no longer the heart for the night walks.

We entered one of the malls to find the restaurant called Grandma’s. we were not disappointed in it. The restaurant chain originated in Hangzhou, so they offer food from this region. This branch (as I believe other branches) is very popular, so we had to wait about half an hour. You will get a number and a menu to choose your food, while waiting. This was a good thing, as we took a lot of time, understanding what we would eat. The menu was in English though, but not being used to Chinese food, it was still confusing We were still happy with our choices. Oh, yes, the plastic forks we brought along helped for sure.

If you prefer to try street food instead, inside the Haoyou World Mall, one can find Wangfujing Snack Street, which after closure of the famous Donghuamen Night Market, is the main place for finding street food during evenings.

Beijing Day 2 Itinerary

Great Wall of China: Mutyaniu section

Entrance ticket price: 45 yuan, Cable car return ticket: 120 yuan.

I chose this section of the Wall after a long deliberation.

See the details on the main options for visiting the Great Wall and the tips for visiting the Mutyaniu section, transport, tickets and routes.

If you come back from visiting the Great Wall early in the day and still have energy and daylight to explore, I suggest to either head to Lama Temple or Beihai park (see the description of these in the day 4 itinerary).

Sanlitun Area

After coming back, we headed to the Sanlitun area to enjoy the Peking duck. We were already closeby after coming back from visiting the Great Wall. If you go from Dongzimen area, you will be closeby as well. The Peking duck was one of the things I wanted to try when in Beijing. We went to the popular Jingzun restaurant for that. We had to wait about 20 minutes, as basically every restaurant we visited in Beijing. The place was very crowded, as seems it’s popular with the locals. Well, Peking duck wasn’t my favourate food, it was too greasy for my taste and the sweet sauces aren’t my thing, but at least, we tried it and we knew we tried a good option, as it should be done

You can walk around the Sanlitun area. It is a very popular evening destination, particularly, on the weekends. There are a number of cafes and restaurants here, and it’s very lively.

Beijing Day 3 Itinerary

Beijing Zoo

Price including Panda House: 20 yuan.

Before heading to Summer Palace, which would take most of our day, we decided on a short visit to the Zoo. I do know that Beijing zoo is not the best spot to see pandas, but we didn’t have enough time to go to Chengdu, so this was the option we had.

The zoo is really easy to get to. It is on the same metro line, the Summer Palace is, that’s why we decided to combine visiting these two places in one day. The metro stop is called Beijing Zoo station, exit D is just next to the Zoo.

The section, where you find Giant pandas, is close to the entrance on the right side. That was our main aim of coming here and we watched the pandas go about their lives. Of course, the conditions of the zoo in general aren’t that great, but this zoo is quite well-maintained.

Summer Palace

Combo ticket price (in high season): 60 yuan.

After walking in the Zoo some more, we headed back to the metro to go to the Summer Palace.

See the detailed information and tips on the tickets, routes, accessibility, as well as photos here.

Starry Street

If you end your visit at the East Gate, it is about 10-minute walk to the Xiyuan metro station. Nearby the station you will find the starry street shopping area with a number of cafes and restaurants. I do recommend the Green Tea restaurant. It has beautiful atmosphere and good food and isn’t too expensive. We came here in the evening at about 7pm and had to wait for our table for about half an hour, but we were used to this in Beijing and it was worth the wait. You will also get a menu meanwhile, so that when you get inside, you already know what to order.

Later in the evening, you can visit one of the theatres to catch an acrobatic show, like the Kung Fu show at the Red theatre or, alternatively watch the Beijing opera at the Liyuan Theatre. Tickets for some shows can be obtained on the spot, while others better be pre-booked, as they may sell out.

Beijing Day 4 Itinerary

Temple of Heaven

Through ticket Price: 35 yuan

Early morning, by 8am we were already at the Temple of Heaven. I do suggest to get here as early as possible, if you can, even by 6am, when the gates open.

See the detailed guide and route for visiting the Temple of Heaven here.

Lama (Yonghe) Temple

Price: 25 yuan.

From Tiantan East station take line 5 directly to Yonghegong station. The Llama Temple entrance is nearest to Exit F. Keep in mind that the entrance and exit to the temple complex is at the South side and the gates at the north side are closed. We didn’t know this and exited metro from the north side, which made our road longer, so best is to exit from exit F.

The area of the Llama temple complex is much bigger than we anticipated. Here is the map to give you an idea.

This is the functioning budhist temple, which allows you to observe the local practices. Be respectful to the praying people you will see everywhere. You can even get the incense at the entrance for free, if you want to participate in the prayer.

You start from visiting the smaller statues and work your way to bigger ones. In the center of the complex is the Hall of Harmony and Peace, where you will find three golden buddhas.

By the end of your visit you will end up at the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happiness, which houses thousands on buddhas located on many levels and the biggest sandalwood buddha statue in the world. This Buddha is carved from a single piece of wood. It is 18 m tall with 8m underground (so 26m overall). The statue actually was included in the Guinness Book due to its size. It is impossible to take a proper photo of this statue, as you can see from my pitiful attempts

Confucius Temple is located very close to the Llama temple and you can visit it too. Given that it’s less popular with toutists, you will find it much quieter.

Bell and Drum Towers

Price of Bell tower: 15 yuan; Drum tower: 20 yuan; Combo ticket: 30 yuan.

From Yonghegong station take line 2 and get off at the Gulou Dajie station. After this walk south on lively streets to the Bell and Drum Towers.

The Beijing Bell and Drum towers, as those of other cities served a specific purpose in the old times. The bell was rung to inform the population of the dawn, while the drum beat meant the sunset. If you did or are planning to visit the Xi’An Bell and drum towers, you may give this a miss, as the latter are the best preserved and biggest of their kind. If not, do visit them in Beijing.

Hutongs

From here head towards the Houhai lake and the hutongs. This is a very lovely shopping area with narrow streets, where you will find any sort of trinkets you desire from umbrellas and bags to scarves, toys, fans, etc. The cute bridges on the lake are also very picturesque. We crossed the bridge in the middle of the lake. This way you will end up at the Hutongs.

The route for us to explore hutongs was confusing for me, so here is a map, that may help a bit:

Hutongs are an important feature of Beijing. The city consists of numerous Hutongs. The word means water well – a place around which people lived. So the Hutongs were developed as a combination of a number of courtyards. While exploring the area, we marveled at the old houses, and mansions in the area.

Prince Kung Mansion (see above on the map) here costs 40 yuan. Constructed in the 18th century, this mansion is a great example of Chinese courtyard architecture. You can choose this or another of the mansions (like Residence of Soong Ching Ling, or Prince Chun mansion) to visit, depending on your interests.

Actually Hutongs are numerous around Beijing. You can spend days exploring them. However, with only 4 days in Beijing, a little exposure has to be enough.

Beihai Park

Beihai park is very close to the hutongs you were walking around. This was a really lovely park with a lot of locals attending dance classes, children playing, people performing daily exercises, etc. It was wonderful to see. Spend as much time as you like and can, you won’t be bored. The lake inside the park has great views. You will also find the golden fishpond.

You can head east from here and explore more of Hutongs or you can head to the Qianmen street and walk around the closed street and its side streets with its numerous shops and restaurants.

Additional days in Beijing

If you have more time or more days, there are a number of other things you can do in and around Beijing. The city is huge and offers a lot of opportunities. You could visit:

• 798 Art zone,
• National Museum of China,
• Old summer palace,
• Olympic park area,
• Kunming lake,
• Botanical garden, etc.

See also:

Useful tips for planning your trip to China.

Transport in China.

<p>The post Essential Beijing Itinerary: What to See in 4 Days first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

For additional information on planning your trip to China, check out my tips and itineraries.

Detailed information about the public transportation in China.

Practical guide for visiting Beijing.

Built at the beginning of the 15^th century this palace complex served, as the main Imperial city of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The city was forbidden for the commoners to enter, that’s how it got its name. Anyone trespassing would be executed on the spot. From 1911 the Emperor lived in the inner court (North) area, while the rest of the palace complex became a museum. While in 1924 the last Emperor was evicted.

The City is now the best preserved palace complex in the world. In 1984 it was enlisted, as the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Practical Details for Visiting the Forbidden City

How to Get to the Forbidden City

The route for a visit of the Forbidden city goes from South to the North simply because you are only allowed to enter from South and exit from the North side of the city.

If you are coming after visiting the Tiananmen square, you will have to cross the street through underground passage. The passage will be on your left, towards the west.

You can also come to the city from the Tiananmen East or Tiananmen West metro stations located nearby.

After getting out of the forbidden city in the North, it is difficult to find transport, as there is no metro station immediately closeby. So I suggest to visit Jinshan park and/or Beihai park and walk to the Beihai North metro station.

Tickets for the Forbidden City

Forbidden Palace ticket price: 60 yuan (high season), 40 yuan (low season).

Treasure Gallery ticket: 10 yuan

Gallery of Clocks ticket: 10 yuan

Note: If you wish to purchase the last two additional tickets (I recommend it), do so upon purchasing your main ticket to avoid queuing. But you can also get these tickets inside. Just make sure to be at these ticket offices before 3.30 pm, as the two museums close at 4pm, an hour before the whole site closes at 5pm. In winter they close even earlier, as the City closing time is 4.30pm.

Purchasing Forbidden City Tickets Online

It is highly recommended to purchase Forbidden City tickets in advance. There are two options for this:

You can reserve your ticket online at the official site. This is a huge hassle, because tickets sell out very fast. They are released 7 days before the visit date at 8pm China time. The exact time is important, as you should be buying immediately after release – they are sold out in less than an hour. You have more chance to grab your tickets for a weekday, as weekends are always busier.

You should better make an account before you plan to get tickets (not to lose time on the day you are booking) and indicate your passport number. You can pay using your international bank card (Visa, Mastercard or American Express available) or WeChat or Alipay.

You can also purchase tickets through WeChat mini program – this is another official source.

Purchasing Forbidden City Tickets at the Ticket Office as a Foreigner

The problem is that at the security gates the guards are announcing that everyone needs a reservation, as this would otherwise complicate the issue with local tourists, which are the absolute majority. So you may not be able to pass the security without a reservation number, which comes with a ticket. You have two options, how to avoid this issue:

Make a reservation of the Tiananmen square: This will get you through the security gates of the Forbidden Palace too. It’s free, but requires advance reservation using official website or via WeChat, which is not always easy.

There’s also an option to get this registration done using GetYourGuide, Expedia or Viator. They charge about 30 yuans. If you can’t manage via WeChat, this can still work out better than booking a tour, which is significantly more expensive.

Once you pass security with your Tiananmen square reservation, you will have to go through several gates before you see the ticket office. That confused us quite a lot, as I expected to find it somewhere at the very entrance. But we passed three gates and still didn’t see the ticket booth. So we found a guard and showed him the Google translate with the question on how to find the booth. Apparently, we still had to pass a big courtyard, before we got to the ticket booth on our right-hand side.

Get in through the side gate: You have to walk along Nanchizi ave and take the first left leading to Donghuamen – East Prosperity Gate. While you can’t get in from here, you should follow the signs along the walls to the Meridian Gate – the main gate. At this gate, there’s a foreigners ticket booth, from where you can buy your tickets without reservation. This worked for many people, despite the fact that security guards kept telling them it’s impossible.

Once you are at the ticket office, make sure to say that you are not with a tour group and pay using cash (I am not sure if it works with the card, so bring cash to be on the safe side). Buying your ticket is pretty easy and a quick process here, it took us a few minutes.

Note: Don’t follow anyone, who tells you they will get you in. I have heard of the so called teahouse scam, where they take you to the teahouse and charge exorbitant prices. If necessary, purchase from reputable travel agencies.

Travel Agency Tours Including the Forbidden City Tickets

While I normally don’t prefer to join group tours, in case of Forbidden City, it may be needed. If you don’t manage to get tickets on the official website or WeChat and don’t want to risk getting the ticket at the ticket office (see the detailed guidance above), you may have to join tours. Problem is, These tour agencies also need to obtain tickets from the same source – they don’t have many shortcuts, as there are no official ticket resellers – therefore you can’t be sure they will be able to. So this is unfortunately still not a surefire way, although you have a better chance with this:

• GetYourGuide tour does not include a ticket, however they get you to the ticket office to purchase it yourself. So practically you will purchase the tickets at the ticket office (as you are allowed as a foreigner), it’s just they will get you there. And of course provide the full guided tour.
• Trip.com offers several options, but only tours, unless you are a disabled person. You can book a private tour or a group tour.
• Klook also offers guided services of the Forbidden city and Jinshan park.
• Expedia also offers small group tours.
• Small group tours are available on Viator as well. You can find private ones too.

Don’t forget to bring your passport, whichever option you choose – it is your ticket. I guess the only English phrase the people at the palace know is: “passport is your ticket”.

Comprehensive Map of the Forbidden City

While planning my trip, I was rather confused about what to visit inside the Forbidden City, as I like planning everything in advance and not missing the things I want to see. People kept saying, that you won’t be able to see everything anyway, so you have to choose. I didn’t want to just visit the major buildings, so I looked for the most comprehensive map of the area I could find.

This map from TravelChinaGuide seemed was the most useful from what I found and it helped quite a lot. With this map we explored all the major places we were interested in.

How Much Time do You Need at the Forbidden City?

If you follow the route below and want to see most of the things around, it will take you from 4 hours to the whole day, depending on your pace. If you have the time, I would definitely allocate a full day, as there’s so much to see and do here.

The Palace is immense with 980 buildings consisting of 8,700 rooms. Many tour groups visit the 6 central halls and don’t bother with other areas. However, I definitely suggest to explore much more than that. My guide below is designed to maximize your day at this magnificent palace complex.

We did spend the whole day here and made sure we explored all parts we were interested in – entered at about 9.30 and exited by about 4.45 pm (almost at the closing time) and headed up the Jinshan park to see the views over the Forbidden City.

The Sightseeing Route of the Forbidden City

You could simply go straight through the major halls from South to North and finish your route in 2-3 hours. However, below I will give you the details of how to explore other parts as well.

Outer Court (South Side)

We entered the Meridian Gate at about 9.30am. The crowd at that time was manageable.However, an hour later far more people, and especially tour groups arrived. So, as other travel guides suggest, arriving early will really give you some time with a bit less crowds. By 10.30am the place was absolutely packed.

We also climbed up the Meridian gate. It has some lovely corridors. Plus, it provides some nice views, if you have time and energy to do so. As one of the travelers commented, climbing the Meridian gate now may require a prior reservation. There is no information on this online, so let me know if you recently tried to climb the gate and managed. 

To get a good picture of the Gate of Supreme Harmony and of the water bridges, after you pass the Meridian Gate, you should go to the left or right of it, where you will find less people and will actually be able to breathe By the way, the gate has large pair of bronze lion statues in front of it.

Another way to hide from the crowds time after time is to go to the smaller buildings on the right and left of the main courtyards. It gets quite suffocating, after being here for a while with so many people. So, do check out the Hall of the Literary Glory (see on the map on the right side of the Gate of Supreme Harmony). This actually consists of two main buildings, with the first containing porcelain and ceramics gallery. The second building is also very interesting with the green roof. This used to be imperial library or Confucian Hall. We did like it and there were very few people around.

We also noticed these lovely ladies nearby, who were more than happy to pose for us.

On the West side, you will find the Hall of Martial Valor (or Military Eminence). It houses paintings and calligraphy gallery.

Next, we followed the main route passing the Halls of Supreme Harmony, Central Harmony and Preserved Harmony. All the halls are closed off and you aren’t able to enter them. You can only get a peek inside, if you manage through all the huge tourist groups. But the exterior is beautiful, so you can sit and marvel at these amazing buildings.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony was the main site for celebrations held during the Qing dynasty. The Throne you will see inside is interesting with the golden dragon carvings on it.

The smaller building behind – the Hall of Central Harmony was the site, where the emperor stayed the night before the celebration and where he met the high-ranking persons.

Apparently, there are 10,000 dragons carved into the interiors and exteriors of these three great halls, which is fascinating. Don’t forget to look at the roofs. In the corners you will see a number of dragons preceded by the Emperor sitting on a dragon. The number of roof eaves tell you the importance of that particular building and the people living in it. The Hall of Supreme Harmony has 10 eaves (I didn’t count them, just read about this ).

Inner Court (North side)

Next, The Hall of Heavenly Purity was the residence of emperors, before moving it to the Hall of Mental Cultivation (which is located slightly towards the West – see below). This building later became a throne room. After this, you will see the Celestial and Terestrial Union, followed by the Hall of Earthly Tranquility, which used to be the Empress’s residence, but later on became a shrine.

Start exploring the East side of the palace with Qianlong garden and the Hall of Joyful Longevity. The Hall of pleasant sounds houses the theatre stage built in the 18^th century. After you exit the gardens, head to visit the six Eastern palaces, the passages are the most interesting for me here.

Next, do visit the Treasury (Which is located at the Palace of Tranquil Longevity e.g. Peace and Longevity). As I mentioned this ticket booth and the museum close earlier than the City closing time. It really is worth your time and the additional 10 yuans (you can buy the ticket at the entrance or at the main ticket office). When you enter, you will find the Nine dragon screen. Then you can enter the halls to marvel at the interesting golden and silver objects from the Imperial times. Do go through the whole length of the treasury.

The entrance to the Hall for Ancestral Worship, where the clock museum is located, is near the entrance to the Treasury. You can buy the tickets in front of the Hall entrance and they cost 10 yuans (or you can buy tickets in advance at the main ticket office).

After exploring the East side of the palace, head to The Hall of Mental Cultivation, where the emperors resided (after the residence was moved from the Hall of Heavenly Purity), is located on the west side of the main courtyards. It was under renovation, when we visited in 2019, however, you can visit it now.

Next, go more East to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility, which used to be the residence of Emperor’s wife.

Finish your visit by wondering around the Imperial garden. Unlike the tranquil and cute gardens, you will find in some places in Suzhou, for instance, this is an extremely crowded, loud and small place. But you will still get an idea of how a traditional Chinese garden looked like with its many symbols, such as pavilions, water, stones, round gates.

What to Do After Visiting Forbidden City

As I mentioned above, you can’t exit from the South. You have to finish your visit in the North side of the City. After exiting the Gate of Divine Prowess, it would be rather difficult to find any transport to leave the area. The nearest metro stations are quite a long walk away and figuring out the routes of the buses is really complicated, as there is no English information online or on the spot.

I suggest heading up the Jingshan park hill. For this, you will have to cross the street. You will find the underground passage on your left after exiting the city. The Jingshan park tickets cost 2 yuans – as a foreigner you can easily buy the tickets at the ticket office. The climb of over 300 stairs is definitely worth it.

Find the rest of the information about visiting the park and other sites in Beijing here.

If you prefer not to figure out all the details following the instructions above, you can hire a local guide to explain and show everything to you. Various agencies offer private and group tours:

• You can check out Trip.com for their private tour or a group tour.
• Klook also offers guided services of the Forbidden city and Jinshan park.
• Small group tours and private ones are available via Viator as well.

<p>The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>

I found out about Pingyao from travel groups, the photos enticed me, so I decided to include it in my trip. That certainly was a great decision.

The city was built a millennium ago and became the Wall street of China. For centuries (16-19th) it was at the center of economic development of the country. That’s why you will find so many banking institutions here. Due to such importance, the city is now on the UNESCO heritage list.

Pingyao is a really lovely city. It is one of the best preserved among the old Chinese cities with intact city walls and cute houses. They don’t allow modern buildings inside the walls, which lets it preserve its charm. This is a city, where even KFC looks cute.

How to Get to Pingyao

The city is quite touristy, because it is located in-between Beijing and Xi’An. When I say between, it doesn’t mean, you won’t have to make a detour, but it definitely is worth it. We went from Beijing West by train. The fast train (D type) took about 4 hours to get here. And it took 3 hours to get from here to Xi’An.

I purchased our tickets using Trip.com. Their rates are most reasonable, with only a small surcharge. The website now offers electronic tickets, so you won’t need to pick them up at the station, like we did.

Find detailed information on trains in China, how to get tickets and how to travel between the cities in my dedicated article.

I had researched about getting to the city from the high speed railway station previously. Keep in mind, there is another train station far closer to the old city. High speed station is a bit farther, although still no more than 15 mins drive. I found out that no cars, except some hotel vehicles can enter the old city. So I decided to ask the hotel I booked, to send us the car. It was only 30 yuans, so it was worth it for us, particularly, as we were arriving after 8 pm.

Unfortunately, we didn’t find the car at the car park, as hotel promised. Not sure if it was late or they didn’t send it, because I didn’t answer their Wechat calls (we had no internet). So we had to decide whether to take a taxi or a bus. The fact is, taxis won’t get you much closer to your destination, than the bus does, as they can’t enter the old city gates. If you decide on a taxi, don’t give more than 30 yuans, they will ask for 50 or more for sure.

We opted for the bus. Bus 108 stops exactly at the exit of the station, on the right from the taxi stand. You won’t miss it. The bus costs 1 yuan and will get you to the spot about 5 mins walk from the North gate of the old city. This is one stop before last, before the main bus station of Pingyao. You will have to walk from here.

Tickets for Visiting Pingyao

Entrance to the city is free; Combined ticket for the museums costs 125 yuan, while 65 for students.

Entering the old city is free. However, to visit the many museums inside the old city (there are 22 of them), you will need a ticket. The whole city has one ticket, which gives you access to all the sites. Technically, you have to be a Chinese student to get the discount and an undergrad one, but if you meet a nice cashier, you may be lucky to be given a student ticket with your country student ID, as we did.

You can get your tickets in one of the ticket offices in person. The ticket offices are in many places around the town, you can spot them near the entrances of most major attractions. One major one is at this location.

If you prefer to buy in advance, Trip.com sells tickets for exactly the same price. You will have an electronic ticket and won’t have to look for the ticket booth. However, the physical tickets are gorgeous, so if you love collecting them, it may be worth it to get in person.

The ticket has the validity of 3 days, but you can only visit each museum once. Make sure to keep your ticket safe while exploring the city.

Other Tips for Visiting Pingyao

Accommodation in Pingyao

I do suggest to stay at least one night here to enjoy the evening lights. The two main streets come alive at night. In the beginning, we were apprehensive of the dark side streets, however, we didn’t feel unsafe. Whoever we met only helped with directing us to where we needed to go.

I recommend booking a hotel in Pingyao via trip.com, as they have greater choice and cheaper options in smaller cities than Booking.com, Expedia or any other non-Chinese agencies. We stayed at Pingyao hotel. We loved its cute courtyard and beautifully decorated rooms. It was very clean, very cute and the people who met us were very nice. That somehow made up for the hassle of getting there, due to the transfer car not arriving. You can also look at other cute hotels, as most Pingyao hotels look like old houses with gorgeous decorations.

Language

In Pingyao hardly anyone speaks even a word of English. So be prepared with the Google translate app Not even our hotel staff spoke English. They were very nice, prepared with the Wechat translator.

Crowds in Pingyao

Tourists will be in the city mostly from 10am to 5 pm, because most people do this as a day trip. During this time the main streets can be a bit crowded, but all the side streets and many sights are still quiet and nice. We didn’t see many people either in City God temple or Confucius temple, for instance. The banks and the South gate of the wall are more crowded.

Pingyao Walkability and Accessibility

The city is really small, so you can walk around easily. Actually, no transport – either buses or taxis – can get inside the ancient city walls, so the only way is to walk. The city is flat, so it’s not too difficult to navigate. Most sites here are also wheelchair accessible.

This city is also a good option, if you have mobility issues, but wish to walk. My mom has joint pains, but she was still able to walk without problems in this city, albeit she had to rest a lot when climbing the city walls.

1-Day Itinerary of Pingyao

Here is the list of major spots you shouldn’t miss when visiting Pingyao. It doesn’t matter in what order you will visit the sites. Start wherever is closer to you.

Old City Wall

The old city is surrounded by a very well-preserved wall. This wall is much smaller than that of Xi’An, however, it is one of the best preserved in China. It’s unclear, when exactly was the wall constructed. It did exist in the 11th century and was first reconstructed in the 14th century.

We went up at the South gate, which is the most prominent among the six city gates. It was very crowded with tour groups. I believe tour groups just visit this part of the wall and leave. If you wander a bit farther from the gate, you will be all by yourself.

You can technically walk around the whole area in 3 hours I believe. But not all sections of the wall are open for walking. West gate to North gate section was closed at the time we were there.

We walked from South gate to the West gate. This section was very quiet and we didn’t meet anyone most of the time. We really loved seeing the roofs of the buildings from up the wall and, in general, observing this cute city. Be careful though, as most part of the wall has very low battlements towards the old city, so don’t go too close to them. I do suggest to walk at least some part of the wall, whichever side is open at the time you visit and you prefer.

Ming-Qing Street (South Street) and West Street

Both of these streets are very beautiful with a lot of handicraft shops, places selling local sweets, the lights. The Ming-Qing street was actually called China’s Wall Street with banks surrounding it.

You will anyway end up in this very central place at least a couple of times during your exploration of the city. Do come here not only during the day, but in the evening too, when the red and yellow lights make them magical.

The Temple of City God

An ancient Taoist temple, this one was one of the highlights for us. When we visited there were really few people here. Here you will find the colorful statues depicting the “hell” and “torture”. The statues have strange expressions and they are definitely worth exploring.

The Confucius Temple

This was a totally fascinating Temple and one of our favourites. Even before entering, you will find the stone depictions of Confucius teaching his disciples and many other stories. The temple complex covers a big area. Inside the complex you will find the old classrooms, that were used to teach the students about the teachings of Confucius. There are also the training grounds, where they used to teach archery and other fighting skills. You can even try your hand in it.

The temple was first built in the 7th century and rebuilt in 12th. Since then, it’s very well-preserved.

Here, you will see a lot of red and yellow signs hanging nearby. From what we understood, the red means luck and yellow is for wealth (they were 50 and 100 yuan to buy and hang there, but we saw exact same in Suzhou on Pingjiang road for 5 yuans. I am sure you will find them in many other places. So you can bring them with you, if you like).

Rishengchang Former Bank

Founded in 1823, this is the first Chinese bank, so worth visiting for this sole reason. It is very centrally located on the West street. You can learn about the history of banking in China here.

Xietongqing Bank

I did prefer this one to other banks, because of the vaults with old gold and silver money. I didn’t see this in any guides and I am really happy we entered here accidentally, thinking it was Rishengchang. Definitely don’t miss it!

China Escort (Security guard) Agency

You can see some of the weapons of the former guards here and find information about martial arts.

Pingyao Ancient Government Office

Not as fascinating, as I expected it to be, but it covers a huge area and has a number of rooms to explore, including the administrative rooms, prison cells, etc. The complex was first built in the 4-6 centuries, but had to be rebuilt in the 14th century. The country government headed by the local magistrate was housed here and did administrative business.

The rest is up to you. I wouldn’t mind staying another day and seeing all the 22 museums and just wondering the streets, marveling at the interesting things you find at every corner. Although it may get boring, if you stay more than that. You could also get out of town and visit the famous Wang compound, if you have more than one day.

Suggestions for Additional Days in Pingyao

Wang Family compound (price: 55 yuan) – This is a well-preserved dwelling of a rich family dating back from the 14th century and being expanded over centuries. The compound is located outside the old city gates and you will need to either change 2 buses or a train and a bus to get there.

Qiao Family compound (price: 115 yuan) – Same, as the Wang compound, this is a family dwelling constructed in the 18th century. It’s become better known due to being features in a few movies and TV series. It’s particularly known for its lovely courtyard. You can get here by bus from Pingyao bus station.

Shuanglin Temple – The temple with a history of almost 1500 years was listed, as part of the Pingyao Ancient city, as the UNESCO World Heritage site. You can get here by bus from Pingyao train station.

While Pingyao is very easy to navigate on your own using the above guide, there are a number of options for exploring the city with a local guide. You can either get the guide on the spot or book in advance through Viator or Klook. However, I recommend to just wander around in peace on your own and soak in the atmosphere.

See also:

Useful tips for planning your trip to China.

Transport in China.

Beijing 4-day itinerary with detailed tips.

<p>The post Visit Ancient City of Pingyao: 1-Day Itinerary and Tips first appeared on Hit the Road Ket.</p>