China - Advice on 7.5 hr PEK layover

Hi all,

Looking for some current advice on a potential 7 hr layover in PEK. Specifically I would like to make a quick trip to the great wall. I know there have been some past threads with scattered tips, but I have some specific questions that I was hoping some of you PEK experts could help out with.

First here is what I am looking at-

Flying from KMG - PEK on Air China, arriving at 10:55 am, then leaving on the 6:25 pm PEK-IAD UA flight. I will be traveling with 3 kids under the age of 10 and lots of luggage.

Here are my questions-

1. Is it reasonable to plan to go to Mutianyu? Is 4 hrs out of airport enough time to do that? I am thinking the following - arrive 11 am, grab some fast food lunch then leave airport @12 noon. Drive to MTY (90 minutes drive?) spend 60 min there then drive back, be back for check in around 4-430 pm.

2. Is a 430 pm check in for the 625 IAD flight allowing enough time? (should be fine right?)

3. Does anyone know if Air China will by any chance tag our bags in KMG all the way to our final destination in the US, allowing us to not collect in PEK. We will be traveling on a UA booked award ticket, all on one reservation. My past experience has been that you still must collect and re-check, but I know things are always changing here.

4. If we have to collect and re-check bags in PEK is there a reasonable option for baggage storage of 4-5 hrs?

Any other tips?

Thanks!

1. Yes it's reasonable to accomplish this. But best to prearrange a car if you can. If you speak Mandarin, it should be possible to take a taxi from the official queue, and do an off-meter deal to take you to Mutianyu, wait, then return to airport. Taxi driver would probably be thrilled to make RMB 500 off this. Note: regular taxis and cars have a limit of 4 passengers. So if you are traveling with 3 kids, this will work. If there are 3 kids AND a partner + yourself = 5 passengers, you should prearrange a small van, which will be slightly more expensive than a standard car.

2. Airport to Mutianyu is only about an hour, maybe a bit less, much closer than Beijing city. Assuming you lunch quickly at airport, leave at 12:30, at GW about 1:30 pm, 2 hours to enjoy at the Wall, 1 hour back by 4:30 pm-ish. Plenty of time to accomplish check-in and through immigration and security for 18:25 flight.

3. Yes, they well might tag your bags all the way through to final destination in USA. In which case, you shouldn't have to pick up in PEK or deal with at all. Definitely ask in KMG. Having everything on *A will help.

4. In the event you must collect and recheck, there is Left Luggage at both Arrival and Departure levels--I think about RMB 50 per day for a big suitcase, less for smaller bags. Reliable, but don't leave your valuables.

1. Is it reasonable to plan to go to Mutianyu? Is 4 hrs out of airport enough time to do that? I am thinking the following - arrive 11 am, grab some fast food lunch then leave airport @12 noon. Drive to MTY (90 minutes drive?) spend 60 min there then drive back, be back for check in around 4-430 pm.


Why not get lunch at the Schoolhouse either before or after your hike? It is quite nice, especially if you reserve a table outside.


2. Is a 430 pm check in for the 625 IAD flight allowing enough time? (should be fine right?)


IIRC, the T3-international cutoff is 75 minutes, and there is almost never a line for the IAD flight (last of the day) when the cutoff time draws near. I'd be completely comfortable leaving Mutianyu by 330p.

May depend on where you are coming from and if you've all eaten on the plane, etc. But I'd try to minimize eating time BEFORE the GW and grab a snack or fast food, do the Wall, then see how time is running before doing a sit-down meal at the Schoolhouse. If you have to give something short shrift, make it the dining experience not the Wall. Also, depends on budget--Schoolhouse will definitely be more than either fast food at the airport, or a Chinese quickie meal out at Mutianyu itself.

Also, if you are able to have the checked bags tagged through all the way to final destination therefore not handling yourself at PEK, and you have your PEK-IAD boarding passes already, you can just get back to the termnal and head directly for the shuttle to the E concourse for immigration and security check, bypassing check-in desks.

thanks to you both for your helpful input :). I appreciate it.

We will definitely be arranging a vehicle in advance for comfort sake. And we will eat in the airport a quick meal before heading out, simply for the kids sake and since our KMG departure will be early. Also we want to avoid the empty stomach car sickness... If we have time maybe we will check out the schoolhouse recommendation as well, but our focus will be making the most of the time on the wall.

One more question... is traffic at all an issue to worry about for returning to the airport leaving MTY @3 pm?

Thanks!

thanks to you both for your helpful input :). I appreciate it.

We will definitely be arranging a vehicle in advance for comfort sake. And we will eat in the airport a quick meal before heading out, simply for the kids sake and since our KMG departure will be early. Also we want to avoid the empty stomach car sickness... If we have time maybe we will check out the schoolhouse recommendation as well, but our focus will be making the most of the time on the wall.

One more question... is traffic at all an issue to worry about for returning to the airport leaving MTY @3 pm?

Thanks!

Traffic shouldn't be an issue; max 90 minutes from Mutianyu to the airport, which makes a 330p departure completely safe.

4. In the event you must collect and recheck, there is Left Luggage at both Arrival and Departure levels--I think about RMB 50 per day for a big suitcase, less for smaller bags. Reliable, but don't leave your valuables.

Shouldn't they be able to recheck right away? Presumably they can check bags in at 12p when leaving the airport.

Shouldn't they be able to recheck right away? Presumably they can check bags in at 12p when leaving the airport.

Officially, check-in opens ~3 hours prior to departure, but because UA has 4 flights from Beijing now, I'm guessing they are able to accommodate early check-in (assuming the bags don't get through checked in the first place).

Shouldn't they be able to recheck right away? Presumably they can check bags in at 12p when leaving the airport.


Good call... will have to check on that if we can't tag bags through from KMG. But are their any UA flights between the 12 noon flight and the 345 pm? Possibly the counters will be closed from @1130-1230.

can anyone give me a base price to work with on what we should plan to pay for a minivan to go round trip (airport-MTY-airport) for half a day (12noon to 4). I was just quoted 1500 rmb which seems high to me but I am a bit out of touch with current prices in PEK.

Thanks!

can anyone give me a base price to work with on what we should plan to pay for a minivan to go round trip (airport-MTY-airport) for half a day (12noon to 4). I was just quoted 1500 rmb which seems high to me but I am a bit out of touch with current prices in PEK.

Thanks!

1000

1000


I got a price quote of 800 from this guy- http://www.beijing-carservice.com

I will try him out and if it goes well I will add him to the Beijing transport thread. He seems to be highly recommended on TA. (only 6 reviews).

As the first replyer mentioned, I think you can go for 500 RMB for a few hours without much trouble.

I've got cars for the whole day for about 5-600 RMB 8am - 6pm ish.

Anyone who is tech saavy enough to set up a web site is definitely going to overcharge foreigners, but if you don't want to worry about it then may be easier way to go.

I got a price quote of 800 from this guy- http://www.beijing-carservice.com

I will try him out and if it goes well I will add him to the Beijing transport thread. He seems to be highly recommended on TA. (only 6 reviews).

As the first replyer mentioned, I think you can go for 500 RMB for a few hours without much trouble.

I've got cars for the whole day for about 5-600 RMB 8am - 6pm ish.

Anyone who is tech saavy enough to set up a web site is definitely going to overcharge foreigners, but if you don't want to worry about it then may be easier way to go.

No, he won't get a VAN for that price. Or a even one of those big nice private cars. (Taxi might be possible for that price but I believe his traveling party is one person too large to be legal). I feel Moondog's ballpark of RMB 1000 is more accurate for his needs. RMB 800 would be doing pretty well as long as the van is clean and decent quality.

Well we did it and it went very well. Thought I would report back here in case it helps anyone else in the future.

short version= took 1 hr to drive each direction, spent 2 hrs there at Mutianyu, for a total of 4 hrs out. Was a great time, no problems. Eric Wang (the driver I mentioned) above was great.

long and detailed version=

We were not able to check through our bags from KMG all the way to final destination. The check in agent insisted that it was not possible, and then she started printing out baggage tags with all our flights printed to our final destination... I argued with her and said if the computer can do it then it must be possible, but she just ripped them up and put them in the trash...

So we arrived at PEK T3 at 11 am, collected bags, and immediately made our way upstairs to see if we could check in with UA. We made it there by 1140 (took a while for bags to come out and for our party of 5 to walk up) and were indeed able to check in. This was great, there was no line but still a couple of agents at the counters.

It took us a while to check in as we were traveling heavily loaded (10 bags) and had to pay for the additional pieces. We were all checked in by 12-12:05 and then made our way back downstairs to the McDonald's for a quick lunch. I had arranged the driver for 12:00 so he waited for us while we ate, and stored some of our carry-on luggage in left luggage. We were on our way to his car around 12:30.

We were all in and pulled out of the parking garage around 12:45 and were on our way. There was no traffic really and we made it to Mutianyu around 1:45. We took the cable car up to the top, spent some time walking around and then made our way back down after about 1.5 hrs.

We were on our way back to the airport by 3:40 and reached the airport T3 around 4:40.

We collected our carry-ons and made our way to the gates (were already checked in which was very nice!). We were at the gate by 5:30 for our 6:30 pm flight.

All of these time notes in the airport are most likely on the slow side as we are walking with small children in tow. It certainly could be done faster if you cut out the stop time to eat or if you don't have to deal with re-checking in. Those two things added over an hour on to our time needed.

It was a great experience and I am so glad we did it, will make a great memory for our family and our children as it will be our last time in China for a while most likely.

The driver as mentioned above (Eric Wang http://www.beijing-carservice.com/) was great and would certainly recommend him to anyone looking for something that can seat 5-7 people. His car was comfortable and he was very friendly. He charged me the quoted 800 rmb and no additional fees, tolls, etc. His English was very good.

Thanks again all for your input and advice!

Well we did it and it went very well. Thought I would report back here in case it helps anyone else in the future.


^^^ :) Glad it worked out.

:td: to the agent in KMG. Of course your bags could have been autotransferred through (just as the computer said)--why she was being obstinate, I don't know.