drewguy

Thanks for the tips everyone! I've been to the ancient observatory already, but the two temples mentioned look worth a visit. Xiangshan sounds like a great place to go except for the crowds! Such is life.

drewguy

Did the first and last of these three, and enjoyed both. Walked from Zhihua to Dongyue, which was a bit long but partly through hutongs so at least got that. A nice morning.

Hoyaheel

Heading to Beijing with a co-worker for meetings next week. We're taking Wednesday for playing tourist (and will have Thursday morning too, as our return flight is at 15:30). Given the cold temps (at least last week and this week - I've been checking to see how to pack) and the short days, we weren't thinking of trying to get to the Great Wall. Presumably we'd do Forbidden City. Is it possible/desirable to do Summer Palace and Forbidden City on the same day? I know they close early this time of year as well. Or should we spring for a driver and get to the Wall, not knowing when either of us could get back to Beijing?

For "shopping" (neither of us really big shoppers, and I did run through the crowded/fun/cheesy Silk Market on my last & only trip to Beijing, which was just a solo day in transit) would it be "enough" to just roam Wangfujing Street?

qpr

I would either go to summer palace or fc but not both the same day.
Summer palace is a huge area to visit and i would take the time to see it in no hurry.

JPDM

Do the Wall on your day of departure. You need a driver in any case and he can keep your luggage.
On your full day, try to start the day at the Temple of Heaven before going to the Forbidden city. If you have time, you can continue on to the Lama Temple and or the Drum Tower area and have dinner at the Dali Courtyard.
I am not a big fan of the Summer Palace, especially in winter and it is out of the way.

moondog

I actually like the Summer Palace myself, but not in the winter, and Beihai Park (very close to the north gate of Gugong) really is quite similar.

Hoyaheel

Thanks for suggestions!!

qpr

When you visit Forbidden City and leave it through the north gate.
Cross the street and enter Jingshan Park.
Looking from the peak, you have a full view over FC.

Hoyaheel

2 more questions....

1. Co-worker wants to get guide (her sister used in the past) - fine, I know we could do on our own but I'm ok with a guide (not just a driver) because I love history and details. We had planned 1 day - Temple of Heaven & Summer Palace (to do Forbidden City on our remaining half day on our own). Co-worker now wants to do Great Wall as sister says we must and it's not that far. So - next week, is it crazy for us to do Temple of Heaven in the morning and then the Great Wall (geez, I haven't even checked to see which section is the closest/most common from Beijing - Mutianyu?) in the afternoon? (or vice versa if the guide recommends - he's quite opinionated ;-)

2. Dinner on Sunday, our flight lands at 16:00, we'll have major jet lag but co-worker wants to go out to dinner. Recommendations near National Library subway? Feasible to take a taxi to Drum Tower area for dinner and not be out too late?

Thanks!!

moondog

[QUOTE=Hoyaheel;25809922]2 more questions....

Are you staying near National Library? If so, my answers would be very different than if Chaoyang or downtown. In Beijing, it's especially important (and not that hard) to take geography and logistics seriously at all times.

Doing Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall in the same day strikes me is a silly idea unless you're staying close to ToH (it's a good early morning attraction).

Hoyaheel

Yes, we're at the Hubei hotel and as far as I can tell the closest subway is National Library.

So my coworker's sister told her it's an hour to the Wall so that's why she wants to do it....4 hours for that and 4 hours for ToH doesn't seem that unreasonable to me....However, if I can tell her it would take 2 hrs travel time or whatever, that would be helpful!

Dinner near hotel on Sunday is a separate question :-)

moondog

The Temple of heaven is not a 4 hour attraction unless you have a lot of time to spare, and pairing it with the great wall makes no sense in light of your location. I'm going to play my rarely used "very bad idea" card in this instance.

jiejie

National Library is the closest subway to Hubei Hotel. With an on-time 16:00 arrival into PEK on Sunday, let's assume you'll be at the hotel checking in around 18:30. If you just toss your stuff in the room and then head out around 19:00, yes you should be able to get a taxi to the Houhai/Drum Tower area and since it's Sunday, not get too jammed up in traffic between the two. I assume you had a specific restaurant in mind.

I'm also not big on the idea of the TOH and Great Wall on the same day but if those are your top priorities, it can be done with some compromises. Because days are short, you need to get moving reasonably early.
Compromise #1: Go to Badaling which makes more sense geographically and time-wise. By private car, it is about an hour's drive from your hotel. While Badaling gets panned compared to other GW sites (mostly due to reconstruction and lots of tour groups), it has its uses and isn't all that crowded during this low season time of year, plus it opens reasonably early (by 08:00). So if you arrive around 08:00-08:30, spend 1.5-2 hours on the Wall which is likely to be enough in the cold weather, return to central Beijing by 11:30 and get dropped off at a restaurant for lunch before the main lunch rush hits. Restaurant should be somewhere geographically logical vs Temple of Heaven.

Compromise #2: Go to Temple of Heaven post-lunch. While the typical recommendation is to go first thing in the morning, mostly to see the "people activity" in the perimeter park before entering, in winter most locals don't like to get out early (or at all). In fact, if it's not bitterly cold, you're more likely to see them in the middle of the day. The TofH buildings don't care what time you're there. You can have driver drop you at West side, walk to East side, hitting the high spots which are in the middle. You only really need a couple of hours inside the TofH complex. So I suspect you will finish up around 15:00-15:30. If you want to hit up some souvenir shopping, Hongqiao Market is just across the street from the east gate. Alternatively and especially if you keep the driver all day, you can scoot to something else, maybe Jingshan Park for a dusk view (if the blasted smog dissipates).

I would follow up with a nice dinner somewhere, maybe Beijing duck? Forbidden City on your half-day: remember it's closed on Monday and you need your passport to buy a ticket. Normally they now want advance ticketing due to capacity controls, but this time of year you can buy as a walk-up without fear of sell-outs.

qpr

Badaling open at 07.00 am in winter (06.30 in summer).

Hoyaheel

I get that you think it's a bad idea but I'm still confused as to why. It seems that time wise it can be done. Is it because it's too much time in transit (which I definitely get)?

The Great Wall is not my priority. I would be happy without it. But my co-worker keeps bringing it up so I want to give her some decent data so she can make an informed decision (we're researchers - that's what we do)

I like Jie Jie's recommendation of the ToH later in the day if the "people's activity" isn't likely to be going on in the morning....