Originally Posted by
harrison1186
Sounds like a plan Moondog!
@GinFizz Thanks! That itinerary sounds fantastic! I may just have to print it out and bring it with me. Hopefully, I mastered the art of being in two places at once before I leave for the trup
@JieJie I am arriving on a Thursday. Hopefully, that won't throw me off the GinnFizz's itinerary too much.
Since I travel mainly within North America, this is the first time I have ventured out into this forum.
I must say this is friendliest forum I've found on FT. Or have I just caught you guys on a good day
We're a friendly bunch, for sure!
My itinerary suggestion differs from GinFizz after the Great Wall:
1) 06:30 leave airport for Great Wall Badaling, GW 07:45-09:30.
2) 10:00 leave GW for Tiantan (Temple of Heaven) arrive west gate about 11:30, walk through to east gate arrive 13:00. Grab a snack on the go, subway Line 5 to Line 1 to Tiananmen
3) Tiananmen and Forbidden City 14:00-16:30/or closing time.
4) To Houhai/adjacent hutong area for dinner and a look around. Assuming your stopover is between mid-April to mid-October, there will be lots of local street life around. Make sure to poke around the alleys where the locals live, not just around the lakes where the restaurants are. This would also keep you out of the worst of the traffic.
5) Routing past the Drum and Bell Towers, head for subway Line 2 (Gulou station) around 19:30 or 20:00. 3 stops and you are at Dongzhimen, connect to Airport Express Light Rail back to airport by 21:00. With this routing, you see a lot and no need to worry about finding taxi back.
I don't see room in this trip for GW, Forbidden City, AND Summer Palace. SP is just too big and takes too much time. Pick 2 out of 3, + one other major site that isn't as time consuming as FC and SP. Which is why I put Tiantan there.
It would be a shame to miss one of the essences of Beijing, an old hutong neighborhood visit, and particularly in the late afternoon/early evening hours. Overpriced drinks at the Pangu would not be on my list of Beijing must-do's for anybody, and you definitely don't want to be trying to get from very center of Beijing to the north 4th Ring Road in evening traffic.