jplee3

I'm confused - weren't you originally suggesting that we consider bikes while in Beijing? Or would that only be if the kids were older?

moondog

I do think you should consider bikes in Beijing, but not really as a substitute for taxis/subways. Maybe you can try a spin in some of the hutongs around your hotel to test the waters.

jplee3

Can you give some examples of where we might ride or use the bikes if it's generally unsafe to use main roads? Like if we're in Wangfujing, we can use shared bikes and bike to the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven?

mlin32

Use a taxi or Didi.

There are contrôles for all subways in mainland china, that means metal detector and placing your bags thru a scanner. While not as strict as the aeroport, surprising things like the 150ml aerosol limit (and thus, my can of shaving gel) don't pass muster. For daily trips the métro is fine, but when you have all your luggage and are a group of four, best to keep things easy.

Needless to say, Weixin and/or Alipay are obligatory, so get that set up in advance.

jplee3

Thanks. Sounds good - we'll stick with taxi/didi for transporting to/from hotel between airport and railway stations then and for all local travel we'll just do metro. Didn't realize they have scanners but that makes sense...

I have Wechat Pay setup for my wife. Will go ahead and do AliPay as well. I should probably set them up for myself too.

What do you suggest as far as cellphone plan? Should I just pay for a month of Tmobile Go5G Essentials or Google Fi for both my wife and I?

mlin32

I am not familiar with US mobile plans and thus cannot judge.

There are tourist SIM cards available at some airports, but these will be subject to the same internet censorship limitations as their internet. So if the cost isn't prohibitive, use your usual US plan.

jplee3

Unfortunately, the plan we have is on an MVNO of ATT and they don't offer international roaming or data overseas. So just trying to find whatever other option is easiest. If I use a VPN with the tourist sim card in my phone, I should be able to circumvent though right?

moondog

Apart from Gulou/Houhai/Nanluoguxiang and maybe Chaoyang Park, I'm loath to suggest specific areas because I haven't biked much around Beijing during the past several years, and many of my favorite hutongs have been demolished (this a common theme in many Chinese cities, FYI). I did search google and baidu before posting this to see if I could find any solid current info, but wasn't impressed by the results. Hopefully, some of the forum regulars who bike frequently in Beijing will drop by and offer suggestions/insights.

I don't mean to scare you about the traffic and roads, by the way. For example, you certainly can bike along Chang'an Jie (many people do so every day, and it can be exhilarating). The experience is just kind of daunting for those who haven't gotten their feet wet yet.

mlin32

This is moving into the dedicated SIM card thread, but it will depend on which VPN you're using. I tried the free one that came with my anti-virus software and it didn't work, and neither at all but one of the hotels I stayed at.

I just had to cope with it; very annoying for Android phone users as it severely handicaps the performance of a surprising number of things (although WhatsApp partially worked). But on the plus side, it wasn't expensive, something like 200 or 250 CNY for 2 weeks validity and plenty of fast data.

uanj

OK, poor old OP, you are getting advice going all over the place. To confuse you more completely, I will add my thoughts:

You will decamp in Beijing, most likely with jetlag and in China for the first time. Buying train or attraction tickets is not always as easy as it should be. Plus you have a jampacked schedule. Maybe it is worthwhile to have a private tour set up for Beijing.

When are you arriving in Beijing and which airport? If it is PEK and not too late, you could even do the Great Wall on the way.

For me, I would start with Tian Tan early in the day, hopefully not too busy, but from my visits earlier I would not call it a tourist trap. It is a beautiful piece of Chinese architecture. Requires limited walking and not much time. Next move to Tiananmen Square and consider Mao's Mausoleum. My mom, to my surprise, was fascinated by it. The kids, not so much. But again, not much time needed for that.

Then lunch. Then the Forbidden City/Palace Museum for most of the afternoon. You will exit at the other end of the palace complex, can cross the street to Jingshan Park, climb the hill, turn around and see a nice overview of the entire palace.

Need some help from moondog and narvik or anyone else for the next day. Weather in Beijing at the end of March? Will much be green in the Summer Palace grounds? Any cherry blossoms? From my memory Yuyuantan Park may be in full bloom then and not sure about the Summer Palace grounds.

​​​​​​Anyway, Summer Palace and Mutianyu for the next day but will be long and with some decent amount of walking. With kids, take the chair lift up and the slide down, that's more fun.

If you arrange a car, you will have much, much less to worry about. the driver will know where to take you, you will always have a seat (unlike public transportation) and will be protected in bad weather like rain. Nothing worse than standing in the rain in a foreign country hoping to commandeer a taxi in rush hour.

If you value your kids, your wife and your marriage, no bikes in Beijing except within a park. Save the bike riding for Xian and ride the length on top of the entire old city walls. It's a great way to see the city, the old section inside the walls and the newer sections outside.

For Xian, you need a decent hotel more than a tour guide. A good hotel can arrange a taxi to take you to the tombs and wait 2 hours to take you back stopping at Big Goose Pagoda, and Little Goose Pagoda and then back to the hotel. Somewhere along the way you can stop for lunch. You don't need a guide. In the afternoon climb the city walls, rent bikes and do the 18 km of walls. Really worthwhile view of the old city inside and the new city outside. Then take a look at the belltower in the evening, walk the old city night market ending up the at Old Grand Mosque.

Chengdu does not need a guide if you have a good hotel. Ask them if you need to get tickets in advance, though. You need a taxi to take you to the Panda Research Center and back after 2 hours or so. There is a section along the river which is beautiful at night but really not that much more I would suggest in the city area.

Shanghai for you is the Bund and Yu Gardens, maybe People's Park and the City Museum. All located in the same area and walkable. If you want to do a river tour your hotel can probably book it in advance for you.

Everyone, please feel free to comment and help improve! Thanks!

moondog

I've done a slight variation of this plan with visitors many times over (including with numerous children who I'm proud to say didn't get bored), and laid it out in of those "one day in Beijing" threads a long time ago (can't seem to find it), but the basic drill is to load up on some food because you're going to burn 1000+ calories and start at Tiananmen and walk north through the Forbidden City, then continue north through Beihai Park (time permitting, you can rent a boat there for ~45 minutes), and finally explore the lakes and hutongs to to your heart's content. By the time you're done, you'll have walked from Tiananmen to Gulou (though not in quite as straight a line as the map image below).




Where my plan diverges from yours is: 1. No Tiantan (I usually don't start until around noon though, so it's possible to include it, if you don't mind a really long day) or (standing in...you can still look at it) Tiananmen Square; 2. Replacing Jingshan with Beihai (this really is an either/or choice if you value efficiency and Beihai is simply better than Jingshan even though it lacks the famous vantage point); 3. No backtracking; and 4. Tons of excellent F&B options on the tail end (you will definitely be hungry again by that point).

jplee3

Sort of a sidebar question here but would throwing Hong Kong onto the list of places to see be too crazy? I would consider going there first, getting outfitted with a sim card so we can get out connectivity sorted out etc, maybe spending a couple days before heading to Beijing.

This would still be within the context of the existing schedule so not adding or removing days


Too much?

moondog

So, 4 (or 5 if you keep Chengdu) cities in 12 days? Even if it were possible to teleport yourself from place to place, that would be well inside the "too much" camp IMO. I shutter to think about what it would be like when adding intercity travel into the mix.

I suppose you could replace Xi'an with HK, but HK is a lot easier to get to from the US, so maybe you could save it for another time?

narvik

Yeah, I can't see taking a trip to Hong Kong adding to the overall experience. In a way, it may even detract from your China-experience.

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RE: Bike rides in Beijing

There's a really nice bike path they put in a few years ago, that goes along the Grand Canal.
It would be in the Eastern part of Beijjng, in Tongzhou.

uanj

So, I would start at Tian Tan, skip the grounds and do the buildings. The inside of the pagoda is spectacular and takes maybe 15 minutes. Then move to Tiananmen for the remining gate of the city's original walls and Mao's resting place if interested. At the other end of Tianmen move on to the Forbidden City for 2-3 hours, exit at the other side to Jingshan Park for the view of the massive palace complex you have just gone through, then on to Beihai not too far away. TianTan to Tiananmen would not be walkable, the rest would. The weather is an unknown variable, however, and having a dedicated van to move you around could really come in handy. Not sure how old the kids are if they would handle the walking.

Can someone speak to the weather in Beijing at the end of March so OP has an idea? While I have been a ton of times, I never had to pay attention to the weather, be outside very much, or arrange my movements from one place to another.

OP, if for some reason you need to choose between Chengdu and Xian skip Chengdu. With kids, you definitely want to ride bikes on the old city walls in Xian. You can do the entire circuit or half. Hong Kong is not enroute to any of this and I agree with moondog, best leave it for another trip.

A side question, some folks are suggesting skipping Tian Tan. I have always been the struck by the beauty of the building particularly the interior of the pagoda, has it really become that much of a tourist trap that is should be avoided? That would be a shame.