Day trips from Beijing
 

I just saw another thread for PVG on day trip ideas.
I would need ideas for PEK where we will stay almost a week.

We wil stay there in August (2nd-8th) and are looking for some good ideas for short trips with a 5Y old.

Is it possible with a guide to visit the countryside ?

Thank you for your assistance

chengde (best to spend the night, methinks)
jiuhuashan
qinghuangdao
xiangshan (still in bj city limits, but takes the better portion of a day to climb and enjoy)
goose and duck ranch (huairou)

also google the beijing hikers group (not sure if that's the exact name); most of their hikes are probably too challenging for 5-year olds, but they have some easier ones also

Yes, but you don't need one and you'd be much better to do without.

For rural leafiness, you could consider:

Tanzhe Si and Jietai Si, two temples in hills to the west of Beijing easily reached by metro to Pingguo Yuan (at the west end of Line 1), then bus 931 to its terminus. All you need is 931 and Tanzhe Si written down in characters (潭柘寺) which your hotel will provide. Jietai Si (戒台寺) is a further short bus ride on. Ancient trees, peacocks, peace and quiet, and neighbouring real villages to walk to if you wish.

Cuandixia (爨底下) is a village a little over 100km west, reached by a pretty(-ish) winding highway. This can also be done by bus from Pingguo Yuan, but it would be better to negotiate for a taxi--no more than ¥350. The village crawls up the side of a defile that before the arrival of railways once held a major trade route. Since its discovery by tourism the younger generation has begun to return from the factories of Zhejiang and Guangdong and restore some of the houses. After wandering around the village you can take a home-cooked lunch in a 400-year-old courtyard for real Chinese prices (perhaps ¥50 to stuff the entire family).

Qing Tombs: The western set (清西陵) is a little over 100km southwest and the eastern set (清东陵) very roughly the same distance to the east, so you choose one or the other. There are weekend Chinese one-day bus tours to the eastern set from Xuanwu Men, at Chinese prices and with no shopping stops. But again you may prefer to negotiate for a taxi for the day. You'll need a day for either of these as they are on vast countryside sites with multiple tombs to see. Both are far superior to the tedious Ming Tombs offering much more grandeur, entrance to tomb chambers, more tombs open, and more variety. Agriculture has long invaded each complex so that orchards and fields of sorghum lap the tomb boundary walls. Your five-year-old might like the western set for the sonic wall at the tomb of one princess, which enables you to experience the 'whispering gallery' effect and multiple-echo clapping promised at the Temple of Heaven but impossible to experience because of the crowds. The tombs for the Kangxi emperor and the Empress Dowager Cixi at the eastern set are particularly impressive, too.

Almost any guide book should be able to give you further information, but more details also available here on request.

Peter N-H
China