Last updated: 6th February 2022
We decided to take a self guided tour and adventure across China by plane and train. You really need months to appreciate it, as it’s such a huge country, but being time poor, we tried to squeeze it all in just over a week! After months of meticulous planning by Garth, Beijing was our first stop on our grand tour of China. A huge historic city of imposing architecture and history.
Table of Contents
Attractions of Beijing
Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City
So out to Beijing we ventured feeling very excited, not knowing what to expect. We didn’t bother with public transport as taxis are so cheap and walking between places is easy. We started in Tiananmen Square, where it immediately felt quite oppressive with dozens of security guards and the imposing communist buildings set against a surreal sky. It was quickly apparent how poor the air quality is in Beijing, the twilight looking sky was filled with smog. Everyone seemed to be wearing face masks, apart from us!
Then we noticed all eyes were on us – not just the security guards but Chinese tourists who were taking pictures of us. Despite the language barrier lots of people gestured for a photo with them, which we obliged, we realised it was because they probably have never seen any westerners.
Walking up to the Gate of Heavenly Peace with its iconic Mao portrait we were reminded of the square’s violent past. Dozens of Chinese tourists scrambled and jostled for a place to take their best photo. As we walked through the gate to The Forbidden City it’s worth noting it’s closed every Monday. Sadly Monday was the day we were there!
Beijing’s Tiananmen Square is the largest city square in the world
Garth stands in Tiananmen Square
A couple of the many guards that watch over Tiananmen Square
Looking towards the National Museum of China on Tiananmen Square
2 stone lions guard Tiananmen Gate or better known as the Heavenly Peace Gate
Phil & Garth at the Heavenly Peace Gate
Tiananmen features on the symbol of the People’s Republic of China
The exterior walls of The Forbidden City
Jingshan Park
With the interior of the Forbidden City closed we walked around the outside of the walled city to nearby Jingshan Park and watched the locals exercise and admired old peony trees in the gardens – the biggest collection in Beijing. The peonies were a refreshing contrast to the plastic flowers that fill flower boxes around the city streets – we did a double take when we first saw them!
Inside the park we climbed the steep path all the way to the top of Jingshan Hill to The Pavillion of Eternal Spring, which has remarkable views of the Forbidden City (and the smog).
People exercise in the tranquil Jingshan Park
Plastic flowers on the streets of Beijing
View of The Forbidden City from the top of Jingshan Park
The Temple of Heaven
Our next stop was The Temple of Heaven – another must see beautiful landmark sight. It’s a collection of ancient buildings (from the Ming Dynasty 1368-1644) situated in Tiantan Park. The main building is The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and has a magnificent colour palette of red, gold, blue and green. This is where Emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties would visit to pray for good harvests.
The park itself is worth spending some time like we did. The immaculate gardens are vast with rows of ancient Cypress trees lined in perfect symmetry. We saw a small crowd gathered around one tree in particular and taking photos – we took a look ourselves and discovered it was called the ‘grandfather’. A 500 year old Cypress with dragon like branches winding around each other resembling nine dragons.
Garth at The Temple of Heaven
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests
Temple of Heaven Park
Centuries old Magnolia trees in Tiantan Park
Jinshanling – The Great Wall of China
The following day we embarked on a day trip to Jinshanling, 3 hours north of Beijing. The tour we had booked came with a private guide for the day who came with a separate driver to see The Great Wall of China. Even though you can visit the wall at Badaling which is only about an hour from the centre of Beijing, this is where all the tour group buses go so it’s incredibly busy – an estimated 75% of tourists go here. We wanted to hike the wall – restored and unrestored – and see the less touristy side, Jinshanling is the place to go as it’s more remote and set against a stunning mountainous backdrop.
It’s was awe inspiring sight as we took our first steps up to the top, we were confronted with the vastness of the wall as far as your eye could see, along the high mountain ridges far away in the distance to right back where you are standing. Jinshanling is incredibly popular with photographers and it’s easy to see why.
We spent around 4 hours hiking the wall. There was plenty to discover along the route, including beacon towers and battlement walls with shooting holes. Eventually we reached beyond the restored section and started to climb the unrestored parts. Some of these spots are very steep, and rough, with sheer drops, so you need to take extra care where you step, but it’s not that difficult.
Garth & Phil on The Great Wall Of China
Jinshanling is a quieter part of the Great Wall of China
So many amazing views on our hike of the Great Wall of China
It would take 18 months to walk the whole Great Wall China
Close up of the wall with some graffiti
Phil performs magic tricks on the Great Wall of China
Phil channeling his inner David Copperfield, Garth has no idea what he’s doing!
Interestingly a couple of ladies spent hours following us on our hike, when we stopped they stopped! We guessed they may have been poor and trying to earn some money, but they didn’t bother us at all until we walked back to the car park, where they tried to sell us calendars and T-shirts. Just for their sheer endurance of staying with us for hours we bought some postcards as a small token of thanks.
Other Attractions of Beijing
- 798 Art Zone – Former military factories now house contemporary art galleries, chic cafes, outdoor sculpture and street art.
Our ‘Houtong’ Neighbourhood
We stayed at the Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel for a couple of nights, and we were so glad we did. The hotel is central, not easily found as it’s in an old ‘Houtong’ neighbourhood. Just outside the hotel we could immerse ourselves in daily local life – an opportunity not usually available at a major hotel. Inside the hotel you felt like you had stepped back in time, with its traditional Chinese courtyard and traditional interior decoration. Evenings were particularly pleasant sipping the local Yanjing Beijing beer in the ambient courtyard, lit by red Chinese lanterns. As we overlooked the tiled rooftops we felt like we were in a movie scene from Crouching Tiger. The breakfasts were also stunning and plentiful – traditional Chinese with some western dishes.
Our delightful hotel stay at the Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel
The houtong neighbourhood where our Beijing Double Happiness Courtyard Hotel is located
This lady selling goldfish on the streets
Street food in Beijing
Our China tour continues
We finished our last night in Beijing, by heading to the enormous Beijing West Railway Station to catch our overnight sleeper train to Xian. Getting into the station proved to be interesting, as you can’t just walk in like railway stations in the UK, as all your documents approved by security staff. No one spoke English, so it was a little difficult trying to work out what they wanted to see, turned out they didn’t really want to check the foreigners, just the locals, big brother in action?
Continue reading about our next stop – Xian
Our adventure continues in Beijing on an overnight sleeper train to Xian
Huge numbers of passengers at Beijing West Railway Station
Phil & Garth’s Top 5 Beijing Tips
Garth & Phil at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven
- Tip #1: You’ll find not many people speak English in Beijing, so worth learning some Chinese words to get by.
- Tip #2: Don’t be surprised if you find people pushing in front of you in a queue, it happened a few times to us.
- Tip #3: Again don’t be surprised if you seeing people spitting everywhere, it’s quite common.
- Tip #4: Beijing is the most polluted city we’ve ever been to, so if you are an asthma suffer, it could be an issue?
- Tip #5: Check what days The Foribben City is open, as it was closed when we went! doh!
How We Did It
- We paid for a self-guided tour of China with The China Travel Company.
- We visited Beijing at the end of March.
13 comments
China is an amazing country, with beautiful sights, incredible culture and great food! I hope to get there someday, especially to see The Forbidden City and The Great Wall. It makes me sad to see the amount of pollution in Beijing. The smog is clearly an issue and I can’t imagine what is like to live everyday breathing poisonous air.
Elena | http://www.inspiredtoexplore.com
Lovely pictures that capture vividly the mystique, culture and vibrancy of Beijing. I am especially very intrigued and awed by the Forbidden city, hope to get there someday.
Great post and stunning pictures. I’ve always wanted to visit China but the sheer vastness of the country intimidates me. Where to start, what to see, how much time… But reading your post reminds me that even a short trip can be absolutely worth it!
Hubby was just saying to me yesterday that we may pop over to China as they have some cheap flights fromThailand. I’m not sure what city we will visit (if we go) but I do know we will be doing it on a tight budget. What is the cost of accommodation in Beijing like? Is it expensive to go to the wall?
Hey Kelly China was relatively cheap, I remember there was cheaper accommodation than the hotel we stayed in Beijing less than £100 a night in some hotels. Entrance to the wall was only £8 each. Taxis are really cheap in Beijing. We hired a guide and driver for the day which was about £80 to take us to wall at Jinshanling, you can hire just the car with a driver, which in retrospect would have been cheaper.
Thanks for the information. I hope I get to use it!… I am now going to remind hubby what he said the other day. 😀
Your pictures bring back memories of my own trip a few years ago. The Chinese wall was much more crowded though 😉
I would love to visit some day – I’ve seen pictures of Jingshan in magazines and is one of the places I want check out for a glimpse into everyday Chinese life! Love that you explored the less-touristy part of the wall as well – I definitely would do the same! It must have been awesome travelling by a local train as well – what an experience! Great photos!
Love your adventure in Beijing. I also enjoyed my adventure and we visited some of the same places. What an amazing city minus the smog. Your photos and video are awesome and I was glad to revisit this awesome city through them. Thanks for sharing!
I know I keep saying it, but these photos!!! The shot into the Forbidden City is simply epic. Beijing seems like quite a monumental place to visit. China is somewhere that I’m keen to visit, but perhaps a little intimidated by. But this has definitely helped stir some renewed interest to go there.
Love all of your pictures as always. Not sure how I feel about visiting Beijing, China. but the wall would definitely be cool!
We visited Beijing three years ago and it’s lovely to read other people’s stories and, as per usual, your photos have made me envious and I want to return to re-capture some of the shots lol. We visited the Great Wall at Mutianyu and it looked pretty similair to Jinshanling, but sadly we were part of a tour so only had 1.5 hours here, I have, however, vowed to return as I would like to hike the wall and it’s wonderful to hear of your experience – may return here to do it! We loved how the Chinese wanted their photo taken with us as well, it does seem strange at first doesn’t it but when we embraced it, it’s kind of fun 🙂 Yet another wonderful read!