Beijing - Day 1, 2 and 3

Depending on your time of arrival to Beijing, after you figured the way to your hotel/guest house and settled in, you should start your trip. If you arrived in the evening don’t start sightseeing, it’s better not to go asleep to early so you’ll adapt to your new environment and try exploring your surroundings, where can you eat, buy stuff, catch a cab/bus and change some money.  I always bother the reception agents in my hotel with these questions, they usually speak English, have to be nice to you and give you a free map.

Day 1 – The Forbidden City

Start point:   08:30 – arrive at Mao’s Mausoleum at Tian’an Men Square - see his casket raised from its refrigerated chamber.  It says everywhere to come early to beat the crowds. But it doesn’t say when (So try to ask at your hotel). This sounds kind of morbid but interesting.

B point:        Head north on Tian’an Men Square towards Chang’an Jie street, cross it and head to the building in front of you with Mao’s portrait on it – Tian’an Men. Climb and see views from the gallery.

C point:        Head again strait north towards the highlight of the day – The Forbidden City. From what I checked there’s entrance fees and guided tours. If that’s true I’d recommend checking out the guided tour only if it’s done by a live person and not some headphones.  Spend your day getting lost in this compound and taking lots of pics.

Lunch point:  You’ll probably eat a very late lunch or early dinner this day. From what I read there’s an excellent food court in the basement of the Oriental plaza mall. This sounds like a great way to end the first day, by eating and getting some shopping done at the same time.

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Day 2 – The Summer Palace

For our second day we’ll take a break from the center of the city and visit it’s green landscapes.

Beijing has more than a few parks, the one that seems really gorjess, is the Summer Palace. Best way to get there, I think, is by taxi, to the East Palace Gate (which is supposed to be the main entrance).

ETA by Taxi from center – 30 min (Point B).

This is a huge compound and will take you a few hours to explore, try to get here early, again 08:30 should be a smart choice.

Here’s from what I read, the best way to see and enjoy this park:

Start point: East palace gate -> walk along the Long corridor -> get to Longevity hill -> descend and continue towards the Marble boat -> cruise by boat to South lake island -> off the boat, cross the Seventeen arch bridge -> exit the park from same gate.

By the time you get back you probably worked up quite an appetite. I suggest exiting the park, catching a cab and going to Fragrant Hills Park (Xiang Shan). Why not see another amazing park that’s just 20 min away (Point C).

Before entering the east gate of the park, there should be a Sculpting in Time Café nearby, this is a famous café franchise in Beijing, it’s suppose to be really good. Get your lunch here and then enter the park, spend the rest of your day here until you had enough or it closes. Note that the park has admission fees witch not include fees to use the cable car.

Start point: Enter the east gate -> and go right to the Bright temple (Zhao Temple) -> near it you continue to the Glazed pagoda (Liuli) -> go north pass the bridge that runs through the Spectacles lakes -> get on the Cable car to the top of the hill -> walk down until arriving at the Fragrant hills hotel -> exit again through the east gate.

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Day 3 – Temple of Heaven

Yesterday we had quite a tiring day, as we basically tracked trough “Green Beijing”. So today we’ll try to take it easy.

We’ll start the morning (again early to avoid the crowds, say 08:30) walking around the Temple of Heaven. Best to enter the park through the East Gate (Point A).

This is supposed to be quite a big complex, but this time we’ll mainly focus on the main temple which is the Hall of Prayer. This place is from the Ming dynasty and known by being the place that the emperor would make sacrifices and pray at, also this is one of the most famous Chinese temples.

In the evening, around sunset go to Wanfujing street (Point B), to see and eat at the Night Market.

In-between, after leaving the temple and before going to the market take the day to explore the option of buying your first plane ticket out of Beijing (for the day after if possible). Try to find a flight to Louyang for your next destination.