Trip Planning Advice (Beijing)

Hi All,

My fiance and I are planning to visit China next month (2 Mar - 12 Mar) and we are hoping someone might be able to assist us with our planning. We will be visiting Shanghai, Xian and Beijing.

Can you please have a look at our plans for Shanghai and let me know what you think? We enjoy sightseeing, local history, food, and are hoping to get the most out of this trip. If there are places you would recommend we visit that I have left out, please let us know. Or if you think that we have not got enough time OR too much time in a specific location etc., please let us know.

Oh, if you could recommend any restaurants (for breakfast, lunch or dinner), please let us know (Just a personal preference and no offence meant - please do not recommend any place that serves anything other than beef, pork, poultry, fish, vegan). Also if you can recommend a hotel, it would be great! Looking for a 3.5-4.5 star hotel comfort level and price range.

Day Start End Duration Activity

Wed 1520 1650 1.5hrs Flight (Xian - Beijing)

1900 2000 1hr Check-in Hotel

2000 2200 2hrs Local Area Walk %26amp; Dinner

Thurs 700 1030 3.5hrs Tiananmen Square (1)

1030 1700 6.5hrs Forbidden City (2)

1715 1830 1.25hrs Temple of Heaven

Fri Great Wall (Not sure where to go yet)

Ming Tombs

Sat Lama Temple

Shopping @ Liulichang

Ming City Wall

Summer Palace

Sun ***No Plans Yet***

We would also like to see the following places. Do you think there is enough time on the Sunday or can we fit some in on other days? If we can%26#39;t fit them all in, can you recommend which ones are MUST SEES?

Ancient Observatory

Underground city

Natural History Museum

Beihai Park

Hutongs

DongYue Temple

White Cloud Temple

Your assistance in this is greatly appreciated! :-)

Trip Planning Advice (Beijing)

I%26#39;m pretty sure that the Temple of Heaven closes at 18:00. (The park is open later, but the altars in the center close earlier.)

Since you will be in town on the weekend, you can go to the big market at Panjiayuan.

As far as the other things you list, I would visit the Hutongs--you can do this in the evening.

Beihai park is pretty good, but it is another Imperial park, so you may have had enough of that.

I like the observatory, but it is not a must see--a good thing to do if you find yourself on the subway and have some time, since it is at a subway stop.

If you go to Liulichang (not really essential) you can go to the Underground city when you are there.

I would not consider the Ming tombs or the Ming city wall must-see either.

Trip Planning Advice (Beijing)

As suggested, we will replace Ming City wall with Underground City and visit the Hutongs on Thursday night.

Thanks for the assist travellevret.

Any other input or suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Hi just looking at your Thursday arrangements for now. If you are planning on seeing the flag raising in Tiananmen you%26#39;ll need to be there earlier than 7am. Three and a half hours is a long time to spend around there unless you also go to see Mao in his Mausoleum. The last time I heard this was only open every other day but perhaps someone can advise on opening times. You have allowed a long time in the Fobidden city , i just hope there aren%26#39;t improvement works there at the time of your visit as you might want to cut this short. Fabulous place to wonder around though. 15 minutes to get from there to TianTan is not realistic especially as 5pm will be rush hour and you%26#39;ll need a taxi for that journey. Beihai park is just to the northwest of the forbidden city so consider this an option.

For hotels, definately check out Elong or Ctrip. All budgets catered for . If you need help with areas give us a buzz.. For restaurant listings check out www.thatsbj.com or www.cityweekend.com.cn which might help. Enjoy your trip.

Thanks johnniew.

That sounds great! That means I should be able to fit more in on that day :-)

For the record, the items I plan to cover in the square and in the forbidden city are as follows -

(1) Flag Raising Ceremony

Chairman Mao Mausoleum

Monument to the people%26#39;s heroes

Museums

(2) FORBIDDEN CITY

Gate of Heavenly Peace

Imperial City Museum

Worker%26#39;s Cultural Palace

Imperial Archives

Jingshan Park

I think the Tea House is a must,on Sunday you may meet a Chinese style Wedding.

Can you please tell me which teahouse you are referring to, and if possible its location (or the area it is in)?

I didn%26#39;t find anything that special about Temple of Heaven. Loved Lama Temple. Summer Palace is HUGE!!! It really is a long day and it is farther away from most sights but beautiful. Underground City was without a doubt a must see for me. (However, I spent so much time seeing similar sights that this was something ';different'; to check out). Also, I would really see some Hutongs - chances are they will be gone in a few years and it is so amazing to see these little closeknit communities right in the middle of this huge city.

Thanks JellyTwo and peonybeauty!

JellyTwo, does the summer palace take the whole day to visit? From what you said, I assume it will be a worthwhile trip ... just working out a way to fit it in too! :-)

Thanks for all the input so far! Really appreciate it.

You need at least half a day for the summer palace. It takes time just to get there, and it is enormous.

If the weather is good and you want to have time to explore everything that interests you, you might spend most of the day there.