{"id":31181,"date":"2015-12-02T11:33:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-02T19:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heynadine.com\/?p=31181"},"modified":"2015-12-02T11:33:52","modified_gmt":"2015-12-02T19:33:52","slug":"top-10-things-to-do-in-beijing-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heynadine.com\/new\/top-10-things-to-do-in-beijing-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 Things To Do in Beijing, China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beijing holds a lot of fond memories for me as it’s one of the first places I traveled to back in 2010.<\/a>\u00a0 Therefore I was super thrilled that this fall I got to visit once again. So, having spent a collective 10 days exploring Beijing, I have put together\u00a0some of the Top Things to Do plus my recommendations on each.<\/p>\n

798 Art Zone<\/h2>\n

Call this the hipster paradise of Beijing. 798 is a grouping of\u00a0decommissioned military factory buildings that have been transformed into Art Galleries. They house dozens of unique, beautiful, odd and fascinating paintings, sculptures and many other means of artistic expression. Plus there are many coffee houses, shops and vegetarian restaurants! A very pleasant surprise and a wonderful place to visit, I highly recommend.<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/a>\"China-05\"<\/p>\n

\"China-02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-06\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-07\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-08\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-04\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Temple of Heaven<\/h2>\n

The royal altar where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties worshipped heaven. It’s also a large park with several temples, green space and great ancient architecture. Very easy to get to on the metro, photographs great and can take as little or as long as you want it to take.
\n\"Beijing-05\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-Beijing-10\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"China-Beijing-13\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hou Hai (Back Lakes)<\/h2>\n

Shops and restaurants galore. If you are looking for a great place to eat and shop outside of the main big box stores, come down to the lakes. Heck, you don’t even need to shop, you can just walk around the lake or take a boat. Very cool area that really lights up at night. Hip, fun, all around I really enjoyed Hou Hai.<\/p>\n

\"Beijing-03\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"Beijing-02\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

\"Beijing-01\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Prince Gong’s\u00a0Mansion<\/h2>\n

A 10 minute walk from\u00a0the lakes is Prince\u00a0Gong’s Mansion, second only to the Forbidden City. Not gonna lie, when I visited it was very busy so I didn’t get a huge chance to explore, but from what I did see it look pretty nice and since it’s right near the lakes you can do the two of them at the same time.<\/p>\n

\"China-10\"<\/p>\n

\"China-09\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Summer Palace<\/h2>\n

These are the royal gardens built in 1750 by Emperor Qianlong for his mothers birthday. If you ask most people in Beijing what their favour cultural and historical attraction is, they say Summer Palace. I second this choice and it’s also one of my favourites. Perched temples over looking the lake and the city of Beijing. From every angle it really is a stunning place to visit. You can be high up on the mountains, down around the lake, or even on the lake.<\/p>\n

\"China-Wall-22\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Summer<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Summer<\/a>
\n<\/a> \"Summer<\/a><\/p>\n

\"China-Wall-21\"<\/h2>\n

Wangfujing Street<\/h2>\n

The main shopping street and where you can find souvenirs, large electronics brand,\u00a0high end luxury goods, hotels and restaurants. This street has it all! Plus on one of the side streets is a night market and all the strange, “unique” foods you can think off. I’m talking about bugs here. So, if you need shopping done and can deal with a bit of a crowd, head on over.<\/p>\n

\"China-Wall-25\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Forbidden City\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Also know as the Palace Museum. This place is MASSIVE, it served as the Chinese Imperial Palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. Most of the palaces, temples, and large attractions that I visited in China are from either the Ming(1368\u20131644) <\/strong>or Qinq(1644\u20131912)<\/strong> Dynasty, as they where the most recent and most things have since stayed in tact.<\/p>\n

The Forbidden City contains over 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 rooms! Needless to say, I did NOT walk into every room. If you are up for a walk and major architecture, head over here.<\/p>\n

\"Forbidden<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Forbidden<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Forbidden<\/a><\/p>\n

Ming Tombs<\/h2>\n

Cemetery of the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty. It’s a little ways from Beijing, about 50km so it’s best to do it on a trip out of the city. I did it along with the Great Wall of China. \u00a0The site itself is pretty cool, you get to go underground and learn a lot about the Emperors so if you’re into history this is for you. If not, I’d probably skip it.<\/p>\n

\"Follow<\/p>\n

\"Ming<\/p>\n

\"Ming<\/p>\n

Olympic Park<\/h2>\n

Yes it is not the Olympics anymore, however, that is no reason NOT to visit the Olympic Park in Beijing; which is actually a huge city park. If you ARE an Olympics fan, there are of course two very famous landmarks, the Birdsnest Stadium and the National Aquatics Center. I really enjoyed the Olympic Park for the sole purpose of being a really nice park. If you’re looking for a less crowded, casual place to stroll definitely stop by for a visit.<\/p>\n

\"Beijing-04\"<\/p>\n

\"Beijing-03-2\"<\/p>\n

\"Beijing-02-2\"<\/p>\n

The Great Wall of China<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Establish in the 14th century the Great Wall of China is over 6000km long. Obviously, you cannot see it all. Not only that, many parts are still in ruin and have not been restored, as well as are not open to the public. When visiting Beijing you have to decide which section of the wall to visit. Luckily I have visited 4 different sections so here is my comparison. Note: Regardless of what section you do choose, you’ll still be amazed by the Great Wall cause well, it’s the Great Wall.<\/p>\n

Badaling<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The easiest section of the wall to get to from Beijing not to mention the closest. It’s also the most restored section and as you can thus imagine, it is also the most busiest. If you are looking for a solo photo of yourself on the great wall this is not where you are going to find it. I would only recommend if you are pressed for time in Beijing and you are just looking to check off the bucket list.<\/p>\n