Hostelworld Guide for Beijing The Essentials Climate

Getting There Beijing's four seasons are very distinctive and its
By plane: Beijing's airport is 27km from the city
centre.
Buses for the city depart from outside arrivals hall
No. 11 and go to five different destinations.
The Airport Express line of the Beijing Subway
connects the airport with the city centre. This
journey takes around 20 minutes.
climate is best described as 'continental monsoon'.
Winters are freezing, with temperatures regularly
falling below 0°C. Spring is one of the best seasons
to visit, as is autumn. It is then that crowds are
manageable and temperatures don't get out of
hand. In summer, however, attractions are thronged
and it can get quite humid.

By train: Travelling to Beijing by train, your journey

will end in the central Beijing Railway Station or
Beijing West Railway Station.

By bus: There are four major bus stations in

Beijing, but travelling by rail from within China is far
more convenient.

Getting Around

On foot: Some attractions are within walking Good to know...

distance of each other but you will definitely need to
China's economical, political and commercial centre is a big, brash, busy city. It is different to many other use some other mode of transport. Language: Putonghua (Mandarin)
Asian cities in that tourism doesn't overrun its heart and soul. It is far less commercialised than its Currency: Yuan (CNY)
counterparts and it seems that even at the city's best-known landmarks the number of locals outweighs By bicycle: Bicycles are a great way of getting Electricity: 220v/50Hv
the tourists. It is also a city steeped in history and has been the Chinese capital since 1421. around Beijing as roads are extremely Telephone Code: +86 (China), 010 (Beijing)
accommodating for those travelling by bike. Emergency Codes: Ambulance 120 / Fire 119 /
Police 110
Time Zone: GMT + 8
By subway: Beijing's subway network is a basic Central Post Office: Jianguomen Beijing
one although it is efficient and cheap. Main Tourist Office: 10 Dengshikou Xijie
There are currently 9 lines operating with this set to
steadily increase.
Embassies
In this Guide... Beijing facts USA: +86 (0)10 85313000
UK: +86 (0)10 51924000
Useful Information Population: Around 22 million people live in the Canada: +86 (0)10 51394000
After Dark bustling metropolis that is Beijing. Australia: +86 (0)10 51404111
Places to Eat South Africa: +86 (0)10 65320181
Top Attractions Area: The city of Beijing covers almost 17,000 Ireland: +86 (0)10 65322691
Budget Tips square kilometres. Germany: +86 (0)10 85329000
Where to Shop Spain: +86 (0)10 65323629
Name: Beijing is also known as Peking and is Italy: +86 (0)10 85327600
the capital of the People's Republic of China. New Zealand: +86 (0)10 85327000
France: +86 (0)10 85328080

Hostelworld Guide for Beijing www.hostelworld.com

Cheap Eats
Ajisen Noodle, LG Oriental Plaza, 1 Dongchan'an
Jie Something of a fast-food chain in Asia, it's still
hard to deny the fact that the noodles, side dishes
and everything else in Ajisen Noodle are delicious.
Prices are extremely reasonable, staff friendly and
it's impeccably clean. Enjoys a good location too,
only minutes from Tiananmen Square. Open daily
from 9.30am-10pm.
Not for the squeamish
Donghua Yeshi Night Market, Donganmen
Dajie The food at this nightly market may not be
to everyone's taste - picture cooked frog legs,
snake skin and other such niceties. Hawkers on
the stalls almost give themselves brain
haemorrhages as they try to offload their
specialities to the thousands of passers-by who
are thinking of testing the limits of their stomach.
Open daily from 4pm-10pm.
Quan Ju De, 32 Qianmen Dajie Gnashing your
gnashers into some crispy Peking Duck is as much a
part of a visit to Beijing as going to Tiananmen
Square. Open since 1864, this eatery is quite
touristy, but venture in for the famous dish and you'll
leave satisfied. Open daily from 11am-2pm,
4.30pm-9pm.
Gourmet St, LG Oriental Plaza, 1 Dongchan'an
Jie If you have a craving for something other than
Chinese food you may find it here. This is where
you'll find a Thai and a Japanese restaurant, while if
you want something a bit more western you'll be
able to grab a baguette for lunch on the go. Open
daily from 9.30am-10pm.
Street stalls Although not as evident in other Asian
capitals, Beijing is still overrun with street stalls
dishing out cheap and cheerful food. Most of these
are down the side streets in the neighbourhoods.
Choose from meats on a skewer to noodles.
Hostelworld Guide for Beijing
After Dark
Poachers, 43 Bei Sanlitun Lu Connected to a
hostel of the same name and one of the many bars
in Bejing's famous Sanlitun area, Poachers is
popular with ex-pats and backpackers alike.
Popular all week, Thusdays gather a large crowd
who flock for the live jazz band, while Friday and
Saturday nights are club nights. Open daily from
4pm-close.
Purple Vine Tea House, 2 Nanchang Jie Not all
after-dark establishments in the Chinese capital are
about drinking beer, shots or cocktails. This city has
numerous teahouses which remain open until the
early hours of the night. This one, located close to
the Forbidden City, is a small teahouse, perfect for
unwinding after a busy day. Open daily from 12
noon-2am.
Gay / Lesbian Beijing
Beijing's gay scene is largely underground.
While there aren't that many gay bars in the
city, the number of them is growing, as is the
amount of gay nights being promoted in bars.
Half and Half (15 Sanlitun Lu) is small, but one
of the city's most popular gay bars while
Destination (7 Gongtixilu) is one of the most
popular clubs on the gay scene. On Off Bar (5
Xingfuyicun Lu) also attracts a large gay crowd,
and has lesbian nights on Thursdays.
The Tree Bar, 43 Bei Sanlitun Nan Popular in
summer due to the outside terrace, and equally in
winter thanks to the cosy, red-brick interior, this is
one of Santilun's most popular bars. Run by a
Belgian, he has lots of his country's beers to choose
from. Open daily from 11am-2am.
Acrobat show at Chaoyang Theatre, 36
Dongsanhuan Beilu This famous show near the
Dongyue Temple involves some of the world's most
talented (and flexible) acrobats. In their
breathtaking shows they involve bicycles, tightropes
and spinning plates. That and balancing. Lots of
balancing. A good, cheap alternative night out when
in the Chinese capital. Shows nightly at 7.15pm;
admission prices vary.
Big Easy Bar, Chaoyang Park Road Those
looking for some live music in the Chinese captial
should look no further than the Big Easy Bar,
Beijing's very own blues bar. As popular for its food
as for its drink and music, live blues is staged
almost every night by musicians from both home
and abroad. Open daily from 4pm-2am.
Don't Miss
Tiananmen & Tiananmen Square, Tiananmen
Dong Built in 1420, Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly
Peace) is one of China's most iconic landmarks,
largely due to the portrait of Mao Zedong over the
main gate. Just south, Tiananmen Square is the
world's largest open-urban square and has
witnessed many key events in China's history.
Forbidden City, Tiananmen Dong Surrounded by a
7.9-metre wall, Beijing's Forbidden City played host
to China's Emperor and his family for almost 500
years, the last of which being Emperor Puyi in 1924.
Today it is one of the country's most visited
attractions due to the traditional Chinese architecture
and the Palace Museum.Open daily from
8.30am-5pm; admission Y60 to Palace Museum.
A great, great wall
The Great Wall of China Nothing can prepare
you for the first time your eyes set sight on The
Great Wall of China, one of the wonders of the
world. Famously visibile from space and
spanning approximately 6,000km, it was built to
protect China's northern borders. Some parts of
it have crumbled, but surrounding Beijing are
various parts that have been restored. For tour
info visit www.hostelworld.com/tours.
Temple of Heaven, Tian Tan Lu This 'temple
complex' is the largest of its kind in China and was
built between 1406 and 1420 when the Yongle
Emperor ruled. The most famous building in the
complex is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, a
building made entirely of wood and no nails. Open
daily from 8.30am-6pm; admission Y35.
Summer Palace, Haidan Originally built as a retreat
from the city for the imperial family, the Summer
Palace is where you will find enormous grounds to
walk through and Kunming Lake to boat on. Open
daily from 7am-5pm; admission Y30.
Mark Your Calendar
January/February - Chinese New Year
Sometimes referred to as 'Spring Festival', this is
the biggest event on Beijing's calendar.
Celebrations last four days and the best places to
witness them are in one of the city's temples.
February - Lantern Festival Marking the end of
the Spring Festival, people carry around red
lanterns for the day. Some have poems in them
while others are decorated with pictures.
April - Qingming Festival Also known as 'Pure
Brightness' or 'Tomb-Sweeping Day', people pay
respect to the deceased by cleaning around their
tombs.
May - Labour Day May 1st sees various types of
celebrations take place in parks and squares all
over Beijing. On the day, Tiananmen Square is
transformed into one giant flower bed.
May - MIDI Music Festival Held in Haidian Park,
this popular music festival features a number of
stages playing host to rock bands from China and
beyond. Stalls selling everything from shoes to CDs
are also part of the festival.
August - People's Liberation Army Day This
national day on August 1st commemorates what the
PLA did for its country. Once again, Tiananmen
Square is where most celebrations take place.
August - Ghost Festival Celebrated during the 7th
lunar month, this festival is held at a time of year
when it is thought that ghosts return to earth. In
order to appease these spirits, people leave
offerings and burn paper money.
September - Mid-Autumn Festival Falling exactly
seven months from the fifteenth day of the eighth
month of the lunar calendar, this event is regularly
referred to as 'Moon Festival' as friends and family
munch on moon cakes for the day.
October - National Day Commemorating the
anniversary of the founding of the People's
Republic by Mao Zedong in 1949, Tiananmen
Square is where the celebrations take place each
year on October 1st.
October - Double Ninth Festival Held on the ninth
day of the ninth month (hence the name), people
drink chrysanthemum wine and have
chrysanthemum cakes as it is believed food made
from the plant keeps evil spirits at bay.
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Neighbourhood Watch
Chaoyang East of downtown Beijing is Chaoyang,
Beijing's largest district. Largely residential, there is
still lots to see and do. The city's expanding CBD is
here, which is where the Olympic Park for the 2008
Olympic Games was built. Many of the country's
embassies are in the district, as is Dongyue Temple.
Most travellers though, make their way here to visit
Sanlitun, the Chinese capital's most vibrant area
after dark.
Xicheng Located just north west of central Beijing,
Xicheng is full of restaurants and shops, making it a
great place to watch locals go about their day to day
duties. Its main arteries are between (and include)
Xinijekou Nandajie and Xisi Nandajie, and are
peppered with retail outlets and, for some reason,
stores selling musical instruments.
A bit of heaven in Beijing
Chongwen South of Tiananmen Square, this is
a part of central Beijing that is visited mainly by
people going to the Temple of Heaven. Others
come here to shop thanks to Hongqiao Market
shopping mall and Panjiayuan Flea Market, as
well as relax in Longtan Park and take pedal
boats out on the lake of the same name.
Haidain Home to over two million inhabitants,
Haidian is Beijing's second largest district after
Chaoyang. It is full of attractions as Beijing's zoo,
aquarium and planetarium can all be found here,
along with the celebrated Summer Palace. Beijing
University is also here, resulting in many affordable
restaurants and lots of lively bars.
Dongcheng If there was one neighbourhood one
could classify as 'downtown' it would be Dongcheng
where Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City
are located. Home to the best surviving parts of the
old city, many temples are here too, most notably
Lama Temple on Yonghegong Dajie. It is also
popular with Beijing's big retailers.
Hostelworld Guide for Beijing
Retail Therapy
Panjiayuan Flea Market, Panjiayuan Lu Beijing's
best-known flea market, or 'dirt market' as it is more
commonly known, is one of the largest of its type in
Asia. The market space covers an area of over
45,000 square meters and in it are thousands of
stalls selling everything from clothes to pottery.
Open Sat & Sun from 6am-3pm.
Beijing's premier shopping street
Wangfujing Located just minutes from
Tiananmen Square, Wangfujing is a
pedestrianised street that doesn't have an
abundance of famous brands jumping out at you,
but it is still evidently the city's main shopping
street. Along with the obligatory camera shops,
Nike and Adidas both have stores here, while
the clothes stores trying to tempt you to treat
yourself aren't so familiar.
The Malls at Oriental Plaza, 1 Dongchang'an Jie
Beijing's best shopping centre is a dream come true
if you have some spare money to spend. Guys can
see what's hanging on the rails in Jack & Jones,
Boss, Esprit and the Levi's Store, while the ladies
will be more drawn to Mango, Kookai, and Vero
Moda. This mall is also home to the Sony
ExploraScience, the first Sony Science Museum in
Asia outside of Japan. Open daily from 10am-10pm.
Hongqiao Market, Hongqiao Lu Sometimes
referred to as 'Pearl Market', you'll find that many of
the stores here specialise in the cream gems. But
there's more to it than that - electronic goods,
cameras, sporting goods, bags and (copy) watches
can all be picked up too. Open daily from
8.30am-7pm.
Yashow Market, 58 Gongtibeilu Just south of
Sanlitun (Bar Street), this shopping mall is spread
out over five floors. Mainly specialising in clothes, on
the top floor you can buy electronic goods. Open
daily from 9.30am-8pm.
Budget Tips
Visit Beijing's galleries Dotted all over the Chinese
capital are a host of art galleries which impose no
admission charge. These include the Red Gate
Gallery which houses modern art, the Beijing East
Gallery and the Wan Fung Art Gallery which also
have contemporary Chinese paintings, and Kuaixue
Hall where the paintings decking the gallery's
numerous walls reflect life in Beijing.
Pay your respects at Beijing's temples While
entrance to them isn't entirely free, tickets for
Beijing's temples won't break the bank by any
means. The best-known is Lama Temple where you
will always encounter worshippers burning incense.
Others include Dongyue Temple which dates back to
the 14th century, and the Dazhong Temple which
houses a bell that weighs over 45 tonnes.
Relax in Beijing's parks As this is the capital of
China, things can get pretty hectic in Beijing no
matter what part of town you are in. When it begins
to get a bit much for you, take refuge in the city's
parks. Jingshan Park and Dongdan Park are the two
most central. Get to them early and you might see
locals practising tai chi.
Go to Beijing's museums Just like the city's
temples, Beijing's museums aren't free but the
admission charges are low. One of the most
impressive is the National History Museum and the
National Museum of China, which is conveniently
located on Tiananmen Square.
Fit in with the locals
Rent a bike for the day Figuring out Beijing's
bus network can prove to be quite difficult. And
while the underground is convenient, there are
still many places without stops. Because of this,
before you set off sightseeing for the day, invest
around Y100 in renting a bicycle for the day as
there is no doubt you will get your money's
worth. On top of that, you'll fit in with the locals!
A Day in Beijing...
Rent a bike for the day and cycle to
Tiananmen Square, the largest urban square
in the world. See hundreds pose for photos
and join in if you feel the urge.
Walk through the iconic Tiananmen before
reaching the Forbidden Palace. Marvel at the
ancient Chinese architecture before entering
the palace museum.
Go and grab some lunch. South of
Tiananmen Square is Quan Ju De, famous
for its crispy Peking Duck, while east is a
food court in the Malls at Oriental Plaza.
Take a stroll up Wangfujing. Lined each side
with stores and shopping centres, it is the
most famous shopping street in the Chinese
capital.
Jump back on your bike and cycle to Lama
Temple (below), one of the most beautiful
temples in Beijing. Watch as hundreds burn
incense as they worship.
Visit the Temple of Heaven. Cycle if you
have the energy, but if you don't lock the bike
up somewhere around Tiananmen Square
and take a cab.
Drop your bike off, then go and freshen up
before going out. You'll be sweating after all
that cycling!
Make your way to the Sanlitun area of
Beijing, the city's most vibrant area and full of
bars and restaurants. Try Peking Duck in
one of the restaurants if you haven't already.
Finish the night off bar hopping on Sanlitun
Lu, or 'Bar Street' as it's also (and aptly)
known. Some of them include 'Downtown',
'Lily', 'Café No. 44', 'Swing' and 'Milan Club'.
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