Beijing

Hi all, we are planning a pre cruise stay in Beijing. We want to do as much as possible ourselves. Staying for 4 days.

Any suggestions for what we can do ourselves, and the sights we need to take a tour to see. I assume we need to do this to see the Great Wall?

Anyone have experience. Of travelling with luggage on the bullet train to the cruise terminal.

Best buys, how to get from the airport to the hotel?

Cheers

From the airport to the hotel, taxi is the best. Just follow the signs for the taxi lineup and ignore touts. Have the name and address of your hotel in writing in Chinese as well as the phone number. Over 5,000 hotels in Beijing, you can't expect taxi drivers to know them all. Get the Chinese name and address from the hotel website (do not use Google translate).

To move around you can use the subway. It takes you everywhere except the Great Wall. Here is a good subway map: http://www.explorebj.com/subway/

For the Great Wall you need a driver (no guide). There are several drivers listed here: http://www.thebeijinger.com/classifieds/cars-drivers

The key places to see are the Temple of Heaven (early morning), Tian'Anmen square, Forbidden city, Jingshan park, Drum Tower area including Houhai and the other back lakes, Nanluguoxiang street, the Lama Temple, Qianmen street and adjacent Dashilar, Liulichang, the National Museum, Summer palace, take a random walk around the hutongs around the Drum tower or Qianmen.

Plenty of shopping, depends on what you want. For fakes you have the Pearl market (across from the Temple of Heaven) or Ya Xiu. On weekends you have a flea market at Panjiayuan. I think that a good buy is to get prescription glasses made. Usually same dayfor $20 to $100 depending on the frame.

Then, obviously, there is the food....

Many thanks for the info, will start my planning accordingly.

You can do everything except the Great Wall on your own. We walked or used the subway (which has English signs and is easy to use.)

Hi, what is the best way to see the Summer Palace? Says in the guide book subway then bus. How easy is it to get the bus? Better to get a taxi?

You take the subway then walk. No need to take a bus.

Go to Google maps and search Beijing. Once on the Beijing map search for Summer palace. You will see that there are two subway stops next to the park.

The best strategy is usually to enter via one entrance and exit by the other.

Loved the underground

...clean, organised and very cheap :)

Do you have any experience of the bullet train to the port?

We've taken the high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai. IIRC our first stop was the station you'd use to get to the cruise port. It will still be a decent taxi ride to the port from there.

There really isn't a lot of space for cruise luggage on the train. We were in Business class (which is higher than First class) and thankfully we were the only ones in our car with luggage. Even so we just had one 25" suitcase for the two of us.

We used China Highlights for our touring in China. They offer transfers from Beijing to the cruise port for $49. Even if you decide to do it on your own, there is info on their website: http://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/tianjin-port-beijing-trip/

One thing to be aware of regarding eating in China. China has a huge pollution problem. Not just the air pollution.

We did China on a Vantage tour and our tour manager warned us about eating just everywhere.

He said we should only eat at certified restaurants. The government certifies restaurants for tourists.

There is a huge problem with food being contaminated by chemicals, sewage and other terrible stuff. Our Chinese tour manager told us this.

We did the Summer palace, which is great, but it was full of people. My sense was that it was one of the few places were you really didn't need a guide.

We had a nice boat ride on the lake and then walked there the pavilions.

One thing to be aware of regarding eating in China. China has a huge pollution problem. Not just the air pollution.

We did China on a Vantage tour and our tour manager warned us about eating just everywhere.

 

He said we should only eat at certified restaurants. The government certifies restaurants for tourists.

There is a huge problem with food being contaminated by chemicals, sewage and other terrible stuff. Our Chinese tour manager told us this.

 

We did the Summer palace, which is great, but it was full of people. My sense was that it was one of the few places were you really didn't need a guide.

 

We had a nice boat ride on the lake and then walked there the pavilions.

We were in Beijing a couple of months ago and ate at many places, many run of the mill looking cafes etc just took the usual precautions of looking at the premises, etc and not eating too much raw foods like salads etc.

I think your tour guide was probably looking after him/herself in directing you to places where he/she got a commission.

I think your tour guide was probably looking after him/herself in directing you to places where he/she got a commission.

Yes!

We were in Beijing a couple of months ago and ate at many places, many run of the mill looking cafes etc just took the usual precautions of looking at the premises, etc and not eating too much raw foods like salads etc.

 

I think your tour guide was probably looking after him/herself in directing you to places where he/she got a commission.

I don't believe that. He never recommended specific restaurants. Most of our meals were included with the tour. We probably had, at most 7-8 meals not covered by the 21 day tour.

He was an excellent program manager that frequently went out of his way to take care of details that he was not required to undertake.

I have been on day tours where you are taken to a carpet or jewelry shop and the tour guide is likely to get a commission. Perhaps even a restaurant, but our out of pocket meals were when he was no where to be seen.

If you follow the news about China, it food contamination is a huge problem there.

OP: you can definitely get around Beijing on your own, by foot, cab, and subway. But you might want to consider a guide for several reasons (perhaps for part of your time): you'll maximize your time (since you won't have to figure out exactly how to get from place to place), you are likely to learn more, and it's pretty inexpensive (by American standards).

We spent several days in Beijing in 2011 (before a trip with Viking River Cruises). For part of that time, we hired Sunflower Li, whose name I believe I'd found here on CC. She was terrific, it was like seeing Beijing with a friend. We saw a good part of Beijing itself with her, and she organized a car and driver to take us to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. I've since recommended her to others, and they've had similarly good experiences.

In the event you might be interested, here's her web site:

http://www.sunflowertourschina.com/

Beijing is fascinating. Have a great trip!

I don't believe that. He never recommended specific restaurants. Most of our meals were included with the tour. We probably had, at most 7-8 meals not covered by the 21 day tour.

 

He was an excellent program manager that frequently went out of his way to take care of details that he was not required to undertake.

 

I have been on day tours where you are taken to a carpet or jewelry shop and the tour guide is likely to get a commission. Perhaps even a restaurant, but our out of pocket meals were when he was no where to be seen.

 

If you follow the news about China, it food contamination is a huge problem there.

I have been traveling and living in Beijing for 10 years. There is no such thing as a government certified restaurant for tourists.

I eat everywhere and have never been sick and neither did anybody who visited me. If one is too paranoid then you can't enjoy your trip, no matter where you go.

Is there a place to buy water, soda and wine in the Beijing cruise terminal?

The cruise terminal is a long way from Beijing (around 1 1/2 hours away) and is in the middle of nowhere.

We have been to Beijing twice over the last couple of years and stayed for 4 days each time. We had an awesome tour guide the first time (Qing) and we had such a good time we used her again the second time. She speaks fluent English and owns her own tour company and is very reasonably priced. She handled everything and we managed to see so much more with her than if we had gone it alone on the buses and subways.

I would consider looking into private tour guide charges, they handle everything.

Tripadvisor -

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/ShowUserReviews-g294212-d3680609-r149486912-Discover_Beijing_Tours_Beijing_One_day_Tours-Beijing.html

Here is Qing's website.

http://www.discoverbeijingtours.com/index.html