[texasaxel]

Hi! I'm going to be in Beijing for the four-day Easter week-end and would like to suck up your knowledge of the city so that it is not just my travel guide book that decides the itinerary. If you've got any advice on how to best do the trip to the Great Wall, that'll also be appreciated.

[KnowItAll]

Forbiden City -- do the walking tour with the audio player ....

Summer Palace ( http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sit...merpalace.html )

[Madshpr]

i went w/ a tour in '03 and it was great - just made sure my butt is on the coach by x:xx am !! if u want to see the Great Walls, might want to try a local tour (it's on the outskirts) as there are different sections of the Wall you can visit. i think the most visited is Ba Dai Ling; the Ming Tombs is nearby; Summer Palace is quite impressive; Tian Tan (The Temple of Heaven), etc. also, must go along Wang Fu Jiang at night time to see the food hawkers - you'll be delighted if you're into fried Starfish, scorpions, silkworms, centipedes, grasshoppers....mmmmm....just makes my mouth water thinking about it!!! (they also have 'normal' food in the stalls).

we also saw an acrobatic show at the Chaoyang theater (s'thg like that) w/ little 10-13yr olds flipping & sommersaulting on poles. didn't know the human body can twist & turn like that!

[Mariposita]

Walk around Tiananmen Square and you can go to the Mao Mausoleum to see Mao's preserved body near the Great Hall of people. You can also try to get up early enough to watch the raising of the flag in Tiananmen square - just ask your hotel for the hotline or they can call to tell you what time the flag raising ceremony will take place the next morning. A lot of people actually go and it's really nice to feel the serene ambiance of the morning and tiananmen square before the crowds start the day. After that you can get some breakfast (you'd find some authentic eateries around the area) and go check out the Forbidden city.

[Wee Kean]

Try to stay closer to Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City. We stayed at China World (Shangri-la) and we got up at 5am almost everyday to leave hotel at 6am to avoid traffic jam!

Try to go early! We were at Tiananmen Square at 6am for the flag ceremony and there were thousand of people there!!!!!!!! What we saw was PEOPLE!! At 6.30am, hundreds of people were queing up at Mao Mausoleum to get in for 1 minute!

We went to Forbidden City twice. Once we went at about 9am and it was packed with people that we can hardly moved. So, we ended up strolling at the side courtyards which were nice too. On the next day, we went back at 8am and managed to be in early and done the main bits. There is a Starbucks inside.

Don't forget to go to Tiananmen Square at night too.

We went to two greatwalls: Badaling and Simatai. We loved Simatai very very much!!! There is a Starbucks at Badaling too!

We went to watch a show at LaoSheTeaHouse. It was great for foreigners.

Summer Palace was pretty but we were very unlucky with the weather. The pollution was so bad that we couldn't see the island across!

We also had Peking ducks. We went to two restaurants, "QuanJuDe" and "XiaoWangFu". QuanJuDe is really famous but we like "XiaoWangFu" better because the duck meat at Q is very oily, too expensive, service was bad and too many people. XiaoWangFu's duck meat is tasty, less oily and, value for money.

Mongolian Hot Pot at "DongLaiSun" was ok.

"Li Jian Cai" private kitchen at Hudong is really really good! Highly recommend it for people who enjoy eating and would like to try some palace cuisine.

We took the trisaw at Hudong and regreted it!! Over charged, too dangerous and what we saw were some ugly dirty back lanes!!!!!!

We went to Temple of Heaven but unfortunately the main building was under renovation. I am not sure whether it is done now. We went in last Oct. The park itself is really nice.

We also went to Lamma Temple and Confucious Temple. I enjoyed both because I know about them and the history.

The "MRT/Underground" is quite ok. Cheaper and faster than taking taxi.

10 top things:

1) Great Wall
2) Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square
3) Peking Duck
3) Mao Mausoleum
4) Wang Fu Jing night market
5) Summer Palace
6) Temple of Heaven
7) Li Jia Cai private kitchen
8) Acrobatic show
9) Great Wall again if you have more time
10) Forbidden City again if you have more time

Have a good trip!

[claireabella]

Could anyone suggest how much a guide for a day is?
I have found someone but she wants me to make her an offer

thanks!

[dress]

i visited Beijing in January. I joined a english day tour to the Great Wall, the Ming Tomb and a Jade factory/shop including a chinese lunch. It was about HK$400+

[texasaxel]

Thanks for all the advice; I'm sooo excited, can't wait to go!