Beijing - Must See?

ironclaw

Any recommendations for things to see in Beijing? I'll be there working, so weekends need to be filled with some sightseeing. Also, anywhere worth seeing a short train / flight away? Hong Kong etc?

sarkozy

The Forbidden City, obviously. On Tiananmen Square is also the new Chinese history museum, which I never got to see, and Mao's mausoleum. The areas around the drum towers are often nice. The Great Wall of China is day-trippable if you go to the Mutianyu section, or other reasonably close ones. Hong Kong is a long flight away. You could take a bullet train to Shanghai, but it's just another big city. Really, China, and Beijing, is so big, and 'towns' are really cities, that you should just do a small area really well on such a short trip (if you're only there a short time?).

I could give you much more information about Beijing if I could remember all the places I went to. Some lovely neighbourhoods with great places to eat and drink.

Speaking of which, the real delight is food, and you can do that by night, 7 days a week. Food is cheap, so do as they do and order a number of dishes (usually a veg dish, dumpling dish, two meat dishes, maybe a fish dish, and rice) and the plates will all come out as they're ready. Do ask where is a reputable place for proper Peking duck. And Beijing-style dumplings. 'Ghost Street' is one of the major hotspots for real, quality Chinese regional cooking. Just go to anywhere busy.

Challo

Pingyao is a lovely stone walled 'town' which is an overnight train away.

Be careful with visa though, you definitely need a re-entry one if you're planning on going to HK.

sarkozy

Unfortunately, we couldn't get to Pingyao. We ended up going to Xi'an (flew), then flew to Kunming, and then bussed it down to Dali and Lijiang before flying back to Beijing and home. In retrospect, we probably should have gone to Guelin, but live and learn ...