Beijing Sightseeing –
I recently went on a weekend trip to Beijing on American Airlines. The trip included travel on the 787 Dreamliner as well as exploring two hotels in the city.
The trip report will include the following posts:
Beijing Trip Report – Introduction
Beijing Trip Report – American Airlines Minneapolis to Dallas Fort Worth
Beijing Trip Report – American Admiral’s Club at DFW – D Club
Beijing Trip Report – American Airlines Dallas Fort Worth to Beijing
Beijing Trip Report – Grand Hyatt Beijing
Beijing Trip Report – Park Hyatt Beijing
Beijing Trip Report – Sightseeing in Beijing
Beijing Trip Report – Air China First Class Lounge in Beijing
Beijing Trip Report – BGS Lounge in Beijing
Beijing Trip Report – American Airlines Beijing to Dallas Fort Worth
Beijing Trip Report – American Admiral’s Club at DFW
Beijing Trip Report – American Airlines Dallas Fort Worth to Minneapolis
Beijing Trip Report – Sightseeing in Beijing
This was my second trip to Beijing. On my first trip I saw a lot of the major sights including the Great Wall. I decided for this trip I would try to check out a couple other areas including a temple as well as the Olympic area.
My sightseeing started out by taking the subway to Tiananmen Square.
The trains in Beijing go throughout the city and it is easy to get around because all the announcements and signs are in Chinese and English so it makes it easy to navigate. The trains are; however, always busy so keep that in mind. You will have to press into the trains and hold on as it is unlikely that you will find an open seat. The trains run frequently and they are cheap.
If you go this route make sure you buy a prepaid card so you can avoid having to buy multiple trip tickets. I loaded up with 30 RNB and it was perfect for the two day trip. The card cost 20 RNB so make sure you save it for your next trip to Beijing.
When I arrived at Tiananman Square station I found a large line waiting to go through the security check point. China has these checkpoints setup at all the major sights in the city.
After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, I went through security and led out into the Square area.
The area had people around trying to talk to me. It appeared that they were trying to be a tour guide. I ignored them and kept walking.
I took a few pictures along the way.
The square is massive and it has an interesting feeling walking around it.
By one area, there was a march of military members participating in some sort of activity.
I went through the gates into the Forbidden City.
After walking around for a few minutes in the Forbidden City, I made my way through a park on my way back to the train station.
While the square and the Forbidden City were busy with crowds, the park had very few people around and it was peaceful walking though.
I enjoyed my experience in the park. Once I departed, I did a little shopping in some of the small stores near the train station before making my way to a Temple.
The Temple was accessed via a walking path.
Upon arrival at the Temple, I approached the ticket area and paid 25 RNB for admission.
The Temple had several gates over the entrances to the temple.
Once I entered the Temple, I walked around the multiple areas.
There were praying stations outside of every building.
In addition, inside each building there were statues of various God’s and an area for prayer in front of them.
There were several places where you you could buy incense to burn while you prayed.
It was a peaceful area and I enjoyed walking around to the various buildings.
At each building a shrine was setup in addition to the prayer area. Some of the other visitors left tributes to the God’s at each of the stations.
I spent time checking out each building.
The Temple was my favorite place that I visited during the trip.
After leaving the temple, I made my way back to the subway and headed over to the Olympic Area.
The Olympic Area is a little ways out of the city so the train ride took approximately 45 minutes and I had to change trains one or two times. The connections were easy though and the signs were clear.
When I arrived at the Olympic Stadium station, I found another security check point.
Once I cleared the security I exited into a very large open area. To one side was the stadium itself which is massive. On the other side was some of the other stadiums including where the swimming competitions were located.
To the far side was a large modern building.
The area was open and it offered a great chance to walk around and experience all of the areas.
The stadium itself has a unique exterior facade that looks like a birds nest. I remember it from the Olympics years ago, but watching it on TV did not do justice to the experience of standing in front of it.
There were various tour options in the area; however, I just spent my time walking around.
Once I approached where the stadium was located, there was a large statue that indicated that Beijing was planning to host the Olympics again in the future in 2022. The previous Olympics were in the Summer. This one will be the Winter Olympics.
I continued walking around and saw some of the different statues and other buildings.
I enjoyed walking around the area.
When I was done with exploring that area, I headed back to the train to make my way back to my hotel.
Overall it was a fun day walking around and checking out the city. I enjoyed being up close to the Olympic stadium . The Temple was amazing. It was such a fun experience getting to check that out.
Have you visited Beijing? What were your favorite things to see?