Guides - Insight Guides: Beijing City Guide (Insight City Guides)

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight CityGuide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to Beijing, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editors Choice categories of activities and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in Beijing. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, activities from culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Beijing are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Beijing. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Beijings Top 10 Attractions

From the Forbidden City to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Temple of Heaven, Beijing has no lack of magnificent sights. Here are 10 of the best.

Top Attraction 1

Imperial Palace Museum (Forbidden City) . One of the few remaining parts of the ancient capital and centre of the city. For more information, .

Fotolia

Top Attraction 2

The Back Lakes area . For all the neon-lit bar action, the few remaining hutong and locals outdoor activity makes the area around Houhai perhaps the most picturesque part of the city, particularly on summer evenings. For more information, .

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 3

Great Wall . Though Badaling is most popular with domestic tourists, the crowds make it less appealing to foreign visitors. Mutianyu is better. For more information, .

Lee Hin Mun/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 4

Tiananmen Square . This gigantic open space at the heart of the city is simply like nowhere else on earth. For more information, .

AWL Images

Top Attraction 5

National Stadium (Birds Nest Stadium) . Built for the 2008 Olympics, the latticework structure is an iconic design, and a superb albeit costly legacy of the sporting spectacular. For more information, .

Lee Hin Mun/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 6

New Summer Palace . Conceived on a grand scale, this is one of the most beautiful gardens in the world. For more information, .

Fotolia

Top Attraction 7

798 Art District . The creative centre of the capital, albeit with creeping commercialism. For more information, .

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 8

Beihai Park . Part of 2,000 years of landscape design in Beijing, Belhai is a wonderfully relaxing place to unwind. For more information, .

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 9

Lama Temple . Spin a prayer wheel at this venerable Tibetan place of worship. For more information, .

Ming Tang-Evans/Apa Publications

Top Attraction 10

Temple of Heaven . Dramatic ancient buildings set amid what is arguably the nicest park in the city. For more information, .

iStock

Editors Choice

Setting priorities, saving money, unique attractions here, at a glance, are our recommendations, plus some tips and tricks even the locals wont always know.

Tiananmen Gate, an iconic sight.

Lee Hin Mun/Apa Publications

Ancient Buildings

Tiananmen Gate . The iconic landmark from which Mao proclaimed the founding of the PRC, and which still features his portrait. For more information, .

White Dagoba . This large white Buddhist stupa in the midst of verdant Beihai Park has long been a city landmark. For more information, .

Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The iconic circular building at the centre of the Temple of Heaven complex. For more information, .