China / Beijing Area

[Big Well]

I have a mate going out to China (Beijing area) to work for a 12 month secondment period through his work starting in December. He has suggested that the boys could arrange a trip out some time to see him, although he will be working he could spend the weekend and evenings with us.

There are now only 2 of us giving this very serious consideration, but, never having been in the far east before I have a few questions for the Message Board Alan Wickers !! before putting holiday requests in at work and starting to dream up an itinerary.

Would you recommend it and is it suitable for a full 7 or 10 day trip or would you suggest a stopover in Bangkok, Phuket, Kuala Lumpur etc for a few nights as a better idea.

Is there an ideal time of year to go, been warned not to go at Chinese New Year as the whole country is in shutdown mode and it's difficult to get around or find anywhere open to eat.

What is the preferred routes and airlines, looking on Skyscanner there is not a great deal of difference in price and timescale between all the options available.

What are the MUST SEE things to do in the Beijing area.

Any other nuggets of information or help are always useful

[joe545]

I've actually been to all of the places you mention.

I'm normally a quick traveller in that I get bored of one place and move around a lot. Beijing, though, has a decent amount to see. The Great Wall is nearish, Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and quite a few nice temples. The underground is pretty easy to use. We spent 5 days there in total and also flew to Xian (Terracotta army) for 2 days.

Kuala Lumpur: Not much to see in my opinion. Petronas Towers and Batu Caves but after that ...

Phuket: Not really a place to go to for only a day or two. It's a beach/party place with excursions like diving etc. Relaxing rather than touristic.

Bangkok: Plenty to see. 3-4 days at least.

If I was you, and had only 7-10 days, I'd just go China and see Beijing and maybe Xian/Shanghai. Unless you find a good deal connecting via Bangkok etc then it's just not worth it.

[SteveMcD]

For a first ever trip to China, I would say that 7 - 10 days in Beijing would be too much and, as joe545 mentions, combining 5 or so days in Beijing with some time in Xian and also Shanghai would be more interesting.

Not been to Beijing for a couple of years, but things to do/see would be the Great Wall, the Forbidden city as well as Tiannamin Square and the various other attractions next to it (Mao mausoleum, Great Hall of the People etc). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Beijing_landmarks

Travel within China is much easier nowadays thanks to the High-Speed rail network.

As you mentioned, avoid the time around the Lunar New Year. The travel network gets overloaded with people travelling to and from their native towns/villages and in between the country more or less grinds to a halt. Next year it falls at the beginning of February.

[McTeeko]

We did the overnight sleeper train from Beijing to Xian, took 12 hours and was pretty cramped but a great experience.

As others have said above the main sights in Beijing can be done in 2/3 days. I felt it was heavily westernised with all the usual high street stores which spoilt it greatly for me.

Best bet would be to do Beijing then move on ??

[VASCO]

Joe545 is correct. Fly to Beijing via Amsterdam with KLM, stay a few days and then take the train down to Xi'an.

[Big Well]

Thanks guys all good info, what's the rough journey times by train / plane down to Shanghai and Xi'an.

[SteveMcD]

Thanks guys all good info, what's the rough journey times by train / plane down to Shanghai and Xi'an.

Plenty of information here at Seat61:- http://www.seat61.com/China.htm#.VioeymuQ7AM

Beijing => Xian or Shanghai is between 4½ and 5½ hours.

Xian => Shanghai is a sleeper job and is probably better to fly, ca 2 hrs.

[Al1978]

I'm just back from a year in Beijing. It's a better place in the summer than it is in winter. Feels a bit desolate in the winter. Plenty of restaurants open at Chinese NY and the amount of people missing from the city is a treat. I've been to 8 or 9 Chinese cities and Beijing's probably the least advanced in a lot of ways, but that's part of the appeal if you go there expecting that.

Highlight of our travels at the end was the Guilin to Yangshuo Li River cruise. Really stunning journey and Yangshuo is a cracking place to stay. http://www.china-mike.com/china-tourist-attractions/guilin-yangshuo/

[CraigieBrown]

Had a great time in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. I was there during Chinese New Year period and despite some things being closed, I would highly recommend a visit during that period (you often need to book places at Hogamanay... same thing). The fireworks are amazing - and go on all night for over a week. Might have to keep your head down from time to time as the health and safety aspects are not very safe!!!

Shanghai to Beijing is 1500Km - connected very well by train - 5 hours trip. Go for the first class though IMO. It is not that expensive - hot water available in every carriage so they can fill up their pot noodles - not joking!

Beijing is very polluted... lots to see, plenty of rip off scams. Trip to the Great Wall and Ming Tombs for the day with a cab should be under $100 including driver and guide - make sure they dont take you to shit places where people just want to sell you stuff. However, seriously lots to see in Beijing - Forbidden City, changing of the guard at Tian'namen Square (prepare to be scanned to be able to see that), Birds Nest visit, countless temples and parks, etc, etc etc. Taxis and driving is a waste of time as the roads dont really work - take the tube and it costs buttons.

Be careful what you eat - I had quite a few "that is NOT chicken" moments. A sea cucumber is quite an experience - like a spikey jobbie on a plate. Looks dreadful but quite tasty.

Summer is roasting and winter is very cold. Beijing was a lot minus in February time when I was there. This is not an issue if you bring the right clothes i.e. kilt, heavy sweater and other woollies!! Actually, wearing a kilt in China anywhere is a huge head turner for the Chinese. Seriously a laugh - you could even start charging people to take pictures of you and they will pay!!!

If you are looking at other visits, I would certainly say that you should spend the time IN China and not piss about in other places. It is going to cost you £100 for the visa and it is a right rigmarole. I ended up after the documents being returned twice (having paid for the additional special delivery costs just for the sodding things to come back) with very very minor issues raised about how I filled in the forms or the background of the pictures just saying sod it and going personally (at an additional cost!) to the rather unfriendly embassy in London (near Bank) and just sitting and waiting until they granted the visas. It cost more for a double entry visa (Hong Kong) which was also a sting in the tail as i should have spent more time in real China and not some fake place full of arrogant overpaid bankers!

If you have business class or lounge access (yes they stupidly upgraded us to first on one of the flights!!!!) the lounges before the flights are quite immense and honestly worth turning up early for... Talk about posh... got so much cracking stuff cooked right before me before various flights that couldn't eat or drink anything during the flights themselves.

China is certainly worth visiting. My only regret was spending 5 days in Hong Kong where I can go any time without the visa issues. I should have spent more time exploring places inside real China which would have been much more of a once in a lifetime experience.

Hope that helps.

Craigie