The Great Wall

Helpful info: Admission fee: CNY 40 (Nov - Mar), CNY 45 (Apr - Oct) Opening hours: 06:40 - 18:30 Visit time: 2,30 hours Bus route: 919. Tourist Bus: 1 (at Front Gate), No2 (at Beijing Railway Station), Lateral No2 (at the West Gate of Beijing History Museum), No3 (at East Bridge), No4 (at Xizhi Gate or Beijing Zoo) Said to be the only man-made structure that can be seen from the moon and one of the 8 wonders of the world, the Great Wall is probably the best known of all the Chinese attractions. It runs through 5 provinces from Shanhaiguan Pass in the East to Jiayuguan Pass in the west along a length of 6,700 kilometres. It winds like a great dragon around deserts, grasslands and mountains and just outside...

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The Summer Palace

Helpful info: Admission fee: CNY 25 (Nov - Mar), CNY 35 (Apr - Oct) Opening hours: 07:00 - 17:00 (Nov - Mar), 06:30 - 18:00 (Apr - Oct) Visit time: 1:30 hours Bus route: 375, 394, 718, 732, 801, 808, 907 Constructed during the Jin Dynasty the Summer Palace is about 15 kilometres North of the city centre. Giving pleasure to the emperors and their families for countless dynasties it was given over to the public to enjoy after the revolution of 1911. Having twice been destroyed and reconstructed it consists mainly of Longevity Hill in the North and Kunming Lake to the South which takes up more than three quarters of the whole garden. We can divide the Summer Palace into 4 areas. These are the court area, the front...

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The Temple of Heaven

Helpful info: Admission fee: CNY 30 (Nov - Mar), CNY 35 (Apr - Oct) Opening hours: 06:00 - 20:00 Visit time: 1:30 hours Bus route: 6, 34, 35 Built in 1420 during the Ming dynasty the Temple of Heaven is bigger than the Forbidden City covering a massive 2,700,000 square acres. Lying about 6 km to the South in the Chongwen district the temple was used for making sacrifice to Heaven. The North area which represents Heaven is higher than the South area which symbolises Earth. In this way the emperors showed that Heaven is higher than Earth. Among the buildings not to be missed are the Circular Mound Altar, the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. Also the Palace of abstinence where during...

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TianAnMen Square

Helpful info: Admission fee: Square free, Tower CNY 60 (Apr -Oct) Opening hours: All day Visit time: 30 min. Bus route: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 As the largest square in any city of the world, Tiananmen Square is located at the centre of Beijing. Each day at dawn and again at dusk guards march in unison to the flagstaff, which is located at the central point of the North side, to raise or lower the national flag. This daily ritual is spectacular to witness and well worth the effort but you will need to get up early to attend the dawn ceremony to be able to get a good view because of the crowds. Towering over the centre of the square is the Monument to the People’s Heroes. Built in 1952 and made of granite it...

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The Forbidden City

With well over 9,900 rooms this is certainly the largest and most well preserved palace complex in the world. The palace was the administrative centre of China for more than 500 years and the emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties resided there. Surrounded by a 6 metre deep moat and a wall reaching 10 metres high, it is located in the centre of Beijing, North of Tiananmen square. The wall has a gate in each side : to the South there is the Meridian Gate which is so named from the Chinese emperors’ belief that they lived at the centre of the universe. To the North is the gate of the Divine Military Genius which is the largest of the four. Standing at 35.6 metres high it connected the imperial palace to the market area. The distance between the...

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