SIgnacio80

I'm planning a trip to Beijing in August 2011 for 4D/3N for a family of 5 with 3 kids in the 20's. I've been reading the forums and leaning towards independent travel versus guided tours. I just wanted to know how much the admission fees and related expenses on the main sites such us Forbiddin City, T Square, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Badaling Great Wall? Is there a Toboggan ride in Badaling too? I plan to stay in Jade Garden Hotel near Forbidden City so we can just walk to it. I'm trying to set my budget for the trip and any help anyone can offer me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

rkkwan

You can generally find the answers by just googling. Most around 40-45RMB. Tiananmen Square is just a public square - no admission fee, including the Mao Mausoleum.

ileen

You can get senior citizen and student discounts at most places. So have your identifications ready.

They sometimes have strange rules such as student discount is only for students in grade and high school and not for university students. But always check.

Different rules everywhere we went. Even for seniors some discounts start at 60 others at 65!

Most new guide books also list the admission tickets to popular sightseeing venues.

Good luck, enjoy your trip.

Violet_1125

Free for T Square,60yuan FC,30yuan Summer Palace,45 Great Wall,35 Temple of Heaven,25 Lama Temple,50 for toboggan.
student tickets,you have to show Chinese student`s ID.
no toboggan at Badaling.

rhkkmk

or an updated guide book will give that info

Iowa_Redhead

I thought all of the admission fees were pretty cheap compared to other places I'm used to traveling to. The audio guides ran the gamut from pretty good (FC) to horrible (Lama Temple).


As a side comment, if you have three kids in their 20's you might want to consider Mutianyu or Jinshanling instead of Badaling as Badaling is renovated to the point of being entirely redone and new. However, 3 nights is a very short time in Beijing and you may wish to spend less time at the Wall and so Badaling might be best as it's closest.

sylvia3

The astronomy instrument museum (near the Marriott City Wall; with ancient instruments on an old part of the city wall, including displays, indoor and outdoor, and a lovely little garden) was virtually deserted, and cost less than $2 US. Loved it!

ggreen

Definitely have your kids try their student IDs wherever you go: ours from a US college worked at places like the Temple of Heaven.

I would also recommend seeing the scale model of Beijing at the Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall, walking distance from Tienanmen Square. It fills an entire room and is continually updated. The city is so huge, this is a great way to get a sense of it all!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing...xhibition_Hall

As for Badaling: yes, we took a toboggan down. However, I would warn you that this is the *most crowded* part of the wall, since it's the closest to Beijing proper and also very popular with Chinese visitors. Along the wide stretches of the wall, this isn't a problem. But in areas where the path narrows such as around the towers near the entrance, it can get really packed in. And the roadway up to the entrance is also very crowded. If you have time to go and this is the only part of the wall you can get to, by all means do it! But if you can manage getting out to Mutianyu or Jinshanling/Simitai instead, you will have a lot more breathing room.

SIgnacio80

Thank you so much for all your recommendations. I would definitely consider Mutianyu Wall rather than Badaling. I will look into the astronomy instrument museum and Beijing Exhibition Hall as the kids would probably like it. It's the experience traveler like you that makes our lives as novice traveler easier. Greatly appreciate your help.