Beijing Hutong tour - worth it?
 

I understand that the typical tour is a rickshaw ride through some old alleyways.
has anyone taken this tour?
is it interesting?
any recommendations?
Thx

Those rickshaw guys, unlike Beijing's cabbies, will take you for your last kuai if they can.

There's no need to us them, anyway - just buy a good map with both Chinese characters and pinyin (Roman alphabet), take a walk around the Back Lakes and strike off into any likely-looking area you see. It's much easier than it may sound.

This method has the advantage that you can take your time and stop off for a snack or drink whenever you feel like it. And when you get sick of it you can just walk to the first sizeable street in any direction and hail a cab to take you to your hotel or wherever. Just make sure that you have your destination written somewhere in Chinese characters.

There are a couple of long posts about Hutong walks here - do a search.

we did it by foot and really enjoyed the time...

I've done it both ways. If you book the tour through one of the hotels you should be taken to a temple, the bell (or was it drum?) tower and Prince Gong's palace. You should go to Prince Gong's place anyway.

If you've never ridden in a rickshaw I suppose it might be worth it for that, but otherwise I found it much more fun to wander around on my own (map and guidebook in hand, of course!), stopping off for tea in one of the cafes on the lake.

Or you can compromise and do both - start with a short rickshaw ride and then spend a few hours strolling around. I think you'll enjoy the Hutongs more when you're walking.

Thanks for the advise, all.
I usually prefer to walk, too, but the "hutong tour" seems to be on every "must do" list.
I'm already breaking in a new pair of shoes.
Thx

I usually don't like the "touristy tours", but I liked the hutong tour on a pedicab that our guide arranged for a few of us. The young tour guide was very personable, we stopped at a hutong home and I was pleasantly surprised by the colorful occupant--a man that raises and trains crickets and is the proud daddy of a high profile chef. He was very entertaining and we spent about 30-45 minutes in his home. The ride around the area was most interesting, especialy with our guides extra information. The houses have been divided into smaller apartments and they share the courtyard.
We saw lots of guys walking around in pajamas. They lived in apartments without bathrooms, so they walk down the street to the large bathrooms. Young people don't want to live there, so you see lots of older people and they use the street as a gathering place.

Hi chiefie, I see that you have already asked Peter N-H for his hutong walking tour on this thread http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34865395.

I found the information to be very useful, and interesting as a comparison given all the construction that has ocurred since he last updated the file. IMO, it is fun to just wander around on your own - but a tour such as the one Aleta describes sounds great!

Check out the lounge called Bed and its sister Thai restaurant called Cafe Sambal, both of which are in the hutongs, near the Back Lakes and the drum and bell tower. It's a very cleaned up (dare I say gentrified) section of hutongs. Yummy food at Sambal! :)

Aleta... sounds like you enjoyed your tour. Do you have a card, or more info on the operator?

ggreen... thx for the leads. since we have time, we might take a tour to get a "taste", then walk at leisure on our own.

There are several other walking tours detailed... may follow one of those.

Thx

We go to Beijing alot on business and frankly it was very educational and fun to do the tours. We also walk a great deal, but I would say do it by rickshaw. You won't be able to do it in a few years, but the wall, temple of heaven will still be there.

We took the same tour as Aleta back in 2005, booked through the hotel. We're typically independent travelers plus, as Chinese-Americans who've visited our parents' old village houses, are normally skeptical of Chinese tours. That said, we really did enjoy the rickshaw Hutong tour and found it informative and fun.