Draft Beijing Itinerary
 

We are visiting Beijing as part of our Spring Break trip this year. There are 6 of us. Me, my DH, my FIL and our three sons (10,11,11). Everyone but me speaks Mandarin. My husband, FIL and I have all visited Beijing a number of times in the past. It our sons' first trip. They eat pretty much anything and so I welcome any restaurant suggestions. They LOVE dumplings, hot pot, noodles, seafood, etc. We are very comfortable taking public transportation. Thank you, in advance, for any feedback.

Day 1 - arrive late at night. Just go straight to our Hutong hotel in the Dongcheng District.

Day 2 - easy day. The adults will be experiencing jet lag although history would indicate the boys will not. Walk around hutung, maybe visit Black Lakes area and/or Lama Temple. Olympic sites at night? Boys travel with basketballs and gloves/baseballs so find a park or court where they can burn off some energy. Dinner along Wangfujing street?

Day 3 - have hired a driver to take us to Mutianyu this day. Not sure what to do afterwards. Maybe 798? Summer Palace (worry this is too much the same for the boys with the Forbidden CIty and they won't appreciate it). DaDong for dinner? Olympic sites this night?

Day 4 - Jingshang Park, TS/Mao Mausoleum, Forbidden City day. Dinner in Legion Quarter? Emperor Bar? One idea is to send boys back to hotel with their grandfather and my DH and I go out somewhere fun for dinner like Capital M.

Day 5 - Day before long and tiring so more low-key today also have overnight train to Xi'an this night so need to get to station around dinner time.. Drum and Bell Tower? Nanluoguxiang? Antiques/furniture market?

Sounds like some good ideas!

FWIW, I thought the Lama Temple very well worth visiting. I'm not sure there is anything much to do at the Olympic sites except to just see them; maybe others have recent experience with that. I enjoyed DaDong very much, but can't say whether it is currently as good as it was when I was there in 2010. Are you not planning to visit the Temple of Heaven? I thought it worthwhile not only for its temples, but also for its glimpses into the many ways Chinese people find to enjoy themselves. I'm not sure your family would enjoy it, but I thought the Ox Street Mosque and Fayuan Temple worth visiting, too.

Hope that helps!

Just returned from Beijing, I thought the Olympic stadium was very impressive at night. You can only walk around the outside. The 'bubble' swimming stadium is also next to
'bird nest'

> Boys travel with basketballs and gloves/baseballs so find a park or court where they can burn off some energy.

So, you're simply ignoring everything you've been told about the air pollution following your earlier query:

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...o-to-china.cfm

and you plan to have your vulnerable young children run around sucking in great lungfuls of pm2.5s while they 'burn off some energy'?

I've seen many international b'ball players at Beijing Language and Culture Institute on many courts. Open grassy areas too . I'm sure they would welcome more keen players. In fact, that part of town has many Koreans too, who also play baseball. Very little baseball among the chinese. Would recommend that area for interesting things to do. Exit WuDaoKou station on light rail. Walk to TsingHua or Peking Univ, even Yuanmingyuan park.

This time of year is the least troublesome per air pollution as the winds are often steady from the west to blow the foul air away. How come so many in your family speak mandarin? Makes life easy in Beijing or Taipai.

We really enjoyed the summer palace and do not think it is too similar to the forbidden city. Also, we considered the temple if heaven to be a highlight of our trip to Beijing. The kids should enjoy it. It's a huge park with Chinese people of all ages doing exercises, playing games and enjoying life. IMO this will be one of your highlights and a great place to spend the day as a family.

Just saw that people were still replying to this so thought I should chime in. We had a great trip to China. The pollution in Beijing was just as everyone said although we did have a few good days. The boys found plenty of places to play basketball...there are courts everywhere....and so that worked out well. Even dribbled their balls along the Great Wall!

We ended up not going to the Summer Palace. Just didn't make sense that day with the boys. Instead we went to 798 and had a wonderful afternoon wondering around all the galleries. The boys bought a shuttlecock and found a group of local young people with whom to play that shuttlecock kicking game (I am sure it has a name....).

Thank you everyone who provided advice. It was a great trip.

> (I am sure it has a name....).

Jianzi (Jiànzi) 毽子。