Lee

I will be spending four days in Tianjin and one in Beijing. Can anyone advise of good hotels in Tianjin, other than the Hyatt, and info about the medical facilities for Americans in Tianjin. Also how long and what kind of drive is it from Beijing to Tianjin

Baoguang

Hello, I am from Beijing and grew up in Tianjin. There are many nice hotels in Tianjin other than Hyatt, such as Crystal Palace, Hui-Bin-Yuan Guest House (beautiful Chinese architecture and located next to a lake/park), Kai-yue Hotel, Tianjin Hotel, et al. I will give you the phone numbers if I can find them. As for medical facilities, there are several hospitals affiliated with the Tianjin Medical University, where foreign visitors usually choose. Driving distance between Beijing and Tianjin is about 70 miles. With the highway system, it takes about an hour to get to the out skirt of the city and it may take another 40 minutes or an hour to get to your hotel due to heavy traffic within the city both in Beijing and Tianjin. The best way to travel between Beijing and Tianjin is by train--runs every hour from both cities from 6:00 am until 9:00 pm. It takes about 40 minutes (none-stop express train) to an hour (regular train with one or two stops) between Beijing and Tianjin. When you are in the city, you can take taxi, public transportation (subway, air-conditioned bus-not packed, or regular metro bus-usually packed), or rent a bike to get around. Hope this helps. Baoguang

Baoguang

Hello, I am from Beijing and grew up in Tianjin. There are many nice hotels in Tianjin other than Hyatt, such as Crystal Palace, Hui-Bin-Yuan Guest House (beautiful Chinese architecture and located next to a lake/park), Kaiyue Hotel, Tianjin Hotel, et al. I will give you the phone numbers if I can find them. As for medical facilities, there are several hospitals affiliated with the Tianjin Medical University, where foreign visitors usually choose. Driving distance between Beijing and Tianjin is about 70 miles. With the highway system, it takes about an hour to get to the out skirt of the city and it may take another 40 minutes or an hour to get to your hotel due to heavy traffic within the city both in Beijing and Tianjin. The best way to travel between Beijing and Tianjin is by train-runs every hour from both cities from 6:00 am until 9:00 pm. It takes about 40 minutes (none-stop express train) to an hour (regular train with one or two stops) between Beijing and Tianjin. When you are in the city, you can take taxi, public transportation (subway, air-conditioned bus-not packed, or regular metro bus-usually packed), or rent a bike to get around. Hope this helps. Baoguang

Lee

Thank you, Baoguang, for you information. We will be staying at the Astor Hotel in Tianjin. Have you ever heard of it? Also will I need to exchange money for the stay in China or do they take US Dollars. If I have to have China money, where do I get it. <BR> <BR>Thanks <BR>

Kay

There is an official exchange rate, so the rate you get at your hotel is the same as everywhere else. We found this to be convenient, only exchaning what we needed each day in Beijing.

Kay

There is an official exchange rate, so the rate you get at your hotel is the same as everywhere else. We found this to be convenient, only exchanging what we needed each day in Beijing.