Absorb these Beijing Must Dos into your itinerary and we guarantee your experience will be at least 30% more authentic and joy filled.
1. Go to Jingshan Park at 6pm, or 10am on a Sunday
Sounds pretty specific, we know. But there’s a reason for it. The sun sets around 6.30pm and there’s no more inspiring place to be than The Pavilion of Everlasting Spring (the highest point on the park’s hill) as the sun goes down over the city and flocks of swifts and swallows flit around the pavilion’s eaves. Why 10am on a Sunday? Because that’s when the park is at its most festive: gangs of septuagenarians sing revolutionary songs with gusto, dance like nobody’s watching, and play all manor of Chinese instruments. Fun!
2. Stuff your face with ‘the best breakfast in the world’: aka the jianbing
Jean Georges dubbed this savoury, crispy crepe ‘the best breakfast in the world’ so we’re not going to argue. (We also like to trot out this quote whenever we hear people being snobby about street food). It truly is the breakfast of champions – fiendishly difficult to make, scarily easy to devour. Don’t just eat any jianbing either. Our fave? The lady who has a permanent stand opposite Mercante restaurant in the hutongs off Nanluoguxiang.
3. Do the easiest, most fun workout of your life
We’re not going to lie, we find CrossFit utterly terrifying. So the prospect of sedate exercise with some elderly folk seems rather appealing – especially when it doubles up as a delightful cultural experience. Sam in our Shanghai office came up with this one: ‘My favourite Beijing thing to do is a workout early morning on Houhai at that public gym where all the locals go swimming nearby. Play ping pong with them, get involved. It’s so great.’ We agree.
4. Walk along Beijing’s very own New York-style Highline
Sorry, what? Really? Where?! We don’t recall seeing people in ironic clothes downing cans of PBR and taking selfies on any sky bridge in this town, did we?
Alright, so it’s not quite the hipster cliché (or the lush garden walkway) that you think of in a New York context, but we reckon 798’s raised promenade easily has views to match. Located on the far-east side of the Mao-era factory complex, the dilapidated industrial landscape looks epic from up here, and you can see art galleries and Bauhaus roofs for miles. Grab a black coffee, take a camera and get a whole new perspective. You’ll be blown away we promise.
5. Get a Tour Guide for the Forbidden City
‘You would say that wouldn’t you?’ we hear you cry. Well yes. But then you have to give us credit, we feel so strongly about this that we started an entire company just so we could make sure it happened more often. What went on in Beijing’s Forbidden City over the last 600 years is truly incredible. Fascinating, scandalous, sometimes almost beyond belief. Would you know it if you walked through with an out-of-date-guidebook, a jarring audio guide or by reading those dullsville bronze plaques outside each hall? Nope. Would you finally understand how cool this historic gem is if you saw it with someone who has spent a large part of their life understanding it from every angle? We’ll let you be the judge of that.
6. Toboggan down the Great Wall of China
We don’t approve of the gentrification of the Great Wall, but hey, sadly, no one put us in charge so we’ve learned to live with it. And in the case of the toboggan at the Mutianyu section, to love it. It’s already pretty cool to say you’ve climbed the Great Wall of China, but nothing quite beats the thrill of descending 500m from top to bottom in 10 minutes flat through the lush, mountainous landscape.
7. Feast!
If you find yourself in the capital city of the country with one of the greatest food cultures on earth and you don’t do this, it’s a wasted trip my friend. For first timers we don’t think you can go wrong with Xiao Wang Fu, Siji Minfu or Country Kitchen. All three are clean, non-scary, and helmed by chefs who know what they’re doing. And all three do brilliant renditions of our favourite Chinese dishes – from Peking duck and kung pao prawns to dumplings. ‘Chi ba!’
8. Enjoy a drink you won’t find anywhere else in the world
When we’re not running tours or writing articles to keep you lot happy, we like to relax with a tipple, and Beijing is surprisingly creative in this field. Whether you’re into the finest craft beer (Great Leap), a baijiu tasting flight (Capital Spirits) or just want an expertly crafted cocktail in a cool spot (Mai, Tiki Bar, Infusion Room, Atmosphere) the choices are almost endless. Combine this with the fact that places generally close when the last person leaves and you’re onto a winner.
We’ve got lots more where this stuff came from. Need help planning an authentic, stress free China experience? Check out Bespoke’s services here, or get in touch at [email protected]