Beijing

In many ways a complete contradiction, Sanlitun is at once Beijing’s sleek international, cocktail drinking quarter; but also the city at its most tacky and far-too crowded. If you’re looking to shop, party or people-watch though, this is the place. Always buzzing, and with the most focused collection of Beijing’s best restaurants and bars, it’s where you’ll likely be spending your evenings.

Centered around the
ancient Drum and Bell towers, Gulou is Beijing’s ‘old town’. It’s where you’ll be going to see the city’s famous hutongs (old lanes), its independent boutiques and cafes. Where hipsters and cool kids exist side by side with the city’s hardened laobaixing (ordinary people). It’s also where the city’s loveliest secondary sights are located – from the Lama Temple to the lovely Guozijian Street and the lively Houhai Lake - at its best in the mornings.

Home to Tiananmen Square (the Communist Party’s power base) and the Forbidden City (the former imperial power base) – Beijing’s geographical center is the most politically and historically significant part of the entire country. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is ‘where it all happens’ in Beijing. Unsurprisingly, the closer you are to the beating heart of a controlling, one-party regime, the less likely you are to be kicking up your heels of an evening or spotting radical artwork in the streets. Instead it’s the domain of the state sanctioned, the five star and the sensible; of undercover police, awe-inducing buildings and serene imperial parks.

Like a different world, Beijing’s Central Business District is an ultra-modern bubble of air-conditioned, designer-clad calm perched at the east end of the city’s central Chang’an Avenue. This is the slick, ‘we mean business’ side of Beijing, where the multinationals have their headquarters and those with money buzz between the lightly perfumed shopping malls and 5-star hotel lobbies. There’s plenty of impressive architecture here too – Rem Koolhas’s quirky CCTV tower being the highlight.

Put simply, 798 is a self-contained, Mao-era munitions factory in the northeast corner of Beijing, with as much historic value as the Forbidden City and as much contemporary art clout as New York’s Meat Packing District. With its truly glorious industrial landscape, Communist Propaganda slogans and plethora of cool cafes and hip boutiques, this area is worth a mention in its own right. Not to be missed.