5D4N Short Break in Beijing

A 5 days 4 nights short trip to Beijing as we managed to purchase Singapore Airlines promotion fares during last year’s NATAS fair.

November to March is generally considered to be off-peak season for travel to Beijing. Yes, our photos at the great wall may not look as stunning as in summer or autumn, but there is lesser crowd to contend with. In fact, we managed to get shots at Mutianyu Great Wall without people in the background.

A Quick Summary of Our Visit:

Day 1: Moring flight to Beijing. Arrived in Beijing in the afternoon and visited Qianmen Street (前门大街) in the evening.

Day 2: Forbidden City (故宫), Shichahai Scenic Area (什刹海).

Day 3: Mutianyu Great Wall of China(慕田峪长城).

Day 4: Yonghe Gong Lama Temple(雍和宫), Temple of Heaven (天坛), Qianmen Street (前门大街).

Day 5: Morning flight home.

Day 1:

Travelled to Beijing on SQ 802 at 8.45am, reaching Beijing Capital International Airport at around 2.50pm.

After clearing immigration and picking up our luggage, we headed directly to our accommodation for the next 4 nights.

Base – Wangfujing Serviced Apartment is located in Qianliang Hutong, within walking distance to 2 metro stations, local market, shops, eateries and supermarket. Since there were 3 of us, we took a 2 bedroom apartment, which is comfortably sized with 2 double beds, 2 bathrooms, a living room, dining table and kitchenette. Besides the prime location, I was also impressed with the level of cleanliness of the rooms and the extent of housekeeping done each day to keep the apartment clean. There’s a gym and coffee/tea making facilities in the basement and a dedicated room for online shopping deliveries pickup.

An evening out at Qianmen Street (前门大街) shopping and enjoyed dinner at Quanjude Qianmen shop(全聚德烤鸭前门店). Qianmen Street was a bustling commercial hub during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The original street was burnt down when the Eight Power Allied Forces attached Beijing and recently restored to its current condition. Shops and restaurants lined on both sides of the street.

There are about 10 Quanjude branches in Beijing with this restaurant being the oldest with a history of nearly 150 years.

Day 2:

We spent a morning at the Forbidden City (故宫). Before that, we had a local style breakfast.

We joined a small group tour for a 3-hour guided walk around the vast compound.

Sat down and rested our feet in a restaurant within Forbidden City and enjoyed their dessert.

After our Forbidden City tour, we visited Shichahai Scenic Area (什刹海). Shichahai is the largest and most complete historical district in Beijing. We did not spend much time here as many of the shops are selling similar stuff.

Day 3: 

Around Beijing, there are around 10 best sections of the Great Wall to visit. Among them, Badaling is the most famous and most visited. Mutianyu Great Wall of China(慕田峪长城) is the longest and the best fully restored section, with fewer visitors than the Badaling section.

We decided to go for the Mutianyu Great Wall and joined a bus tour to get to and from there. Mutianyu is an hour plus drive from our meeting place. We were then given 5 hours to explore the historical attraction before a bus ride back.

After a day’s work-out, we had dinner at an eatery near the apartment and some shopping at a supermarket (one of our fav activity overseas).

Day 4: 

Early morning, we visited a local market near the apartment for fresh fruits shopping. Strawberries are in season; juicy, sweet and plump strawberries selling for ¥12 to 15 per 500g. We bought baby tangerines too to bring home, and my kids love them. There are stalls selling meat, dried good, noodles and breakfast food too. A good place to get bargain breakfast with shaobing 烧饼 or chinese flatbread going for ¥1 each.

We then visited Yonghe Gong Lama Temple(雍和宫), which is a temple and monstery of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Visited Temple of Heaven (天坛) in the afternoon. Another of Beijing’s UNESCO world heritage site, this is the world’s largest building complex for offering sacrifice to heaven.

Went to Qianmen (前门) in late afternoon for a Michelin guide recommended bowl of Zhajiangmian at Fangzhuanchang 方砖厂.

It snowed that late afternoon for an hour plus. According to locals, the first snow this winter season. Felt so lucky to witness this.

Day 5:

Morning flight home on SQ811 at 9.25am. The return flight was from Beijing Daxing Airport, which is further away from the apartment at slightly less than an hour’s car ride.

The Airport’s directory

Our breakfast at McDonald’s. Instead of hash brown, we chose to have a youtiao instead.

The Trip Cost