Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TheareawestoftheForbiddenCityisrarelyvisitedbyWesterntourists,partlybecause
Beijing's best restaurants and places to stay lie elsewhere. However, there's enough
tucked away here to entertain the curious for a few days: look around and you'll find
a number of wonderful temples, a top-class museum and a pair of appealing parks, as
well as the city's principal zoo and aquarium. There's quirky architecture aplenty here
too,witharealmishmashofstyles:postmodernwhimsyandStalinistbrutalismsitside
by side, amid swaths of traditional
hutongs
. The area's principal sights come in three
main bands, each of which can, if you get your skates on, be eaten up in a single day;
the northernmost can also be combined with a boat trip to the
Summer Palace
.
The first band of sights lies on the main road west from Tian'anmen; before long you'll be
outside the superb
Capital Museum
, a visit to which can be combined with a trip south to
BaiyunGuan
, a pleasant Taoist temple that seems worlds away from its earthy surroundings.
West of the Capital Museum is the old-school, gung-ho
Military Museum
; bank north here
and you'll find the
World Art Museum
and
Yuyuantan Park
.
The second main batch of sights lies one block to the north, between Xisi and Fuchengmen
subway stations. Here lie the
Guangji and Baita temples
, as well as a museum dedicated
to
Lu Xun
, China's most famous writer. The third band of sights lies north again, stretching
west of Xizhimen station. The architecturally fascinating
BeijingExhibitionHall
marks the
eastern perimeter of the city
zoo
, which itself borders the absorbing
Wuta Temple
. West
again is another temple,
Wanshou
, which sits next to charming
Zizhuyuan Park
.
