Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Longqing Gorge
龙庆峡
, lóngqìng xiá •
￥
40 • Tourist bus #8 (mid-April to mid-Oct and during the Ice Festival; 2hr 30min)
from the #328 bus terminus near Andingmen subway stop
North from Beijing there are vast swaths of new tree growth - the
GreatGreenWall
. Push-
ing on through the rugged landscape beyond reveals some areas of great natural beauty, most
notably
LongqingGorge
, a local recreation spot at the edge of a reservoir some 90km north-
west of the capital. This is known as the place to come for outdoor pursuits such as canoeing,
horseriding and rock climbing, all of which can be arranged when you arrive, for
￥
60-120.
The main attraction, though, is the
Ice Festival
held on the shore of the reservoir (late Jan
& Feb, sometimes into March), at which groups of sculptors compete to create the most im-
pressive ice sculpture. The enormous resulting carvings depict cartoon characters, dragons,
storks and figures from Chinese popular culture; with coloured lights inside for a gloriously
tacky psychedelic effect, they look great at night.
The Western Hills
西山
, xīshān
Like the
Summer Palace
, Beijing's
Western Hills
are somewhere to escape urban life for a
while, though they're more of a rugged experience. Thanks to their coolness at the height
of summer, the hills have long been favoured as a restful retreat by religious men and intel-
lectuals, as well as politicians in modern times - Mao lived here briefly, and the Politburo
assembles here in times of crisis.
The hills are divided into three parks, the nearest to the centre being the
BotanicalGardens
,
6.5km northwest of the Summer Palace. Two kilometres farther west,
Xiangshan
is the
largest and most impressive of the parks, but just as pretty is
Badachu
, its eight temples
strung out along a hillside 2.5km to the south of Xiangshan. You can explore two of the parks
in one day, but each deserves a day to itself. The hills take roughly an hour to reach on public
transport. Lastly, some way further west,
Fahai Temple
boasts some fantastic frescoes.
The Botanical Gardens
The
Botanical Gardens
, just over 5km west of the Summer Palace as the crow flies, feature
over two thousand varieties of trees and plants arranged in formal gardens (and usually la-
belled in English). They're at their prettiest in summer, though the terrain is flat and the land-
scaping is not as original as in the older parks. The impressive conservatory has desert and
tropical environments and a lot of fleshy foliage from Yunnan.
