Travel China and Beyond

Weekend Travel To the Mountains North of Beijing

Well, the Beijing summer is finally here. Last weekend the temperature in Beijing reached 36 degrees C - it is getting pretty hot. Our family decided that it was time to escape to the mountains northeast of Beijing. We had gone in that direction before, to visit the Great Wall at Mutianyu. This time we wanted to just go into the mountains, and since we knew that the area around Mutianyu was nice, we headed in that direction and planned to decide where to go next when we got to Mutianyu.

On Sunday morning, we headed north on Jing Shun Lu, (Jing Shun Road) in our trusty minivan. Sunday mornings are not a bad time to travel as most people have not left the city yet and Jing Shun Lu is relatively open. The first objective was to get to the town of Huairou. It is located about 80km from downtown Beijing, and about 45km from the area where we live in Shunyi. (Our location in Shunyi is near the International School of Beijing (ISB)). While you travel in the direction of Huairou along Jing Shun Lu, you will not see signs for Mutianyu - it is one of the problematic parts of driving in China - not much signage. So you pretty much need to know that first you need to get to Huairou. Once in Huairou, continue along Jing Shun Lu until you get close to a major roundabout. Just before that roundabout you will see the first sign for Mutianyu - or rather for the Great Wall at Mutianyu. You might also see a sign for the Red Snail Temple (Hong Luo Si). If you miss the Mutianyu sign but see the sign for Hong Luo Si, take that turn - the two are in the same direction.

Once you go around the roundabout, you will bear to the left (direction west /northwest) and will see more signs for Mutianyu. Soon after the roundabout, you will see the road for Hong Luo Si splitting in another direction from the road for Mutianyu. You of course will follow the latter.

Once you get close to the edge of Huairou, you will start getting into the mountains. The road will become very interesting and nice - large trees, lush vegetation - quite a different environment than most of the areas around Beijing.

After about another 15km we come across another split in the road - turning right gets you in the village of Mutianyu and of course gets you to the Great Wall at Mutianyu park. Head in that direction and you will see (after about 3-4km) many places to park. During this trip we just drove to Mutianyu, looked around for a few minutes, enjoyed the big trees and clear air, and headed back to the crossroad where we intended to try the other direction - to the Ming Tombs. We knew that the Ming Tombs were in the northwest part of Beijing, therefore relatively far from where we were, but decided to go for it anyway. We wanted to see the countryside.

This was a good choice. We started going through some really interesting villages and hills. All of a sudden (after 10km or so) we started getting into some really tight/narrow roads and lots of sharp hills. We kept going for quite a long time while going through some very different countryside. Alongside of the road there were many small restaurants and fish farms — you could actually do some fishing! There were small fish farms that have stocked pools with trout. Once you catch some fish, you can either take it home with you, or have it cooked right there.

While we were driving, we kept following the signs for Ming Tombs. Eventually, for some unknown reason, those signs changed or rather, the mention of Ming Tombs was not there anymore. So, we had to improvise. Eventually we figured out that we should continue heading west.

Eventually, we started following the signs for Chang Ping (that is a town that is part of the Beijing municipality). In the direction of Chang Ping you will probably run across signs for the Ming Tombs reservoir. You can take that detour and visit that area as well. It is essentially a sort of an amusement park - we did not stop there as it was very crowded. Instead we continued towards Chang Ping. Once you get to that town (if you are coming from the Ming Tombs Reservoir) you will hit a roundabout. At the roundabout if you take the right exit you will start going along a major shopping street (I think its name was Fu Xue Lu) and if you keep going along it eventually you will come to another roundabout (after 8km or so) at which you need to bear to the left and take the south exit from the roundabout which will in turn get you on the Badaling Expressway. From here you should be able to find your way back in the city.

What was interesting about our trip on Sunday? - Well, a number of things:

(1) We got to see some nice hills with lots of nice vegetation, clear air, and interesting countryside life
(2) We saw some places we would like to come back to and do some hiking or mountain biking
(3) We DID NOT get lost

So, if you are looking for a brief escape from the city, and some cool, peaceful space, you can follow our directions and enjoy the Beijing hill countryside.