Summer Palace (Yiheyuan), Beijing (must see)
The Summer Palace, located in Beijing, is a sprawling complex comprising lakes, gardens, and palaces. Originally established as an imperial garden during the Qing dynasty, it encompasses notable features like Longevity Hill, Kunming Lake, and the Seventeen Hole Bridge. Spanning across an area of 2.9 square kilometers (1.1 square miles), a significant portion of this expanse is covered by water.
Rising about 60 meters (200 feet) in height, Longevity Hill hosts a series of meticulously arranged structures. The frontal section of the hill boasts grand halls and pavilions, creating a lavish ambiance. In contrast, the rear hill exudes tranquility and natural beauty. The central attraction, Kunming Lake, spreads over 2.2 square kilometers (540 acres) and is entirely man-made, utilizing excavated soil to shape Longevity Hill.
Influenced by the garden styles of southern China, the Summer Palace encompasses more than 3,000 distinct ancient Chinese buildings. This vast complex houses an impressive collection of over 40,000 historical relics representing various dynasties. Recognizing its significance, the Summer Palace was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in December 1998. UNESCO praised it as a "masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design," seamlessly blending natural elements like hills and water with artificial structures such as pavilions, temples, palaces, halls, and bridges, resulting in a harmonious and exceptionally aesthetically pleasing ensemble.
Tips:
There are many different ways to experience the palace: via boat, walking around the lake, or going up. Make sure you go all the way up because: 1. That's where the actual palace is. 2. You will enjoy a nice view of the lake and the full area from above. Going up and down will take you around 40min.
Note that the Tower of Buddhist Incense closes earlier than some of the other parts of the palace so make sure you get there in time to climb the hill and see it.
Consider eating at the restaurant on the lake but if you're a westerner or European make sure they don't swap menus from what the local Chinese receive.
Having a guide so you know what you are seeing and ending with a boat ride across the lake makes the adventure quite nice.
Rising about 60 meters (200 feet) in height, Longevity Hill hosts a series of meticulously arranged structures. The frontal section of the hill boasts grand halls and pavilions, creating a lavish ambiance. In contrast, the rear hill exudes tranquility and natural beauty. The central attraction, Kunming Lake, spreads over 2.2 square kilometers (540 acres) and is entirely man-made, utilizing excavated soil to shape Longevity Hill.
Influenced by the garden styles of southern China, the Summer Palace encompasses more than 3,000 distinct ancient Chinese buildings. This vast complex houses an impressive collection of over 40,000 historical relics representing various dynasties. Recognizing its significance, the Summer Palace was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in December 1998. UNESCO praised it as a "masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design," seamlessly blending natural elements like hills and water with artificial structures such as pavilions, temples, palaces, halls, and bridges, resulting in a harmonious and exceptionally aesthetically pleasing ensemble.
Tips:
There are many different ways to experience the palace: via boat, walking around the lake, or going up. Make sure you go all the way up because: 1. That's where the actual palace is. 2. You will enjoy a nice view of the lake and the full area from above. Going up and down will take you around 40min.
Note that the Tower of Buddhist Incense closes earlier than some of the other parts of the palace so make sure you get there in time to climb the hill and see it.
Consider eating at the restaurant on the lake but if you're a westerner or European make sure they don't swap menus from what the local Chinese receive.
Having a guide so you know what you are seeing and ending with a boat ride across the lake makes the adventure quite nice.
Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Beijing. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.
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Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) on Map
Sight Name: Summer Palace (Yiheyuan)
Sight Location: Beijing, China (See walking tours in Beijing)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Sight Location: Beijing, China (See walking tours in Beijing)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Walking Tours in Beijing, China
Create Your Own Walk in Beijing
Creating your own self-guided walk in Beijing is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Beijing's Historical Temples Tour II
The places of worship are some of the best links to the city's history. The unique churches, Buddhist and Taoist Temples, and beautiful Muslim Mosques all tell great tales of the history of Beijing. Despite that many of them have been partially or completely destroyed over the years either by wars or by the changes of political power, a good number of them still remain. You can visit a few... view more
Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.1 Km or 1.3 Miles
Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.1 Km or 1.3 Miles
Beijing City Center Walking Tour
A political, cultural, and economic center of China for the past eight centuries, Beijing is the newest of the country's Four Ancient Capitals.
The city boasts the grandest and best preserved imperial palaces, gardens and temples, including seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian, and parts of the Great Wall... view more
Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.7 Km or 2.3 Miles
The city boasts the grandest and best preserved imperial palaces, gardens and temples, including seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian, and parts of the Great Wall... view more
Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.7 Km or 2.3 Miles
Beijing's Historical Temples Tour I
Chinese temples are of unique beauty and have withstood many dynasties. However because the temples have always been connected to the imperial families, many of them were destroyed when the last dynasty ended in 1911. Nevertheless, a great number of beautiful temples with great history still stand in Beijing. Take this self-guided walking tour to discover a few famous temples in the northern part... view more
Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 0.9 Km or 0.6 Miles
Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 0.9 Km or 0.6 Miles
Olympic Park Walking Tour
The Olympic Park in Beijing was built for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2008. This modern complex represents a contemporary architectural approach as compared to the more traditional buildings that dominate the city. Among its signature items are the iconic Bird's Nest, otherwise known as the main Olympic stadium, and the beautiful Water Cube – the Aquatics Center for water sports.
... view more
Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 5.6 Km or 3.5 Miles
... view more
Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 5.6 Km or 3.5 Miles
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