Family trip to China

We are thinking of booking flights to Beijing at Easter and have an 11 yr old and 13yr old. Any comments on taking children to China would be helpful, plus where should we go as 2 weeks is too long in Beijing. Is it easy to book tours when you are there and any companies you would advise?

Thank you

Family trip to China

We were in Beijing 2 years ago for 10 days. Our children then were 11 and 8. They enjoyed the Forbidden City, Heavenly temple, Great Wall..... Flying kit in Tianmen Square was nice. Boating in Haihai was great. Seeing Panda in Beijing Zoo was ok. Highlight was the hike from Jinshanling to Simatai. Summer palace has great views as well.

2 wks may be a bit too long. You can book China internal flight throught Expedia. I would suggest Shanghai or Xian.

Family trip to China

Hello, my wife and I took our eleven year old to Beijing in summer 2006. We travelled independantly and stayed at the Swissotel, which wasn%26#39;t the cheapest but was definately worth paying a little extra for. Its got a good location close to the tube and is close to several ';parks';. Don%26#39;t expect to find plenty of places for the kids to run around as most of the parks are ornamental rather unlike here in the UK where you could have kicked a ball around.

The blue zoo is worth a visit for a couple of hours, its basically a Sea Life Centre but is good for a rainy morning or afternoon.

The science museum is worth a visit too, don%26#39;t miss the cadavers in the building to the right of the entrance.

The Chinese love children and yours will swamped by inquisitive chinese everywhere they go!

We did have trips to the Wall (don%26#39;t buy the T-Shirts, the print comes off in the wash!) and down to Xian to see the terrocotta army (do buy the small boxes of 5 to 6 warriors for less than a pound if you haggle), which is worth the visit.

It%26#39;s also worth trying to learn a bit of Mandarin before you go, try chinesepod.com, even if it%26#39;s just to ask the taxi driver if he has been busy! On that note the taxi%26#39;s are very cheap.

Eating out is extremely cheap and you often get much more than you could or want to eat.

By the end of the two weeks our son was becoming a little ';templed out';, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

2 weeks is too long for Beijing--you could spend some time in Shanghai and nearby cities (Hangzhou, Nanjing) or visit Xi%26#39;an.

I%26#39;m not great on advice for kids--there are not a lot of good child-oriented places in China. Places like the aquarium are okay, but not as good as you are likely to find in other countries. On the other hand, children often enjoy the palaces and gardens.

You can do things like rent paddle boats at the Summer Palace.

';That%26#39;s Beijing'; and ';City Weekend'; magazines list events and have a section for families/children. There used to be a regular puppet performance, for example.

My 14 yr old daughter and I went last Spring, some things we did that she enjoyed, (Beijing) Mao%26#39;s mausoleum in Tiananmen sq., the Forbidden City, ricksaw in the Hutongs, the Summer Palace and the Marble boat, the Marco Polo bridge with the different posts, walking up and down the food stalls at the Dong Hua Men Night Market to see the bugs and other crawly things (okay we did that a couple of times), the Underground city (cheesy but the kids enjoy it), spending the night on the great wall and then hiking the next day to the next village (from Jingshaling to Simatai, to find info on these forums just search for sleep great wall in Beijing, there%26#39;s quite a few who have done it). We also went to Xi%26#39;an for two days to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, rented bikes to ride around the city wall, climbed the stairs in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (nice city view). Headed to Chengdu and to the Panda Reserve (lots of babies born this year so you%26#39;d have a chance to see quite a few) and then spent a few days in Lhasa and while the Potala Palace is incredible, watching the monks debating at the Sera Monestary certainly rivals that.

Hi BundBnB

Does apartment rental make sense for a trip to Beijing that consists of five nights? If yes, where can I search to find the required information?

Thanks in advance

RLI

Dog drinking too much