Beijing trip with family! HELP

happiboi

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Hi, i will be taking scoot to Tianjin. Main objective is to explore Beijing. My parents are old and prefer to have less walking. Any places to recommend and for accommodation.
 

lcpteck

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Hi, i will be taking scoot to Tianjin. Main objective is to explore Beijing. My parents are old and prefer to have less walking. Any places to recommend and for accommodation.

Doubletree Beijing has overall good service and accommodations and prices are affordable for an international chain (Hilton). However to get anywhere you'll need to take a Taxi.

Hilton Wangfujing is close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city (walkable), however the property is expensive.

I took Scoot to Tianjin last month and used the airport bus to get to the high speed rail station and booked a first class seat to Beijing South train station then switched to a taxi to Doubletree Beijing. Heh, I should split up that previous sentence... I was there for a super short visit so didn't get to visit many places. Mostly hanging out at Wangfujing/Forbidden city area.
 
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Some-one

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Hi, i will be taking scoot to Tianjin. Main objective is to explore Beijing. My parents are old and prefer to have less walking. Any places to recommend and for accommodation.

First, you need to take a high speed train to Beijing. I think it is 1 hour if I am not wrong. For less walking, you might want to find a hotel near the train station for which the train reaches in Beijing.

Beijing is full of stairs. If you want less walking, I am not sure how many places you can go to. Summer Palace, Temple Heaven, Tian An Men Sq and the Great Wall is huge and a lot of walking is required. Unfortunately, these are the places of interest in Beijing. Personally, I love the Mutianyu Great Wall very much.

Beijing is extremely cold now and pollution is bad in the city. Take this into consideration when planning.
 
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lcpteck

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Yeah winters are pretty cold up there in the north. High speed rail between Tianjin and Beijing is about 30 mins.
 

butterbarter

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Hi, i will be taking scoot to Tianjin. Main objective is to explore Beijing. My parents are old and prefer to have less walking. Any places to recommend and for accommodation.

sorry dude, but Beijing is walk-city. Most of the attractions are huge and require alot of walking - Tian An Men (one of the largest public squares in the world ), Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Wang Fu Jing, etc.

Tian An Men is huge, but luckily its attractions are clustered on the North (Tian an men gate and the huge flag pole where they do the flag raising/lowering at dawn/dusk) and South Side (the awesome city gates, Mao's mausoleum). So you can minimize walking by visiting the 2 ends on different trips and getting the taxi to drop you as close to the ends as possible (taxi's are forbidden from stopping right at the Square itself).

I suggest breaking your visits into smaller chunks, in between rest stops and meal breaks. Break for lunch, tea, dinner to let your parents rest. Bring walking sticks if it helps. There are few, if any, places to sit inside these attractions, so you might consider bringing a small folding chair (those small portable aluminium+canvas types) if your parents need to sit during their walks.
 

happiboi

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Doubletree Beijing has overall good service and accommodations and prices are affordable for an international chain (Hilton). However to get anywhere you'll need to take a Taxi.

Hilton Wangfujing is close to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden city (walkable), however the property is expensive.

I took Scoot to Tianjin last month and used the airport bus to get to the high speed rail station and booked a first class seat to Beijing South train station then switched to a taxi to Doubletree Beijing. Heh, I should split up that previous sentence... I was there for a super short visit so didn't get to visit many places. Mostly hanging out at Wangfujing/Forbidden city area.

Thanks! how much u spend for the transport all the way from airport bus to high speed rail to taxi (hotel)?
 

happiboi

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sorry dude, but Beijing is walk-city. Most of the attractions are huge and require alot of walking - Tian An Men (one of the largest public squares in the world ), Summer Palace, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Wang Fu Jing, etc.

Tian An Men is huge, but luckily its attractions are clustered on the North (Tian an men gate and the huge flag pole where they do the flag raising/lowering at dawn/dusk) and South Side (the awesome city gates, Mao's mausoleum). So you can minimize walking by visiting the 2 ends on different trips and getting the taxi to drop you as close to the ends as possible (taxi's are forbidden from stopping right at the Square itself).

I suggest breaking your visits into smaller chunks, in between rest stops and meal breaks. Break for lunch, tea, dinner to let your parents rest. Bring walking sticks if it helps. There are few, if any, places to sit inside these attractions, so you might consider bringing a small folding chair (those small portable aluminium+canvas types) if your parents need to sit during their walks.

Thanks. Is taxi very expensive there? Probably most of our transport will be by taxi.
 

butterbarter

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Thanks. Is taxi very expensive there? Probably most of our transport will be by taxi.

No, they are quite cheap compared to Singapore. Can't quite remember the price, but should be 20-50 RMB (S$10 or less) for most trips around town.

Always, always take legal taxis. Do NOT take those all black taxis without the "Taxi" sign on top of the car. Even though they claim to be legal and even have a meter, they are fakes, their meters run super fast and will overcharge you by several times.
 
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dleodleo

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Hi, i will be taking scoot to Tianjin. Main objective is to explore Beijing. My parents are old and prefer to have less walking. Any places to recommend and for accommodation.

Hi,

Perhaps you may want to read these blogs which i have came across which i think may be useful to you.

9D8N Beijing Day 1 : Taste Of Asia, AirAsiaX, Tianjin Binhai Airport, High Speed Rail HSR, Xinghaiqi Holiday Hotel, La Mien, KFC, Nanluoguxiang, Salud | Life, Travel Tips, General Guides

wanhengkei: Free & Easy Travel to Beijing & Tianjin from 2nd to 7th June 2010
 

dilphinus

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Unless you are in the outskirts, no one in the right mind will take a taxi in Beijing. You will spend more time on the road, doesn't matter taxi is cheap.
 

butterbarter

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Unless you are in the outskirts, no one in the right mind will take a taxi in Beijing. You will spend more time on the road, doesn't matter taxi is cheap.

I disagree. I've been to Beijing several times and have taken both taxis and subway. The subways are crowded and the stations can be far apart (500-800m). That's fine if you're traveling alone or with a small, mobile group, but for someone with old parents (like TS), this can be a challenge, especially considering they would have walked a fair amount already, and will walk even more at their next destination.

Traffic can be bad but is usually not as bad as Manila or any Indian city, so I won't hesitate to get into a cab in Beijing. The only 2 dangers that I've personally encountered are:

1. Illegal taxis. Don't get onto unmarked taxis, even if they claim to use meters.
2. Reckless driving. Some drive like lunatics and seatbelts are non-existent (for some stupid reason, some drivers tuck the seatbelt buckles UNDER the seat, so you cannot buckle up). Ask the driver to slow down. Reckless driving got me into an taxi accident in Beijing on the way to the Summer Palace though I was unharmed.
 

Some-one

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how is beijing air condition
Pretty bad I would say. Chinese likes to smoke. Other than the pollution, there is a strong cigar smell in Beijing. The mobile toilets outside, you can smell the urine many metres away.
 

HighNoon

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I

1. Illegal taxis. Don't get onto unmarked taxis, even if they claim to use meters.
.

A friend mentioned that such illegal taxi are actually old taxi that are supposed to be scrapped, and somehow fall into 'criminal' hand.

This can be a concern.

===

Beijing doubletree is not near to any subway station, so travel by taxi is a must.

I was with a 8 days tour last September, spending 5 nights at this Hotel and another night in Chengde.

It is easy to get taxi to other part of Beijing, but if you stay up late, you may not be able to get taxi that uses the meter. (So I end paying double the fare getting me there.)

BTW the tour cost around $1100 (all in -- including "compulsory" option Tour.) and it hit all to tourist spot.
 

butterbarter

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Maybe some are, but the one that conned me was a brand new sleek black German car ( can't remember if it was Volkswagon or Audi). That should have tipped me off, but it had a meter so I thought "Why not?". Turned out to be a mistake.


A friend mentioned that such illegal taxi are actually old taxi that are supposed to be scrapped, and somehow fall into 'criminal' hand.

This can be a concern.

===

Beijing doubletree is not near to any subway station, so travel by taxi is a must.

I was with a 8 days tour last September, spending 5 nights at this Hotel and another night in Chengde.

It is easy to get taxi to other part of Beijing, but if you stay up late, you may not be able to get taxi that uses the meter. (So I end paying double the fare getting me there.)

BTW the tour cost around $1100 (all in -- including "compulsory" option Tour.) and it hit all to tourist spot.
 

kidsonboard

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I have stayed in Ascot Service apartment before with three kids, two elderly (both in early 70s) and a few of us adults. We hired a private van to take us around to the places we wanted to visit, so all the walking was mostly within the attractions themselves. An option you might want to consider?
 

GoToSea

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yes, true. large group better hire private drivers especially with elderly.

i was there a few days ago, taxi from airport to houhai area costs 100+ rmb, traffic was very bad on the outer ring. experience subway oso, I notice that beijing people are not so considerate, 4 out of 5 wont give up seats for elderly. even when the elderly stand in front of them and it was reserve seat somemore.
 

genie47

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Just got back from Beijing. On Sunday 27 Oct, the weather cleared up and it was amazingly clear. Blue skies and all!

Made the mistake of going to Tiananmen and tried going into the Forbidden City. Turned around and decided otherwise and took a train to Badaling.

I researched more. If the weather is really super clear with blue skies, get to the north of the Forbidden City to go up Jingshan gongyuan. Pay CNY2 to go up the highest point. You can see the wide expanse of the entire Forbidden City with the Beijing skyline. This I have planned for my next visit, weather permitting.
 

GoToSea

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u didnt go in forbidden city? we spent a whole day there. and when i came out from forbidden city, feel too tired to go to Jingshan.

I was there on 17 until 27 oct, and you are RIGHT, on 26 and 27 beijing had a really clear view.!! on 25 was super smoggy.

Note: this was taken from Hongqiao pearl market, u could probably see temple of heaven at the back.
15730400722_c1f31bab27_b.jpg
 
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