Beijing Self-guided Tour

 
Take train from Beijing to Zhangjiakou City first, and train is K 613 1014/ 1330, or 4447 1418/1759, the soft seat train ticket charge is CNY17.00, and the soft seat train is CNY28.00 net. If the time schedule is not suitable for you, please check in the internet to get more train schedules since there are many trains available intraday. Upon arrival at Zhangjiakou, you may find a hotel to leave your luggage and wander around to taste the local flavor.

 
The tour starts from the second day's morning with taking bus No. 16 from City Exhibition Hall to Dajingmen scenic spot area. Dajingmen is a brick archway with more than 350 years' history. It is also one of the four important passes of Great Wall in China's history. Dajingmen used to be the north gate for guarding Beijing, and it was also the commercial center for Han, Meng, Zang and Hui minority people, some people even regarded Dajingmen area as the "Dry Port" in Qing Dynasty. After visiting this area, you may take bus NO. 16 to city center or, you may charter a taxi directly to Mt. Woyunshan, which is only 3.5 kilometers away from city center.

 
Mt. Woyunshan is a scenic spot area with natural and historical sites. Taoism built several temples on the mountain, and some emperors in Ming and Qing Dynasty also built a few temples and steles here. Shuimu Gong is just located at the foot of Mt. Woyunshan, it is a temple to fete and worship the goddess Shuimu, who controls all of the water resources, including rain, snow, etc in legend. It was said that this goddess passed Mt. Woyunshan one day, she was very thirsty but can not find any water, then she pointed at the stone, can you imagine? A miracle happened! The big stone was split and the sweet fountain came into being. The quality of water is still very good till today, it will be good for one's health if drink the water here for a long time. In Qing Dynasty, the leather business was very prosperous since after dunking in the water here, the leather all became glossy, the business men made big fortune due to this. The locals built the Shuimu Palace to memorize and thank this goodness. After visiting, you may back to the city center and stay overnight.

 
On the third day, go to visit the famous Jinlianchuan Grassland. You may take long-distance bus from Zhangjiakou bus station and get off at Guyuan County, then charter a car to Jinlianchuan Grassland. The best season to visit this grassland is in summer and autumn, when there are yellow flowers and many other kinds of unknown flowers all over the mountains and plains. Here, you also can visit the sites of imperial palaces of Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties. You may need stay overnight at the grassland and back to Zhangjiakou City the next day. We believe the night view of the grassland is also charming, and hope you can enjoy yourself.