Beijing Bike Tour

Compared with the rush and noisy daytime life, the night in Beijing is more quiet, charming and attractive. In the daytime, people everywhere look busy and fussy and it is crowded. It seems only when night comes, you can feel the actual side of peaceful and massive Beijing. If you have a free evening, cycling outside to feel Beijing city should be a good choice. You can relax and take some night scenery photos. Today we would like to introduce a bike tour to the worldwide known Olympic arena Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, the famous Hutongs of Yandai Xiejie and Nanluogu Xiang, as well as the National Grand Theater of China.

You can start from Tian’anmen Square, the biggest square in the world nowadays. There you can see the Monument of the People’s Heroes and Great Hall of the People around. Chang’an Avenue just lies in front of the Square and it separates Tian’anmen Square and Tian’anmen Rostrum. Chang’an Avenue is also well-known as the First Street in China. It is wide and easy for you to ride. Riding eastwards along Chang’an Avenue for half a mile, you will see the junction of Chang’an Avenue and the South section of Heyan Road (Nan He Yan Road). Turn left to ride along the Nan He Yan Road and move northwards. Go straight for half a mile or so, you will come to the North section of Heyan Road (Bei He Yan Road). There are stores and restaurants along the way. Moving forward, you will pass by the junction of Wu Si Road and Bei Heyan Road. After crossing the junction, you can see the road sign of Ke Guochang Hutong on the right side of Bei Heyan Road. Please turn right and ride into Ke Guochang Hutong, which is a very short Hutong. After getting through half of the Hutong, you will see the backstreet of Chinese Art Museum, which is vertical to the Ke Guochang Hutong. Please turn left and come to the backstreet of Chinese Art Museum. You can see the Inner Mongolia Hotel standing on the left side of the backstreet. Move on along the backstreet, you will ride to Jiao Daokou Road. Continuously riding towards the same direction, you will get to the inner An Ding Men road. Along this road, you pass by the commercial buildings, residence houses, restaurants, stores and banks.

On the way, you will also see the sign of Imperial Academy standing by the right side of the road. Finally, you will meet a busy crossover, keep your original direction and ride to An Ding Men Wai road. Keep riding until you reach the cross of Bei San Huan (the third ring road of the city), you will then come to An Ding Road. Ride across An Hui Bridge, you will get to An Yuan Road at last, which is upright against An Ding Road, turn left and ride around the Olympic Center. Turn right to Bei Chen Road. After passing the Bei Si Huan (the fourth ring road of the city), you will see the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube just in front of you.

Most travelers coming here will not miss the chance to take photos of the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube. As the Olympic Arena, their special appearance has added marvelous scenery line at that area. Looking like two friendly friends standing together, the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube will make you recall the cheering and bright moment created by those Olympic athletes in 2008. You can walk and relax for a while. The evening sky makes these two constructions look amazing in the lights.

After having a short stay, you can set off again and ride along the Bei Chen Road, which lies in between the Water cube and Bird’s Nest. Ride back towards south, you will enter Gu Lou Wai Avenue after crossing one land bridge. Continue to move until you get to Bei Er Huan (the second ring road of Beijing), turn left and ride till you arrive at the junction of Bei Er Huan and the Old Drum Tower Avenue (Jiu Gu Lou Avenue). Turn right to ride along the Old Drum Tower Avenue, and you will finally come to the western section of Drum Tower Avenue. Now you will see the renowned Drum Tower standing in the east. It is a relatively live district. Heading to the direction of tower, you will find the way in front of the Drum Tower, which is named Di An Men Wai Road. Riding along this road for a short while, you will see the Yandai Xiejie (Skewed Tobacco Pouch Street) on the right side..

Yandai Xiejie Street connects the Drum Tower and Shichahai entertaining area. It is just less than 0.2 miles long, but it is really worthy of your visiting in Houhai area, which is the second part of Shichahai. There used to be many smoking pipe stores on Yadai Xiejie in the Qing Dynasty. People even say that the street itself looks like a smoking pipe, so it is named Skewed Tobacco Pouch Street. It is the most prosperous commercial street in Houhai area. There are various stores standing along the street. Most of them sell article goods, including Chinese traditional brede, woodcarving article, amazing kites, as well as paintings and antiques. The bars are also available, some of which are in modern style and others are traditional ones.

Nanluogu Xiang Lane is just 0.5 miles away from Yandai Xiejie Street. It is very easy for you to ride there. First, please return to Di An Men Wai Road and ride back northwards and turn right to ride to the east section of Drum Tower Road less than half a mile, you will find Nanluogu Xiang Lane is just on your right side. Beijing one of the oldest streets in Beijng city, Nanluogu Xiang Lane, also well known as Houhai nowadays, is famous for the bars. Walking along the street, you will be attracted by the novel bars. The houses along the street used to be the local residents’ living places, but they are decorated warmly and romantically by the bar owners. You can find almost 30 bars here. Some bars have interesting names, such as the Local Time and Plastered 8. If you have free time, you can spend a leisurely time here by tasting a cup of coffee.

Return to the east section of Drum Tower Avenue and ride eastwards till you arrive at An Ding Men Nei Avenue. Turn right and ride southwards along An Ding Men Nei Avenue, you will reach the backstreet of China Art Museum. You will ride along this road again. Turn left to Ke Guochang Hutong, ride for a few minutes and then turn right, you will be back to Bei He Yan Road. Continue to ride until you get to the east section of Chang An Avenue. Ride westwards to the west section of Chang’an Avenue.

After riding for a short while, you will find your last destination, the National Grand Theater of China. It is located in the west of Tiananmen Square. The egg-shaped appearance makes the Grand Theater stand obvious among the other constructions. It is surrounded by a manmade lake. This theater is designed by the famous designer Paul Andre, and it was completed in September, 2007. Its huge hemisphere appearance looks like an unidentified object from outer space and means the seed of life. Audience will enter the theater from the tunnel under the water, which is very special. In the evening, it is really a good and quiet place for you to cycle around and take some memorable pictures.