Located in Zhangfang Village, Fangshan District, Zhangfang Ancient Battle Tunnel lies 80 kilometers (49.7 miles) from the city's center. The tunnel was discovered by chance in 1991, and is the only known underground military facility in Beijing. It was built during the reign of Emperor Song Zhenzong (968-1022), the third emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

The battle tunnel is 4 meters (13.1 feet) deep, 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) high and 2 meters (6.6 feet) wide. The full length of the great underground tunnel is 1,500 meters (1,640 yards); 400 meters (437.4 yards) of the tunnel have been restored. The layout and detailed arrangement of this military tunnel were surprisingly advanced for its era; the tunnel houses backrooms, weapon rooms and military headquarters. Usually backrooms were used for the soldiers to take cover in the case of a surprise attack. Weapon rooms (as the name indicates) were used to store the many varieties of weapons used in ancient China. The lamp-stands which are located on either side of the tunnel cast an air of mystery on this underground stronghold.

Like most of the ancient Chinese military tunnels, Zhangfang Ancient Battle Tunnel allowed warriors to attack and defend themselves with as much freedom as possible. In this sense it served as a magic weapon for almost 400 years until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Now the tunnel is an ideal place to visit and learn about Beijing's ancient military history.

Zhangfang Ancient Battle Tunnel not only depicts the advanced military affairs, politics, and architecture of ancient China, but also the traditional Chinese culture of loyalty and integrity. Archaeologists speculate that this battle tunnel was designed and built by General Yang Liulang, a famous general in the Song Dynasty. His entire family remains highly respected in China for the great sacrifice they made for the empire. After all the men of the family fought to the death in the battle, their beautiful and valiant widows picked up the weapons and followed, eventually falling to the very same fate. The Yang family stands for the most valued virtue of the traditional Chinese people - loyalty to the empire.

Bus no. 917 stops at Zhangfang station

Xu Beihong Museum lies in No.53 Xinjiekou Beidajie, Xicheng District. It is a monumental museum featuring the life, works and precious collections of Xu Beihong, the father of Chinese modern painting. Consisting of an introductory hall and seven exhibit halls, the museum exhibits more than 1,100 pieces of his excellent works, including Chinese traditional paintings, oil paintings, sketches and seals. Also on display are a large amount of his precious collections of famous painters, art books, rubbings of stone inscription, and pictures.

Xu Beihong (1895-1953) is an outstanding and prolific painter and influential art educator. He had worked as the first president of the Chinese Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the first chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association. After eight years' study in Europe, he returned to China, and devoted himself to painting and art education. Besides, he is an enthusiastic patriot; his works, with his deep affection for the motherland, greatly inspired the suffering Chinese people. When he passed away, his wife, the incumbent curator of the museum, Liao Jingwen contributed his precious works, famous collections and other important things to the country.

In the court of the museum stands a white jade bust of Xu Beihong. The introductory hall exhibits Xu Beihong's self-portraits. Three halls display Xu Beihong's splendid Chinese traditional paintings. One of the most famous is a painting of the legend of Jiufang Gao, a remarkable man able to judge the qualities of horses. On a monumental scale, this painting shows his deep indignation and strong desire for the country's bright future. The Foolish Old Man Removing Mountains painted in 1940 encouraged people to win the victory of wars. In addition, his paintings of horses enjoy high prestige; no matter galloping horse, standing horse, or cantering horse, racing horse; they were all portrayed with human feelings of happiness or sadness.

Two halls feature his distinctive oil paintings. The well-known Five Hundred Soldiers in the Field was in praise of the Chinese people's fortitude and character. The sketches, including portraits and scenery sketches are also on display in another two halls. The last hall shows pictures and photos of the master's life and career. Here, one can see the master's tools of painting, his last collection and an uncompleted works.

Line 2 to Jishuitan, and then walk to the museum.

Bus no. 22, 38, 47, 409, 626, 726, 810, 826 to Jishuitan south, then walk southwards for about 220 yards to the Xu Beihong Museum.

Covering an area of 5,436 acres, Kangxi Grassland is the largest prairie in Beijing, 9.3 miles to the west of Badaling Great Wall and 50 miles from Beijing downtown. Adjoining Guanting Lake to the west and Haituo Mountain to the north, the grassland is one of the best places to experience the exotic Mongolian lifestyle. In summer, it is cool and humid, which makes it a fine summer resort; while in winter, when it snows and the river is frozen, Kangxi turns into a white paradise, where visitors can go skating, fishing and sledding.

Kangxi grassland is flat and vast with abundant plant and animal resources. The best time to visit it is spring and summer, especially June to September. During that period of year, the green grass carpet is dotted with colorful flower clusters, such as cogon, clover, wild chrysanthemum and dandelion. Flocks of cattle and sheep are wandering on the meadows, some browsing around, while some lying down for a nap. Along the river shore, silver gulls, wild ducks, grey cranes, swans, rabbits, foxes and voles run freely. White Mongolian yurts are scattered around, which adds more charm.

Kangxi has the largest state-operated horse racecourse in China. There are superb horserace arena, professional horsemanship club, hunting ground and jeep race club inside. On the grassland, riding horses must be the most interesting activity for visitors in the day time. Under the azure sky, visitors can ride a horse to dash on the broad grassland, with soft breeze brushing cheeks; or wander slowly in the meadows, enjoying a good view of the sunset scene. If visitors are unable to ride a horse yet, no worry, there are also professional coaches to teach you patiently.

The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu is located in the former classrooms and other campus buildings of an old primary school and also offers outdoor seating in the courtyard as well as an intimate Great Wall view terrace. Guests are encouraged to sit down, relax, and savor the ambiance, service and food all day long. On Saturday evenings the candles are lit and you can enjoy a fine dining experience at the Great Wall. 

The la carte menu is mainly Western-themed with comfort dishes from around the world. The daily specials change with the seasons. The staff grows much of the produce and fruit. More than 80 percent of the ingredients come from the local area and 90 percent originate in China, including the superb Yunnan coffee. All the food is made from scratch using fresh ingredients, from the mayonnaise and tomato sauce to the brownies and ice cream. Before or after your meal you can visit Schoolhouse Art Glass to view original pieces of glass art and free live demonstrations.

The Schoolhouse operates a “school bus” every Saturday and Sunday, leaving the city at 9:30am and leaving Mutianyu at 4:30pm.  Seats must be reserved by 6pm on Thursday. 

Lingshan Mountain Scenic Area is located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) away from Beijing downtown. The main peak of it has an altitude of 2303 meters, being the highest peak around Beijing and renowned as “Beijing's Mount Everest”. Lingshan Mountain is adjacent to Longmen Forest Park in the west, connecting Longmen Ravine in the east. Therefore, the natural view of it is quite beautiful, featuring with magnificent mountain peaks, a large area of alpine meadow and a rich resource of animals and plants. 

With fantastic scenery of plateau and grassland, Lingshan Mountain is quite attractive. The vast alpine meadows covering the mountain peak looks like a green carpet. There are more than 800 varieties of plants and 825 acres of woods. With the increasing of the altitude of the mountain, the vegetations change from Siberian cold area plants to warm temperature zone vegetations. Wild rose, clove, azalea, birch and hazel can be seen here. Tourists can see all kinds of flowers in full bloom in May and June. Wreath goldenrods grow luxuriantly. And wild poppy, bright tropaeolum and lovely bristle grass cover the mountain slope. Here can also find various animals cohabiting harmoniously in the natural environment, such as foxes, flocks of berghaan, active squirrels, stirring hares, wild goats, etc..

The picturesque mountain offers heaven in sweltering summer, as well as an ideal ski resort in cold winter. In July and August, a special Tibetan folklore festival would be held to fully display Tibetan life. During the festival, visitors could enjoy the Tibetan-style dances and songs, campfires with Tibetan Bonfire Dance, and you can watch or take part in shooting races, wrestling, yak races and other sports. Tasting Tibetan food would be another enjoyable thing of the trip, including original sasanqua, milk tea, tsamba, barbecue and other Tibetan foods. You can shop Tibetan traditional craftworks as gifts for your friends and families, and precious medicine materials like aweto. Skiing would be a great experience for Lingshan mountain trip, but remember to keep warm. 

There is cableway available in the scenic area, which is 1548 meters long in total. It starts from the tourist center and takes about 25 minutes from the lower station to the upper station. The cable car offer convenience for those elder visitors or kids. 

There are three tourist hotels inside Lingshan Mountain Scenic Area, which can accommodate 1200 people for meal and 500 people for over night stay. Also, there are quite a few home inns around the mountain area. If you want to stay overnight to escape the bustling city life and have a breath of fresh air, you may stay one night here. 

Some historical gems are so well-hidden that you may have to sweet-talk your way into them. The Qianding liquor museum is one such treasure. The two-story tribute to 5,000 years of Chinese brewing and distilling is well worth a visit if you’re willing to hike around Guowang Hutong behind the Bell Tower looking lost enough for a local delivery guy to take pity on you and lead the way.

You’ll know you’ve arrived when you come across a building with massive brown distilling jars embedded in its walls, though you may have to barge your way into the neighboring house to find someone who’ll let you in. A warmer welcome awaits inside, however, where you’ll be treated to a complimentary shot of a fiery spirit as portraits of various ancient boozers stare blearily down at you.

With over 1,069 types of wine, Qianding Old Liquor Museum displays an impressive array of vintage wines; the oldest dates from the reign of the Qing emperor Kangxi, and 200 of them are impossible to find elsewhere. Musty glass bottles and porcelain pots are arranged by provenance among other curios, such as ornate jade figurines, 50-year-old cigarette packets and antique paintings of Chairman Mao.

Owned by Party official and wine collector Luo Qiang, the museum describes itself as “a collection of relics, great exhibition and increasing propaganda work” and indeed, there’s a lot more than wine on display. Antique furniture, calligraphy sets, screens and bicycles are strewn across the space in a charmingly chaotic fashion. There are other liquor museums in Beijing, but they tend to be pristine shrines to specific brands – you’ll find none as charmingly eccentric as this one.

 Bus no. 60, 82, 90, 107, and 635 stops at Gulou station.

Gubei Water Town is located in the Miyun County in Beijing, China. It is backed by one of the most beautiful and the most dangerous Great Wall section - Simatai, and is near to Yuanyang Lake reservoir. It is a rare ancient village with a combination of natural landscape of water, mountain in the suburb of Beijing. This village also boards Hebei Province. It enjoys convenient transportation. It takes about one and a half hour from Beijing Capital International Airport, about 45 minutes from the Miyun County or Chengde City by car. Gubei Water Town now is a popular resort near to Beijing. Attracted by its green waters and antique Northern China village architectures, many local people come and enjoy their weekends here, to enjoy the beautiful landscape and peaceful life around. 

The water town contains rrunning waters across the town and rows of old residential houses during the Republic of China. You may take a boat there and appreciate stories of the old town. The old town exerts a history of over a thousand years and everything looks impressive. It will show visitors another kind of beauty in extremely cold winter, when it snows. Most tourists who went to Wuzhen Water Town before would feel like that this village has a similar look with Wuzhen. 

This resort is rebuilt on the basis of three natural villages, well preserving the original mountain courtyard buildings in during Republic of China’s style. It covers a total area of 430,000 square meters, containing two five-star hotels, six small boutique hotel, more than 400 guest houses, restaurants and shops, more than 10 cultural experience areas, as well as many other improved supporting facilities.

There are many interesting things to do in and around the town. You may tour to the nearby Simatai Great Wall, which is one of most beautiful and popular Great Wall sections in China. Many beautiful views are awaiting your discovery while climbing the wall. The steps of the wall are dense and your legs might get sore from climbing, but when you get to see the wonderful scenery, you will feel that the trek is well worth it. If you are energetic, you may get up early to see the sunrise on the wall, to capture the first sunlight. The view of sunrise on the wall is quite attractive. 

Eight Great Temples, also known as Ba Da Chu Park or Badachu Park, is a complex of monasteries located on the outskirts of urban Beijing, at the foot of Beijing's Western Hills. It refers to the eight Buddhist temples and nunneries scattered across the Cuiwei, Pingpo, and Lushi hills in Shijingshan District, and so it got its names. The eight temples includes Changan Temple (means the temple of Eternal Peace), Lingguang Temple (means the temple of Divine Light), Sanshan Nunnery (means the nunnery of Three-hills), Dabei Temple (means the temple of Great Mercy), Longquan Nunnery (means the nunnery of Dragon Spring), Xiangjie Temple (means the temple of the Fragrant World), Baozhu Cave (means the cave of Precious Pearl) and Zhengguo Temple (means the temple of Thoroughly Transform). Among them, Changan Temple, Lingguang Temple, Dabei Temple, Xiangjie Temple and Zhengguo Temple were built under the order of emperors. The earliest temple was built in the late Sui Dynasty and has a history of hundreds of years. 

Visitors can stroll from one temple to another, enjoying the beautiful scenery and admiring the arbor and rare ancient trees. Some of these trees have been standing in this place for over six centuries, but their roots and branches are still strong and in good shape. When the autumn comes, the leaves turn red, which attracts crowds of visitors coming to climb the mountains. If you think climbing mountain is in manual labor, there is a cable car leading to the top of the hill. 

Bus no. 389, 958, 709, 972, 622, 347 stops at Badachu station.

White Cloud Temple is located in southwest of Beijing and directly behind the Broadcasting Building. It is one of "The Three Great Ancestral Courts" of the Complete Perfection School of Taoism, and its title is "The First Temple under Heaven". Also it is the largest Daoist architectural complex in Beijing and was the headquarters for the Dragon Gate sect.

Although historical records show that there were Daoist temples in Beijing during the Tang Dynasty, it was not until the early Yuan Dynasty that they came to be built on a large scale. The Yuan Emperor Shizu (Kublai Khan), whose reign lasted from 1260 to 1293, appointed a Daoist priest from Shandong province to the position of "National Teacher," which nominally put him in charge of all Chinese Daoist affairs. This priest's name was Qiu Chuji, who was commonly known as the Sage of Eternal Spring. While Qiu Chuji was in Beijing, he resided in the Temple of the Great Ultimate, which he expanded and renamed the Temple of Eternal Spring. From then on, it became the center of Daoism in northern China. It was not until the Zhengtong era of the Ming Dynasty that its current name was adopted.

Every year on the 19th day of the first lunar month a festival is held at the abbey in celebration of Qiu Chuji’s birthday. It was thought that Qiu would return to earth as an immortal on this day. The festival was first held during the Yuan Dynasty, but was suspended after the People's Republic was established in 1949. The temple was revived in the 1990s, and continues to be held to this day.

The extant temple was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty and exemplifies the Daoist architecture of the period. The complex is composed of multiple yards set out on a central axis. From front to back the structures are as follows: a memorial archway, the main gate, a pool, a bridge, the Hall of Officials of the Heavenly Censor and so forth.

In the center of the rear courtyard is the Hall of the Patriarch Qiu, devoted to the worship of Qiu Chuji, and behind this, the Hall of the Four Heavenly Emperors, the second story of which is the Hall of Three Purities. Here one can see the similarity between Daoist and Buddhist temple architectures, though the decorative details and paintings make use of specifically Daoist motifs such as “lingzhi” fungus, specifically Daoist immortals and cranes, and the Eight Diagrams.

The temple contains a stele with calligraphy by Emperor Qianlong recording in detail the history the history of the temple and the life of Qiu Chuji. And the arches at the front have detailed traditional images including two hidden monkeys. Visitors believe it is lucky to find and touch them.  At busy times, there is actually a line of people waiting to touch them, which takes the fun out of finding them too.

Bus 45, 80, 717, 319, 26 stops at Baiyunguan Station.

Bus no. 661, 623, 42, 691, 662, 46, 19, 390, 49 stops at Tianningsi Qiaobei Station, turn left to Baiyunguan Jie till you see it on the right side.

Located on Inner Fuchengmen Street, in the Xicheng District, it is one of the most famous Buddhist temples in China. It is now the headquarters of the Chinese Buddhism Association, and the center to conduct national Buddhist activities.

Originally built in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), additions were made to it by successive dynasties. The present was completed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the original structure having undergone three expansions, three fires, and three reconstructions. It now covers an area of 5.766 acres. The major structures are the main gate, the Heavenly King Hall, Mahavira Hall, Yuantong Hall (or Buddhisattva Hall) and Sutra Hall.

The Main Gate includes three arched doors, joined to each other by connecting walls. Each door is adorned with colored glazed eaves and accompanied by a stele. Passing through the gate, visitors will see the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, and will find themselves facing the middle Heavenly King Hall. Inside the Hall, the bronze statue of the Maitreya Buddha is sitting in the dominant place, guarded by the four Heavenly Kings. On the roof of the hall is a Wheel of Dharma, designed to suggest the infinite power of Buddha.

In the second courtyard is the Mahavira Hall. In front of the hall is a bronze vessel that was made in 1793, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). This fine vessel is 2 meters (6.56 feet) high, cast with the eight treasures of Buddhism -"the wheel, spiral shell, umbrella, canopy, flower, vase, fish, and knot". Inside the hall are statues of Buddha and 18 arhats (Buddhist practitioners said to have special powers). Across their backs is a painting by an artist of the Qing Dynasty. The painting, 5 meters (16.4 feet) high and 10 meters (32.8 feet) wide, is a great artwork, as the artist has painted it with his fingers rather than a brush pen.

The Yuantong Hall in the third courtyard is the residence of Buddhisattva.

The two-storied Sutra Hall of the fourth yard houses the collection of sutras and treasures. It is filled with curiosities that have been given as gifts by friendly Buddhists of other states, and over 100,000 volumes of sutras. Amongst these, the sutras written in blood from the Song (960-1279) and Ming Dynasties are especially precious.

Take Subway  Line 4 to Xisi (西四) Station, Exit A (northwest exit), walk northwest

Bus no. 623, 685, 42, 102, 13, 604 or 603 stops at Xisi Lukou Xi.