Summer Day Trips in Beijing

Get your goggles at the ready for a rollicking good time with Beijing Sideways, a whimsical tour guide company that will whisk you round the city’s best bits in a vintage Chang Jiang 750 motorcycle sidecar. Conducted in French, English, Spanish, or Italian, tours feature a constantly evolving itinerary of off-beat destinations, as well as a few ‘must-sees’ like the Summer Palace, historic hutongs, and Great Wall (followed by a hike up its less touristy stretches). All are customizable and range from two-hour day or evening tours to two-day packages.


Set among 199 pine trees (known locally as song) and luscious clipped lawns, the staggeringly beautiful Song Art Museum is a vision in bright white, defined by its pitched roofs and industrial-Deco plate-glass windows. Film production giant Wang Zhongjun’s private collection alone is worth the visit, but swoop in before 23 June to see The Eternal Thread, a large-scale temporary exhibit by formidable Franco-American artist Louise Bourgeois, featuring her most famous artworks like the colossal spider sculpture Maman.


Beijing’s monumental Expo 2019 easily pips top spot as the world’s largest ever horticultural show, staging plants, pavilions, national days, cultural exhibits, forums and 70+ international organisations, over an area in the Yanqing District the size of 500 football pitches. Join other green-fingered visitors to wander several microclimates devoted to the fauna of Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania. Blooming marvelous.


Yes, it’s a 2h 30min drive from Beijing, but China’s best-preserved imperial mausoleum, the Eastern Qing Tombs is a once-in-a-lifetime gander. Lose a whole day exploring these fascinating crypts where the family members of the Qing Dynasty and their imperial concubines were laid to rest, including Emperor Qianlong’s mistress, Yuling, whose tomb is adorned in ornate Buddhist carvings. The site is backdropped by gorgeous mountain scenes.


Any one of these day trips can be perfectly topped off with a visit to The Peninsula Beijing’s own rooftop lounge, Yun Summer Lounge, perched but a few floors from the sweet respite of your room, with meticulously crafted cocktails, snacking, summer lounging and starry skyline vistas. 


Beijing Sideways / +86 139 1133 4947 / beijingsideways.com

Louise Bourgeois: The Eternal Thread / Song Art Museum / Gelasi Lu / Shunyi / 10am-5pm Tue-Sun / huayi-art.com Expo 2019 / Yanqing / +86 10 8648 4017 / horti-expo2019.org

Eastern Qing Tombs / Malan Yuzhen / Zunhua

Yun Summer Lounge / 15/F The Peninsula Beijing / +86 10 8516 2888 Ext 6752 / Apr-Oct: 6pm-midnight Sun-Thu, 6pm-1am Fri-Sun