Ideas for a half day in Beijing

[caden]

I'm going to China for about 2 weeks soon and I have an itinerary for most of the trip, but my arrival day is still free. I get in around 2 p.m. local time. I know I'm going to be jet lagged as all get out but I still don't want to waste a half day doing nothing. I'm thinking about doing a spa treatment. Or is there an area that isn't too crazy touristy that would be fun to do for a few hours + dinner? Or am I crazy thinking I could do anything after walking off a 15 hr flight? If you think spa time is a good idea can you recommend a spa? We're staying at the Grand Hyatt if that matters. Thank you!

[Deleted]

The Huaihai lakes area is easy to walk around and has lots of restaurants and spots to just sit and get a coffee or drink and look out at the lakes. It's also a good place to go through hutongs (traditional residential areas).
It might be easier to give more recs if we know what you're already doing as well.

[iammalcolmx]

What time does your flight land caden

[caden]

Jan 10, 2014 11:29:32 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

What time does your flight land caden

about 2 PM their time

[iammalcolmx]

Jan 10, 2014 11:32:39 GMT -5 caden said:

Jan 10, 2014 11:29:32 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

What time does your flight land caden

about 2 PM their time

Get the massage , have dinner, take a nice bath, and go to sleep.

[caden]

Jan 10, 2014 3:42:57 GMT -5 @juliash said:

The Huaihai lakes area is easy to walk around and has lots of restaurants and spots to just sit and get a coffee or drink and look out at the lakes. It's also a good place to go through hutongs (traditional residential areas).
It might be easier to give more recs if we know what you're already doing as well.

We are just sightseeing the major touristy stuff - Great Wall, summer palace, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Bird's nest... I don't have the into wrath with me but I think that's most of it. 

[GilliC]

How well do you handle jetlag, and how well can you sleep on planes? If you have a lot of difficulty sleeping on planes, you’ll probably be extremely tired that afternoon. Assuming you’re flying from N.America, that flight is exhausting in the best of cases.

If you do have time, I agree that Houhai is a nice place to walk around. I don’t know if Yandai Xijie is still as fun to walk through as it used to be, but I used to take visitors through that area and they always enjoyed it. I’d typically start the walk from the drum and bell towers, which is what I outlined in my Beijing guide on TripAdvisor (Houhai is #9 on the list), but you can easily reverse the route and start from the lake.

From the Grand Hyatt, you could easily walk up through Wangfujing, but I think it might be a bit hectic and in-your-face commercial for the afternoon right off the plane.

I love traditional Chinese massage, so I personally think that would be a great plan for the afternoon. There’s a Dragonfly at the northeast corner of the Forbidden City that’s not too far from your hotel. They’re my second favorite massage place in Beijing (but I’m not a fan of their Shiatsu, so stick to the Chinese massage). My favorite is Bodhi at Gongti Beimen (I didn't include it in the list on TripAdvisor, because I don't want it to get too well-known and crowd out the locals). We used to go at least once a week, and often more. It’s definitely the thing I miss most about living in Beijing. I don’t know how busy it is these days, but they have a nice relaxation area, so if they can’t get you in right away, it was always a nice place to sit for a snack or a drink.

[caden]

Thank you GilliC! I will check out those links. Do you know about how long it will take to get from the airport to the hotel and the best way to get there (taxi, subway, whatever)? Just trying to figure out a good time for the spa, if we can do that. I might eat dinner first since I doubt I'll be stuffed from airline food.

[GilliC]

Jan 10, 2014 14:11:03 GMT -5 caden said:

Thank you GilliC! I will check out those links. Do you know about how long it will take to get from the airport to the hotel and the best way to get there (taxi, subway, whatever)? Just trying to figure out a good time for the spa, if we can do that. I might eat dinner first since I doubt I'll be stuffed from airline food.

I moved before they built the airport train, and I've been told that traffic has gotten worse, so I don't really know.

For the massage places, you should be able to play it by ear and just try to make an appointment when you get to the hotel. We used to just walk into Bodhi and wait until they had something available. Most of the time booking meant calling and saying we'd be there in 30 minutes or an hour and reserving our favorite masseuses if they were working that day. Also, people rarely pre-book foot massages, so that's always an option too.

If you were thinking proper spa treatments, you might need to book for that, but really I wouldn't lock yourself into anything too tightly, because you don't know how you'll be feeling. Also, we've had a few significant flight delays en route to Beijing, so that's another potential variable.