Summer vacation
Posted 3:33pm Mon May 19th, 2008 by Vicky Vale
- 290 reads
Anyone have any good ideas for family travel plans this summer? I haven't decided whether to stay in China or venture overseas.
- Login or register to post comments
- Printer-friendly version
Re: Summer vacation
My favorite family vacations usually involve some sort of activity in nature. While living in Beijing, it's easy to forget how many natural treasures China has. I highly recommend visiting Heavenly Lake in Xinjiang--it's such breathtaking scenery, and there are so many activities to keep families busy. We enjoyed swimming, riding horses and hiking. Look forward to wildflowers, green forests and fresh air!
Also, for a guaranteed successful family trip, you can't beat heading to the beach. I've heard the beaches in Sanya are incredible, although I spent my childhood summers on the beaches in Hawaii. It's such easy travel--swimsuit, towel, flipflops and sunscreen. Everyone is entertained and relaxed.
Does anyone know of any beaches that are closer to Beijing?
just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
Yes, I second the beach!
Qingdao also has lovely beaches and interesting activities for kids, especially the aquarium and ferry rides along the shore.
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
Wait for June 2nd! The tbjkids special Travel Double Issue is coming!
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
I was thinking more like a "cool" place like Harbin, but I don't know whether or not there will be more activities during winter?
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
certainly there is MORE to do in Harbin during the winter, but that doesn't mean a summer trip would be terrible.
It's been a few years since I've visited but there are summer attractions like looking at the old Russian architecture, a nice outdoor pedestrian mall, and some wild animal parks (though I've heard mixed reviews of these parks).
I've always thought a trip to Vladivostok in the summer sounds exotic. No idea though if it'd be any fun ...
Agenda fan? Give us your feedback:
http://www.agendabeijing.com/survey
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
Qingdao for the beer festival!! If you're a two-person family without any kids like us, that'd be your first choice to summer!
Put your new-born baby's photo in beijingkids magazine! Send it to amanizhang@beijing-kids.com with baby's full name, nationality, date of birth, parents' names and hospital's name. Make sure the photo is at least 1MB of size!
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
I prefer go to somewhere near the Sea, like Qingdao, Dalian. I know everyone says Qingdao is good, but I like Dalian more. Many of street bbq are very good. You can also take subway to go to Golden Sea Coast. It is very relaxed and peaceful place for Family to spend holiday there. There are also many villa available to rent along the beach.
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
Being a southern-hemisphere girl, living in the northern-hemisphere all these years has sorta thrown our family. Summer holidays are hard to work out for us because most of the world relatively close to China is so HOT during July/August (something our family actually wants to avoid) - not to mention the fact that it's all high season and very expensive!
Beach options are a great idea (Sanya is a wonderful holiday if you want to do the 5-star resort thing - talk about gorgeous blue skies! - yes you read it right... blue skies) if you can stand the heat. Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and India would all be incredible places to take kids if you are a family who can "rough it" - but then heat is also an issue. Otherwise, your options for something a little cooler are pretty much limited to Australia, NZ, southern Africa and South America (read: a looong way to go). Japan is close and glorious, but also very hot. What about admin's Russia idea or even the Nordic countries - they are only 14 hours away and have lovely summers - but are admittedly expensive.
I like the idea of scooting around and seeing more of China, which is what we plan to do (in between long stints trapped in BJ for the Olympics). As mentioned above, June issue of tbjkids will be packed with heaps of ideas on where to go and what to see within China, as a lot of us are a bit attached-at-the-hip with BJ for the Olympics.
Have a great summer!
This above all; to thine own self be true.
Offline
Re: Summer vacation
I live on Hainan and there's a lot more to it than Sanya which IMHO is overpriced. I run a small family inn in Boao. I placed an ad in the ThatsBJ travel classifieds so I don't want to do a commercial here. Just want to say the air quality here is wonderful...guess what else...we can see stars at night too!! Birds singing in the trees in the morning...no traffic.
Boao Inn B&B
www.hainan-letsgo.com
Offline