Beijing - interesting places around city?

[chinabiker]

I second the recommendation on the series of rides Chinabiker has posted this week - he's been putting on a clinic of western rides.

The "Beijing Excursions Guide" book has lots of good ideas for day trips. A few that jumped out at me are Cuandixia (爨底下) an old Ming era village out in the west. Also Longqing Gorge（龙庆峡）which, depending on your taste for hyperbole, been billed as "Beijing's Three-Gorges" or Beijing's Guilin (Karst Mountains).. I was actually hoping to make that ride today before the rain hit The Tianmo Desert area is also close (天漠少漠). All these places are within 100 km of the city!

Don't get me wrong Pat, but the places you've listed are the mass tourism spots besides the Great Wall. These places are overcrowded on weekends and roads to / from there full with the worst of the worst drivers

Almost every place, where a brown sign points to is ..., well the color speaks for itself

If it's for the ride, these spots aren't the best ones. If it is about visiting these places (one has to do that, no doubt), try to go weekdays or after the National holidays and well before the May ones. Avoid mid June to mid August unless you like 38 degrees + and 95% humidity.

After the "must have visited in Beijing program", try to go out 150kms or more, to escape the crowds. A bike is of course the ideal means of transportation for this purpose

Have fun.