Looking for a Beijing hotel, first week of Nov.

Something along the line of $60 US. I have looked at couple of web
sites, including asianhotels.com and elong. My problem is not knowing
which location is best in terms of convenience, some place where it's
close to some of the sights and have some night life and restaurants
within walking distance.

Which area of Beijing would you suggest I look? Any specific
recommendations? Clean and safe within my price range.

Thanks.

PeterL wrote:

Something along the line of $60 US. I have looked at couple of web
sites, including asianhotels.com and elong. My problem is not knowing
which location is best in terms of convenience, some place where it's
close to some of the sights and have some night life and restaurants
within walking distance.

Which area of Beijing would you suggest I look? Any specific
recommendations? Clean and safe within my price range.

I think a look at elong should have shown that there's a very wide range
of choice at your price range. While some of the places you mention do
come in clusters (such as bar streets, certain food streets, and
upmarket hotels) in general sights and entertainments and hotels are
scattered around the city, and you should concentrate on two things:

Being on or within the second ring road (in other words, fairly central)

Being close to a metro (subway) station (because for large parts of the
day the traffic is very slow indeed).

Several new lines have opened in the run-up to the Olympics and the
tickets have a flat rate of ¥2 (except the line in from the airport,
which is ¥25), and if you're near a station you can get to several major
sights swiftly and efficiently, including the Forbidden City and Tian'an
Men Square and all the neighbouring sights; the Temple of Heaven; the
Great Bell Temple; Lama Temple; main Olympic venues; and so on.

There's a reasonably accurate map of the current state of the metro
system on Wikipedia, he

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ing-Subway.png

which is isn't hard to compare to a street map to see where you are.

Have a look at ctrip and elong to find hotels near stations. You'll
notice claims of vast discounts on these sites, but in fact all they are
showing you are the prices that most people pay simply by walking into
the hotel rather than booking. And indeed you can often beat the rates
shown on these sites. Nor should you rely upon the descriptions, which
can be wildly inaccurate, nor the photography which can be wildly out of
date. Note, too, that they push certain hotels at you in order to suit
themselves, so you should always carry on clicking back a few pages to
see what else there is. Nor do they by any means carry all the hotels in
Beijing. But it's a handy start.

In terms of restaurant/bar/night-life clusters, your average expat is
hanging out around the west gate of Chaoyang Park, at Lucky Bar Street,
Super Bar Street, Ladies Street, all on the east side of the city beyond
the third ring road (and not yet served by the metro system); or to a
lesser extent at a cluster just east of the Friendship Store north of
Jianguo Men Wai Dajie; or at the San Li Tun north and south streets and
little side turnings, just inside the east third ring; or around the
Back Lakes (north of Bei Hai Park, southwest of the Drum and Bell
Towers); or (much more tastefully) Nan Luogu Xiang, a bit further west
but still inside the second ring, perhaps ten to 15 minutes' walk from
Zhang Zizhong Lu metro, or Gulou Dajie metro.

I think it's overpriced these days, but there's a courtyard residence
hotel well-known to backpackers and small group cheaper tours that's
just off there, called Lusong Yuan (the 'u' should have an umlaut on
it). That's in your price range. There are bars, restaurants, and cafes
in Nan Luogu Xiang itself; more genuinely Chinese places in the street
running east from the Drum and Bell Towers across the top of Nan Luogu
Xiang, and in the street running north from there to Gulou Dajie metro
(and there are other mid-price hotels in that street). So this would
give you a range of choice. Also close by is the Hejing Fu Binguan in
Zhang Zizhong Lu itself, which might suit you, with a partly
reconstructed prince's residence in front (although you won't see any
other foreigners staying there, I suspect).

For details of the Lusong Yuan see;

http://www.the-silk-road.com/hotel/lusongyuanhotel/

But with all these hotels you're much better just to show up and bargain
than to book. If you must book, then use ctrip or elong, rather than
booking with Chinese-run hotels directly yourself, but be prepared for
the odd hiccup. (Foreign-run hotels you should book directly through
their own websites.)

I hope that helps.

Peter N-H
http://www.datasinica.com

PeterL wrote:
Something along the line of $60 US. I have looked at couple of web
sites, including asianhotels.com and elong. My problem is not knowing
which location is best in terms of convenience, some place where it's
close to some of the sights and have some night life and restaurants
within walking distance.

Which area of Beijing would you suggest I look? Any specific
recommendations? Clean and safe within my price range.

Thanks.

The Chong Wen Men hotel is pretty convenient and inexpensive. Go to
sidestep.com and search for hotels in Beijing China within 1 mile of the
city center, and $60-70. Only three show up, and Chong Wen Men is one of
them. Popular with overseas Chinese tour groups because it's cheap and
close to Tianmen Square.

It's an older hotel. Probably ranks as a 3 star in China's ratings, a 2
star based on U.S. ratings.

I stayed across the street at the Ha Da Men, which was cheaper, but I
think it's not there anymore.

Be careful about picking a hotel because you don't want to end up way
out on one of the outer ring roads. It can take a long time to get
anywhere by taxi, though the subway has now expanded making it a bit
easier to get around quickly.

You can walk to the train station and Tiananmen square from the
Chongwenmen, and it's very close to the subway as well.

You can take a public bus or the train out the Great Wall at Badaling
pretty cheaply. The train goes from the Xizhimen station, not the one
near the Chongwenmen hotel, but you can take the subway to the Xizhimen
station. Don't get conned into an expensive foreigners bus trip which
includes the Ming Tombs which is something that should be missed.

On Oct 10, 12:51*pm, (Peter Neville-Hadley)
wrote:
PeterL wrote:
Something along the line of $60 US. *I have looked at couple of web
sites, including asianhotels.com and elong. *My problem is not knowing
which location is best in terms of convenience, some place where it's
close to some of the sights and have some night life and restaurants
within walking distance.

Which area of Beijing would you suggest I look? *Any specific
recommendations? *Clean and safe within my price range.

I think a look at elong should have shown that there's a very wide range
of choice at your price range. While some of the places you mention do
come in clusters (such as bar streets, certain food streets, and
upmarket hotels) in general sights and entertainments and hotels are
scattered around the city, and you should concentrate on two things:

Being on or within the second ring road (in other words, fairly central)

Being close to a metro (subway) station (because for large parts of the
day the traffic is very slow indeed).

Several new lines have opened in the run-up to the Olympics and the
tickets have a flat rate of ¥2 (except the line in from the airport,
which is ¥25), and if you're near a station you can get to several major
sights swiftly and efficiently, including the Forbidden City and Tian'an
Men Square and all the neighbouring sights; the Temple of Heaven; the
Great Bell Temple; Lama Temple; main Olympic venues; and so on.

There's a reasonably accurate map of the current state of the metro
system on Wikipedia, he

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ing-Subway.png

which is isn't hard to compare to a street map to see where you are.

Have a look at ctrip and elong to find hotels near stations. You'll
notice claims of vast discounts on these sites, but in fact all they are
showing you are the prices that most people pay simply by walking into
the hotel rather than booking. And indeed you can often beat the rates
shown on these sites. Nor should you rely upon the descriptions, which
can be wildly inaccurate, nor the photography which can be wildly out of
date. Note, too, that they push certain hotels at you in order to suit
themselves, so you should always carry on clicking back a few pages to
see what else there is. Nor do they by any means carry all the hotels in
Beijing. But it's a handy start.

In terms of restaurant/bar/night-life clusters, your average expat is
hanging out around the west gate of Chaoyang Park, at Lucky Bar Street,
Super Bar Street, Ladies Street, all on the east side of the city beyond
the third ring road (and not yet served by the metro system); or to a
lesser extent at a cluster just east of the Friendship Store north of
Jianguo Men Wai Dajie; or at the San Li Tun north and south streets and
little side turnings, just inside the east third ring; or around the
Back Lakes (north of Bei Hai Park, southwest of the Drum and Bell
Towers); or (much more tastefully) Nan Luogu Xiang, a bit further west
but still inside the second ring, perhaps ten to 15 minutes' walk from
Zhang Zizhong Lu metro, or Gulou Dajie metro.

I think it's overpriced these days, but there's a courtyard residence
hotel well-known to backpackers and small group cheaper tours that's
just off there, called Lusong Yuan (the 'u' should have an umlaut on
it). That's in your price range. There are bars, restaurants, and cafes
in Nan Luogu Xiang itself; more genuinely Chinese places in the street
running east from the Drum and Bell Towers across the top of Nan Luogu
Xiang, and in the street running north from there to Gulou Dajie metro
(and there are other mid-price hotels in that street). So this would
give you a range of choice. Also close by is the Hejing Fu Binguan in
Zhang Zizhong Lu itself, which might suit you, with a partly
reconstructed prince's residence in front (although you won't see any
other foreigners staying there, I suspect).

For details of the Lusong Yuan see;

http://www.the-silk-road.com/hotel/lusongyuanhotel/

But with all these hotels you're much better just to show up and bargain
than to book. If you must book, then use ctrip or elong, rather than
booking with Chinese-run hotels directly yourself, but be prepared for
the odd hiccup. (Foreign-run hotels you should book directly through
their own websites.)

I hope that helps.

Peter N-Hhttp://www.datasinica.com

Peter, thanks for the great info.

On Oct 10, 12:59*pm, SMS wrote:
PeterL wrote:
Something along the line of $60 US. *I have looked at couple of web
sites, including asianhotels.com and elong. *My problem is not knowing
which location is best in terms of convenience, some place where it's
close to some of the sights and have some night life and restaurants
within walking distance.

Which area of Beijing would you suggest I look? *Any specific
recommendations? *Clean and safe within my price range.

Thanks.

The Chong Wen Men hotel is pretty convenient and inexpensive. Go to
sidestep.com and search for hotels in Beijing China within 1 mile of the
city center, and $60-70. Only three show up, and Chong Wen Men is one of
them. Popular with overseas Chinese tour groups because it's cheap and
close to Tianmen Square.

It's an older hotel. Probably ranks as a 3 star in China's ratings, a 2
star based on U.S. ratings.

I stayed across the street at the Ha Da Men, which was cheaper, but I
think it's not there anymore.

Be careful about picking a hotel because you don't want to end up way
out on one of the outer ring roads. It can take a long time to get
anywhere by taxi, though the subway has now expanded making it a bit
easier to get around quickly.

You can walk to the train station and Tiananmen square from the
Chongwenmen, and it's very close to the subway as well.

You can take a public bus or the train out the Great Wall at Badaling
pretty cheaply. The train goes from the Xizhimen station, not the one
near the Chongwenmen hotel, but you can take the subway to the Xizhimen
station. Don't get conned into an expensive foreigners bus trip which
includes the Ming Tombs which is something that should be missed.

Thanks for the info.

PeterL wrote:

Thanks for the info.

If you do go to the Great Wall at Badaling (a real zoo), there are
restaurants beyond the touristy section of town where the bus drivers
and Chinese people eat, and they're much cheaper than the foreigner
restaurants which will give you a "warmly warm welcome to our foreign
friends."

I loved the train ride out to Badaling (it's actually the station before
Badaling for the Great Wall). It was a slow local train and I was the
only white person on the train (I was with my ABC gf). Lots of eating,
drinking, smoking, and spitting. I think they've got a much faster train
line that goes there now.