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When I booked my flight to Beijing, many thought I was crazy. My flight was scheduled to arrive in Beijing Wednesday evening and returning home Friday morning. In other words I was flying to China in order to spend just one full day there. I had taken advantage of a mistake fare: the round trip flight, in business class, cost me only $462. Of course, that was just the beginning of my expenses. I needed a China visa (which is fortunately good for 10 years). I needed a positioning flight to get to DC, where the trip began. I needed a hotel in Beijing for two nights. I needed (wanted) a guide. And, I had to pay transportation, food, and entrance to attractions while in Beijing.
Sure, I earned a boatload of miles and got significantly closer to top tier AA status for 2016, but I actually think that the trip was worth doing anyway. It turns out that you can cram a full sightseeing trip into one day. What follows is my trip report with few words, but lots of photos…
Travel
My 30,000 miles to nowhere mission paid off. I used AA systemwide upgrade certificates to fly first class rather than business. The seats were comfortable and the crew was great. The food, though, was barely edible.
The Beijing airport was like a modern, beautiful, ghost town when we arrived. It would prove to be much more crowded on the return.
A shuttle took us from the international terminal to the main terminal where I took a taxi to the hotel.
Hilton Beijing Wangfujing
Based on recommendations from multiple readers, I used about 48,000 Hilton points per night to book a Deluxe King room at the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing. The room was gorgeous and comfortable (once I found the thermostat and turned it way down)…
My Hilton Gold status (thanks to my recently acquired Hilton Surpass card) was enough to get admitted to the hotel’s executive lounge. The breakfast spread was very nice. The evening happy hour was underwhelming.
Tiananmen square
My guide, Jason (from Beijing Tours by Coco), and a driver picked me up at 8 in the morning. The first stop was Tiananmen square. Fortunately, the expected crowds failed to appear.
Forbidden City
Our next stop was the Forbidden City, across the street from Tiananmen square. A pedestrian subway made it easy to cross over. Again, we were very lucky. It wasn’t crowded at all.
Summer Palace
Next, we drove to the Summer Palace. Traffic was light. And, again, we were lucky that most of the crowds stayed away. It was a hot day in Beijing, but the Summer Palace grounds were comfortable thanks to a breeze blowing across the lake.
Mutianyu Great Wall
Next, we drove away from the city to the Great Wall at Mutianyu. Along the way we stopped for a delicious lunch of authentic Chinese food. At Mutianyu, Jason and I rode the chairlift up to the wall. We had hoped to ride the toboggan run down afterwards, but that option was closed due to a light drizzle. Perhaps due to the threat of rain, we were almost completely alone on the wall! If memory serves (it probably doesn’t), I think we hiked the wall from Tower 6 to 14 and back.
Beijing
On the return drive to the city, reality set in. Traffic was heavy (as is usual in Beijing, I’ve been told) and it took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel. I napped for most of the ride. And, thanks to the nap, I had energy to explore the city a bit that evening. I had hoped to eat The Best Dumplings in the World, but I couldn’t find the place that Miles to Memories wrote about in that post. I thought about texting the author (Shawn) to ask for directions but realized that it would have been around 5 in the morning his time. Rather than risk waking him up, I ate street food. The Peking Duck was good, but I’ve had better. I spent a couple of hours walking around, watching people line dancing, and avoiding women who claimed to want to practice their English with me (a known scam).
Wrap up
I had a great trip to Beijing! Despite having only one full day to explore, I feel like I experienced as much as many others do during much longer stays. Sure, I would have preferred a longer trip if I could have worked it out, but this was all that my schedule and the mistake fair allowed at the time. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
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[…] tour of Beijing with Coco’s Beijing Tours. Why did I go with Coco’s Beijing Tours? Because Greg the Frequent Miler used them on a recent trip to Beijing. If this tour was good enough for Greg, it was good enough for me. I reached out to Coco, […]
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[…] Early in the year, when AA mistakenly offered a business class round trip fare to Beijing for only $465, I jumped on the deal. By the time I learned about it, some blogs had already declared the deal dead, but I found a few dates still available. The harder part was finding dates where I was also available to travel. That didn’t leave many options, but I found one. It was a very short trip: I would arrive in Beijing on Wednesday and depart on Friday, but I booked it anyway. My adrenaline clouded thinking suggested to me that 2 to 3 days in Beijing would be enough. In reality, I ended up having only one day to explore Beijing. I arrived in China late Wednesday night and flew home Friday morning, so I had only Thursday available for sightseeing. Still, with a little planning, I was able to cram in a pretty full tour of Beijing into that one day, and I was very happy I did it. You can read more here: One day in Beijing. Fewer words, more photos. […]
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OH,man.I wanna go back after see your photos. My hometown,miss you for 3 years. Only busy work at USA, wanna back so much.
[…] One day in Beijing. Fewer words, more photos – One whirlwind day in Beijing. It is amazing how many iconic sites can be visited in just one day. […]
FM – Your trip was right on the Tiananmen Square Anniversary, luckily, the Square wasn’t blocked, the air quality seemed pretty good that day.
The price in China’s major city is so inflated, 2.5 decades ago, when I left hometown Shanghai, I’d never imagine the inflation would go up so rapidly.
Beijing is so widely spread out, and as it said the traffic is like in LA, your touring Beijing within a day even with such long To/From flights was super.
It’s shame that always some scams played around in China. I had lived in Japan for few yrs, nothing like that. Glad you were not tricked by the scammers.
When you first started posting about this mistake fare, I thought you were completely nuts for doing it. I thought chasing the elite status not worth the pain and trouble. But now that I see all that you were able to see in a day, and the scammers that seem prevalent I am now interested in going for a day trip myself, since it looked like you were able to cram in everything I am interested in seeing in a day. How much was the tour guide and transportation? Also interested in total cost of all incidentals, such as local transportation, taxes/visa and food costs for the time you were there. Please pass along if you are willing to share.
I don’t remember the cost to get the visa. I used Allied Passport & Visa service. Maybe $160, something like that?
I do know how much I spent while in China including all food, taxis, tour, entrance fees, etc. since I can look at my ATM receipts. About: $320. The biggest part of that was about $230 for the guide and driver.
Thanks for the quick reply! I have been thinking of going to China for decades, hadn’t considered the tour guide and driver. But in reading your trip report with cost, that seems like the way for me to go. Thanks for reporting it!
Meant to add ATM receipts??? Why not reward credit card lol? I heard they at least take Discover over there.
Discover is ok, only problem is PIN, In china people use card with PIN or cash only, So hundreds cash in wallet is normal. In USA I only has 20 bucks in wallet, buy everything by cards.
On a business trip to Beijing, I had one “free” day and did exactly what you did. Hired a driver and guide and pretty much followed the same itinerary. It was awesome! And really showed me you can pack an amazing amount into one day. Having the driver/guide was key. IMO, the Great Wall is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been.
Sounds like a carbon copy of what I will be doing since I’m there for only a day and a half. Great resource for my trip!
Would you be willing to email me Jason’s contact info and rate you paid? I’ll be sure to mention you recommended his service!
Here’s the guide’s website (Coco is his wife — they’re both tour guides): http://www.beijingtoursbycoco.com/
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If memory serves, they charged 600 yuan for the guide and 850 for the driver. Total cost: approx $230, not counting tickets to get into the attractions.
If you go with me at the end of this year, you can get free guide,I only charge you gas fee,you can pay by shell gift card from amex offer.LOL
Wow! You had such great trip in Beijing! That’s the city I lived for 8 years. The places you visited all look familiar to me. You made me want to visit Beijing too!
Never heard about the English practice scam (Why would I… I am a Chinese…) but not surprised. Just keep in mind that Chinese girls are generally shy and humble. I would not talk to you much even though you start a conversation with me, especially when I have never been to U.S.
Nice review. Looks like a fun time. You may have gotten lucky on the weather as the drizzle may have helped the air quality.