Beijing Winter with Toddler

It’s Christmas week and we celebrated it in China with my little family and my sister-in-law.

It’s our first time to travel in winter and in China (if you don’t count Hong Kong) it taught me a lot of things. It’s super cold and I am prepared (at least I thought I were) with the coats and all the accessories I needed but what I’m not prepared was how difficult it is to convince my toddler to put on the heavy coat, the hat, the gloves and all thick and layer clothing. It was a challenge! It’s her first time to experience (-) negative degrees temperature.

Beijing in winter with a toddler was not so easy but definitely worth it. It cold but it’s beautiful!

Frozen Christmas in Beijing

Beautiful scenery in Beijing

As I write this post, I’m Sitting now in flight from Beijing going to Kuala Lumpur and then to Penang. Our trip to Beijing has come to an end. Summer is now sleeping it’s 6am with cough and a flu. Poor kid we live in Malaysia so definitely her body and ours did a lot of adjusting in the weather but i’m grateful for this opportunity as i believe Summer learn a lot about nature here. She only read about winter in books but now she can experience it!

Our flights was a bit odd timing because that’s the cheapest flight (thank you airasia) and that makes it more difficult but I’m so proud of Summer for being such a great travel companion. She did very little whining and crying with 6 hours + 2 hours flights.

With lots of shopping in between, our hotel was Jade Garden Hotel in Wangfujing and it is near the malls and the forbidden city. Its just 5 minutes walk from our hotel. Its close to some lovely Hutong lanes too.

There’s also Train station here the Wangfujing station Line 1.  So we passed by this area a lot of times and did a lot of our shopping in APM Mall.

Here’s our 6-day Beijing in Winter Itinerary.

Day 1: Tiannanmen Square and Forbidden city

It’s our first day. We reached at 5am in our hotel but they only checked us in at around 9am. We waited in the lobby for four hours. Thankful that Summer my daughter were sleeping in those four hours.  After check in and resting a little bit, we  decided to start our day at 10am after breakfast we went straight here. Glad Summer had sleep in plane and even in the taxi and lobby of hotel so we were good to go.

This is just 10-min walk away from our hotel. It’s a huge place. Start in Tiananmen Square and you can walk in to the Forbidden City. It was a cold but sunny day.

Summer had a great time running freely here in Forbidden City.

We just walked from our hotel to this place. Tiananmen Square is also the same area. It’s a huge place and you need the whole day if you want to really enjoy and slowly learn about all the temples. Get ready for a lot of walking.

Tips for toddler traveller in Forbidden City :

• wear comfortable shoes
• Bring light stroller or baby carrier (we forgot to bring our our stroller and that was a tiring mistake.
• bring snacks and water
• Use sunscreen it’s cold but it’s sunny

Day 2 : Great Wall of china

We hired a private taxi at ¥800. He drove us to breakfast place waited till we finish eating and drove us to Mutianyu Great Wall. He waited for us and drove us back to the hotel.

The Great Wall of china was So beautiful,

I’m in awe walking on those walls. Here’s my detailed post about it. Great wall of China with toddler

At night we went out of our hotel for dinner and explore wangfujing area. We saw thing little hutong lane that transform into a night food market.

Day 3: Summer Palace

This was the place where Emperors and his concubines comes during summer to relax and unwind. We took the train to Belgongmen Station (Line 4). It is easy to find it and it only cost us 2RMB! Yay!

It’s a lot of walking and climbing because theres lots of stairs.  It’s very beautiful and ancient.

After all the beautiful architecture in the end you will see a huge lake. It was frozen when we were there because it’s winter. Don’t bring your stroller we ended up leaving it in one of the areas in there and we need to go back up just to get the stroller. Total bummer.

We bought all-in tickets at ¥50 per person but we didn’t maximise it as we need to go back up for the stroller. Wrong move.

So if you are not fit to hike or to walk lots of stairs, don’t go with your toddler.

End up super tired on this day but again it is all worth it.

Read more about our time in Summer Palace here .

Day 4: Temple of Heaven

Probably one of the most famous icon of Beijing next to the Great Wall. This was the place where the emperors worship and offered their prayers.

Not so much of stairs but a lot of walking. So I suggest to bring your stroller this helps us a lot.

Watch movie in the end of the day. It’s so expensive. Gosh. ¥120 per person. And you need to purchase a membership card worth ¥100 in order to get cheaper price which is ¥60 per person. We only pay less than ¥20 in Malaysia and even in Philippines.

Day 5: Birds nest and Cube

Day 6 : Silk market and mall hopping

Its Christmas Day! We went to this Christmassy cafe called Maan cafe. We just chill there and had our brunch. Took lots of Christmas picture as it’s a very beautiful cafe.

After that we went to Wangfujing Palaeolithic Museum because my husband wants to visit that. It cost us 10¥ but it’s not worth it because it’s such a small place you can finish it in 5 min. We all wonder why they charge actually.

We took the subway to Silk market. Just few stops away from Wangfujing station line 1 to Yonganli station. From Yonganli just follow the signs to Silk market.

It’s a popular market. We bought lots of electronics here. You need to haggle A LOT. I got my wireless headphones for ¥80 originally priced at ¥580. That’s how much they mark up the price!

My sister in law got a mini projector and a Gopro kinda cam and my husband got a dash camera.

My mouth and lips was so dry and painful it makes me uncomfortable the whole trip. After 6 days my 2.5 year old kid caught a flu.I needed l to go to pharmacy and just look for something that will make us a little bit comfortable.I found a hotpack that can last for 5 hours. That helps a bit. Bought Vaseline to moisturise all of us everyday. And I asked through sign language what can I take for cough. And I got it al in Chinese.

Learned how to dress properly to warm not just my kid but myself . I promise myself to be better on our next winter trip. I promise!!!

We didn’t manage to eat the Peking duck but it’s fine we had great local food throughout the trip. I love the meat and the bread and Chinese soup! We ate few times in McDonald’s and I love their porridge. Summer loves it too.

Recommended readings: