Beijing Transportation Tips by vic&michael

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: The bus is very cheap only 1 RMB!
But it has no air-con and can be stuck for a long time in traffic. You'll also be lucky to get a seat.
However, if you are not in a rush, or if it is early in the morning (not crowded then), you should take the bus, it gives you a good look around the city, and also you get to experience bus driver's road rage, very interesting.
Anyway, there is no air con in the metro either.

The buses travel all around Beijing.
Bus 22 to TIan'anMen Square & Xi Dan Shopping District.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: Catching the Subway in Beijing is very easy. The subway route is very simple to understand. Catch it to the station nearest your destination and then catch a taxi or walk to your destination. That's a cheap way to do transport.
There is English next to the Chinese signs, and also there is an English announcement on the subway.
The subway is cheap, 3 RMB. It comes very regularly. I've had to wait only about 5 mins for each train.
There is no air con, so be ready to sweat in Summer!

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: Every time I got into a taxi in Beijing, I would sigh with relief. It was cool (air con!), quiet (the roads are very noisy!) and fast (no walk to the train stn/bus stop!). And cheap too, compared with other countries.

Remember to always tell the taxi drivers to use their meter!

I only used the taxis with black and green, or black and orange colors. They were the nicest. We caught a red taxi with spray-on black signs, to the airport, and it was terribly hot and stuffy, and smelled like fumes.

It's important to know the name of where you are going and how to say it in Chinese. Not all taxi drivers know how to read Chinese, so not always will your Chinese characters come in handy. Sometimes they may not be from Beijing, it's handy if you have a map and have an idea of where you are going.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bicycle
Getting TO/AROUND: There were not as many people biking around Beijing as I thought there would have been. I guess now it's the cool thing to have a car. But from the bike lanes, I know that biking used to be the popular thing to do! The bike lanes are as big as a road! So, you will be rather safe biking! Just look out for the cars as they don't really pay much attention to 'bike lane' and 'car lane' differences!

I didn't bike in Beijing, just because I am very scared of biking...
but I met many travellers who did bike, and they had a really fun time, and explored many places that you would not find if you were on a bus/taxi/metro. They said it was really easy and you have to be alert, but the lanes are so huge, that it's not much problem. They hired the bikes from the hostel for a cheap price.

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