Whenever we say Beijing, the first thing that would come to mind is the Great Wall of China. But aside from the Great Wall, Beijing has a lot of other attractions that are also beautiful and equally rich with history. Among all of the places that can be seen in Beijing, Summer Palace is my favorite place.
Here’s a brief information about Summer Palace from Wikipedia.
“The Summer Palace started out life as the Garden of Clear Ripples in 1750 (Reign Year 15 of Qianlong Emperor). Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. Kunming Lake was created by extending an existing body of water to imitate the West Lake in Hangzhou. The palace complex suffered two major attacks—during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 (with the Old Summer Palace also ransacked at the same time), and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi, who diverted 30 million taels of silver, said to be originally designated for the Chinese navy (Beiyang Fleet), into the reconstruction and enlargement of the Summer Palace.”
From our hostel, we took the subway and change trains twice and alighted at Beigonmen station which turned out to be near the North Entrance of the Summer Palace.
(Ticket Office at the North Entrance)
On our way to the entrance gate we saw a couple of Chinese busking and selling their recorded album. What fascinated me was, the drummer doesn’t have a drumset but instead he was using a plastic and metal containers as his drums. There was also a cute little kid staring at them while they perform maybe thinking that he also wants to be a musician someday.
As soon as you reach the entrance, you’ll see a ticket counter which sells entrance ticket for 30 Yuan and a map for 10 Yuan.
Guide to Summer Palace (It’s a nice souvenir too)
You also have an option to pay for tour guides that will cost you around 100 Yuan. The park is pretty much navigable by yourself and hiring a guide might seem to be unnecessary although it’s nice to have someone tell you a brief history about what you’re looking at. The map though has some brief information about different structures inside the massive complex of the Summer Palace.
From the northern entrance, you’ll have to hike up and then trek down to see the most photographed palace. There are separate entrance fees though for some of the structures inside the complex.
Suzhou Street: Additional Entrance Fee of 10 Yuan
Good thing it’s spring and the weather is cool and not humid. The short trek is a little uneasy for someone who doesn’t exercise like me.
The Summer Palace is full of shops where tourists can buy souvenirs. There’s also a lot of small restaurants and snack houses where you can buy food and drinks. I suggest you bring your own food and bottle of water if you want to save money.
While walking through the different areas in the Summer Palace complex, I couldnt help but imagine what was life like when the Emperors were still ruling China. I was imagining that they walk thru the same path that I was walking on inside this majestic place.
Wenchang Tower
On our way back to the hostel, we exited thru the South Gate and took a rickshaw to the Subway Station which was my second mistake. I thought it would be nice experience to ride the rickshaw so we bargain for 10 Yuan for two people. As soon as we got off the rickshaw and handed 10 Yuan, the driver insisted that we pay 20 Yuan for two people. We thought that we already agreed for 10 for two and we argued for a couple of minutes and just walked towards the subway station but to avoid spoiling the entire Summer Palace tour.
In case you go to Summer Palace and decided to exit thru the south entrance, Xiyuan station is probably just a 15 minute walk from there.
Summer Palace is truly something that you shouldn’t miss when you go to Beijing, China.
natatawa ako sa guy na nagblock ng view mo sa recording nung busker. LOL.
*sigh* i wish i can go to this place and visit the rest of China in the near future too! keep them coming flip!
just wait for the cebu pacific seat sale again
china is a pretty much affordable even for pinoys 
haha honga, tatapusin ko pa naman sana yung kanta…
I was thinking before whether to visit the Great Wall of China or the Forbidden City if we only had a few days in Beijing, but reading about your Summer Palace post made it even harder for me choose which oen to include on my itinerary. I wish they were all near each other so it’s easier to cover with limited time on hand.
i skipped forbidden city and went to great wall and summer palace instead… forbidden city seems to be a nice place to see
maybe next time… oh and by the way you can go to summer palace and forbidden city in one day… just take the subway train 
first half for forbidden city and the next half (sunset) at summer palace… but it’ll be a rush though…
The Summer Palace is one of my favorite attractions in Beijing too. When I last visited it, the park was enshrouded in a misty fog, which gave it a truly surreal milieu. The outlay of the park and its appointments is a splendid example of Feng Shui.
walking around the summer palace made me imagine what it was like during the time of the emperors… i really like it…
i just did this mate, thanks for the tips – really helpful