Climate change & travel

Travel – especially air travel – is a significant contributor to global climate change. At Lonely Planet, we believe that all who travel have a responsibility to limit their personal impact. As a result, we have teamed with Rough Guides and other concerned industry partners to support Climate Care, which allows people to offset the greenhouse gases they are responsible for with contributions to energy-saving projects and other climate-friendly initiatives in the developing world. Lonely Planet offsets all staff and author travel.

For more information, turn to the responsible-travel pages on www.lonelyplanet.com. For details about offsetting your carbon emissions and a carbon calculator, go to www.climatecare.org.

VISA

Visas are required for everyone visiting mainland China. A standard 30-day, single-entry visa is readily available from Chinese embassies and consulates and usually takes three to five working days.

GETTING AROUND

Beijing is a vast, sprawling city, which makes getting around a time-consuming process. Heavy traffic can slow buses and taxis to a near standstill during rush hour. The subway is the quickest way to get around at those times, and with all the new lines that have opened you can get most places on it. Taxis are cheap and plentiful, except when it rains, but are best avoided between 8am and 10am and 5pm and 7pm, when travel times can double or triple.

BICYCLE

For information on cycling around Beijing, see.

BOAT

Boats (Y45/75 one way/return) travel from Xicheng district to the Summer Palace (see the boxed text) along Beijing’s Qing-era canal network. They run hourly from 10am to 4pm May to October. You can catch them at the dock behind the zoo, or the dock behind the nearby Beijing Exhibition Centre.

BUS

Overcrowded and frustratingly slow, Beijing’s city buses aren’t very practical for those on short visits and are problematic for non-Chinese speakers. However, two bus stations offer direct services to some far-flung sights. The buses take you to and from the destinations, but there’s no guided tour; you explore on your own.

The Beijing Sightseeing Bus Station ( 24hr info line 8353 1111), on the west side of Tiananmen Sq, is the handiest to use. Buses to Badaling Great Wall (Y100, see) leave when full between 7.30am and 11.30am. Count on a six-hour trip; you’ll have around two hours at the wall itself. Another option here is the bus that takes in both Badaling and the Ming Tombs (Y160; see). Buses leave between 6.30am and 10.30am; it’s a full-day trip.

There’s another tour bus station near the South Cathedral on Qianmen Xidajie. It’s less user-friendly, but it does have a weekend bus (12) to Simatai Great Wall. The buses leave at 8.30am and cost Y60; you get around four hours at the wall.

SUBWAY

Beijing’s subways start running between 5am and 6am and close between 10.30pm and 11pm, depending on the line. Buy your ticket (Y2) inside the stations. Trains run every few minutes. In this book, the nearest subway station is noted after the subway icon () in each listing.

TAXI

The flag fall and first 3km is Y10. After that, it’s Y2 for each kilometre. Between 11pm and 6am a 20% surcharge is added to the flag-fall metered fare. Taxi drivers are generally very honest, but they do not speak English, so have your destination written down in characters, or circled on a Chinese-language map. At the end of the trip, pay what’s on the meter plus any expressway tolls the driver has paid. Once your ride is under way, the driver should turn on the meter. If he or she doesn’t, ask them to turn it on ( da biao 打表 ). Ask for the receipt ( fapiao; 发票 ) when your trip is over. The driver’s number will be on it, so you’ll be able to track them down if you’ve left something in the car or need to make a complaint. It’s possible to hire taxis for the day, but you must negotiate the rate with the driver depending on where you want to go; expect to pay Y400 minimum.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14