Beijing is an expansive megalopolis filled to the brim with all sorts of curiosities just waiting to be discovered. Did you know there are over one million people living in nuclear bunkers beneath the streets of Beijing? These shelters constructed during the Cold War era now make up an entire underground universe. The city even once housed an entire replica Vancouver neighbourhood due to popular demand! Other surreal oddities include the Dragon Escalator known for being the world’s longest outdoor escalator, a museum dedicated entirely to watermelon and the Dongyue Museum’s ‘76 Departments of the afterlife’. With so many incredibly unique encounters at every turn, you could lose years of your life exploring every nook and cranny of the 16 massive districts. If the strange and wonderful excites something within you or your giftee, we recommend considering the spectacular Beijing Acrobatic Show. China is internationally recognised for some of the best acrobatics on Earth, and the Beijing Acrobatic Troupe is one of the best in the country! Slowly becoming one of the most popular ways for tourists to spend their evenings in Beijing, these shows are wildly entertaining! Sit back and enjoy a one and a half hour show containing gravity-defying contortionism, juggling, unicycling, chair-stacking, plate-spinning acts and many more mystifying stunts. The package even includes a tour guide who will take care of transport to and from the venue. On the other hand, if you are looking for an easy crowd pleasing option that is bound to satisfy everyone, look no further than a Beijing food experience.
It comes as no surprise to anyone that Chinese is one of the planet’s most loved cuisines and travelling to the country’s capital will prove why. Beijing cuisine is a mouthwatering blend of Shandong flavours, Chinese aristocrat cuisine and imperial dishes. The vibrant food of Beijing is rich and known for tasting salty, being tender and having a very strong sauce aroma. Now one simply can not talk about the food enjoyed in China’s capital without mentioning the iconic Beijing roast duck, or Peking Duck. This delectable dish is the epitome of the city’s cuisine and is an absolute must try when visiting Beijing. This centuries-old imperial meal is primarily revered for its thin, crispy skin that compliments the meticulously prepared tender strips of duck. Wrapped in a thin crepe and often accompanied with cucumbers, spring onions and hoisin sauce, evidence of this quintessential dish goes as far back as 1500 years! Other scrumptious Beijing favourites include Jiaozi dumplings, Mongolian Hotpot, donkey burgers, and shredded pork in Beijing sauce to name a few. For those wishing to get acquainted with all the unique flavours of the city, Gifting Owl’s Beijing Foodie Walk Tour is the perfect introduction. Nothing can go wrong when buying an authentic food experience, who doesn’t adore food? Led by a food-obsessed local guide, this tour provides guests with real insights into local life and cuisine. Tasting your way through Beijing with incredible street dishes, regional specialities and local snacks that no first-time visitor has ever heard of, this is a truly unique food adventure to remember. Along the way, you’ll meet culinary masters, like noodle and tofu makers, and even join locals for their daily food shopping. Some of the tasty treats on offer on this 3.5 hour expedition include: spring onion pancakes, Sichuan noodles, donkey meat sandwiches, and mini hotpots. As for those who love to get extra adventurous with their culinary pursuits, the Wangfujing Snack Street might be the place for you. The weird and wonderful offerings here include scorpions, seahorses, silkworms, snakes, wasp larvae and the notoriously pungent ‘stinky tofu’.
As mentioned earlier, Beijing’s unmatched wealth of historical sites draws in millions of avid visitors from all over the world, all eager to uncover the ancient secrets of the remarkable city. Awash in these immortalised treasures of the past, Beijing is unsurprisingly home to a staggering seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The first one that immediately springs to mind? Why the Great Wall of China of course! Easily one of the most famous landmarks in the world, the enormous Great Wall of China, equal in length to half of the Equator, remains the longest man-made structure in the world! This 21,000 km feat of human engineering is over 2,300 years old and took more than 1,800 years to build. The Great Wall attracts over 50 million annual visitors and is simply a must-do when it comes to not only visiting Beijing but visiting the country itself. Gifting Owl boasts a variety of different Great Wall experiences, with each devoted to a different section of the wall itself. For a great introductory tour of the most notable section of the mammoth landmark, the Beijing Hiking At Badaling Great Wall is the one. Badaling is easily the most popular part of the wall and has been visited by over 300 heads of state and VIPs from around the world. This half-day walking tour will prove to guests exactly why that is. Led by an insightful English speaking guide, your giftee will be a historical expert on the landmark after some unforgettable hours exploring the best-preserved and most complete Great Wall at Badaling section. Alternatively, the Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City & Mutianyu Great Wall Tour is a more affordable option that also includes an extra stop at yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Forbidden City happens to be the world’s largest ancient palace. Consisting of over 9,000 rooms, the enormous complex once housed the Ming and Qing dynasties during their respective reigns. It took an estimated 1 million labourers to complete the project which occupies a mind-boggling 720,000 square metres. Home to 24 Chinese Emperors, the impressive palace is the world's largest collection of well-preserved medieval wooden structures as well as being one of one of the world's largest cultural museums. If you’re buying for an early bird with a passion for history, the Beijing Imperial Forbidden Morning City Tour might just be the perfect gift you were looking for.
However, if your giftee is completely new to the captivating city of Beijing, an overall introductory tour of the city is often the best way to get best acquainted with local life. What better way to explore a sprawling metropolis than by bike? The Beijing By Bike Tour saves tourists time spent in traffic whilst also decreasing the walking time between stops. What a perfect solution. Following along Beijing’s Hutong lanes, your giftee will zoom their way through shops, markets, temples and historic buildings. The tour even includes visiting a local home and enjoying an authentic Chinese lunch, cooked with love by the family themselves.
Here at Gifting Owl our goal is to remove all of the unwanted stress of gift giving by making it as easy as possible. With all of our extremely flexible gifting vouchers having a 3 year validity and being completely interchangeable, there is absolutely no pressure on your decision. What’s stopping you? Get them a gift outside of the box this year with Gifting Owl.
