Discover Beijing
Shichahai Lakes and Hutongs
什刹海
Three linked lakes - Qianhai, Houhai and Xihai - that have been Beijing's summer playground since the Yuan dynasty, ringed by grey-brick courtyard lanes, lakeside bars and willow-shaded walking paths. The easiest place to feel the old low-rise city without paying for a ticket.
The story
What makes this place special
Three connected lakes - Qianhai, Houhai and Xihai - north-west of the Forbidden City, covering about 147 hectares with the surrounding streets. The name means 'the lake of ten temples'. This water goes back to the Jin dynasty, and from the Yuan it was the northern terminus of the Grand Canal, so grain boats from Hangzhou unloaded here; that is why the lanes around it filled with warehouses, then with the mansions of princes and officials, including Prince Gong's. The Beijing municipal government designated the area a Historical and Cultural Scenic Area in 1992, which is why the hutongs around it were not cleared like most of the old city.
What you’ll discover
Willow-lined lake shores with a path all the way round, crossed at the narrows by the small humpbacked Yinding - 'silver ingot' - bridge, which divides the busy southern lake from the quieter northern one. Behind the shore on all sides is the densest surviving area of hutongs in Beijing: grey brick walls, courtyard gates with stone thresholds and carved lintels, bicycles, and ordinary life. The southern end around Qianhai is a strip of bars, restaurants and rickshaw touts; the northern and western shores are residential. Boats go out on the water in summer and in winter the lakes freeze and are skated on.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Walk north. The bar strip at the south end of Qianhai is what every tour drops you at and it is the worst part; ten minutes' walk round Houhai and up to Xihai you have the same water with residents instead of touts.
- Go into the hutongs on foot or by bicycle, not by rickshaw. The rickshaw 'hutong tours' charge heavily, take a fixed loop and usually end at a shop or a paid 'family visit'. The lanes are safe, flat and interesting to wander alone.
- The best lanes are west and north of Houhai - Yangfang, Xiaoshibei, Baochao, and the lanes around Prince Gong's Mansion. Nanluoguxiang, the one everybody names, is now a souvenir high street.
- Early morning is a different place: swimmers in the lake in summer, men with birdcages and chess boards, and breakfast stalls selling doujiang and youtiao in the lanes.
- Winter is the local secret: when the ice is declared safe, the lakes open for skating and ice-chairs, and this is the best cheap afternoon in Beijing between December and February.
- Chain it with Prince Gong's Mansion, the Drum and Bell Towers and the Soong Ching-ling residence, which are all within walking distance round the north and west shore - this is the one part of Beijing where you can do a whole day without a taxi.
When to come
Early morning for local life, or late afternoon into dusk for the light on the water and the lanterns coming on. Summer evenings are crowded and humid; a cold clear winter day with the lake frozen is the most atmospheric.
Getting around
The lake path is flat and largely paved and can be done in a wheelchair for most of its circuit, with benches and plenty of places to stop - the main obstacles are the Yinding bridge, which is a humpbacked crossing with steps, and sections where the shore path narrows between parked scooters and restaurant tables. The hutongs are flat but have high stone thresholds at every courtyard gate, broken paving, no pavements, and constant electric-scooter traffic, so a wheelchair can pass along the lanes but cannot enter courtyards. A bad knee does well here: it is level ground throughout.
Worth knowing before you go
Walk the quieter west and north shores of Houhai and Xihai rather than the bar strip - and stand on Yinding Bridge between Qianhai and Houhai, the classic viewpoint toward the Western Hills. Combine with Prince Gong's Mansion and the Drum Tower, which are both a few minutes away.
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