Attention burger fans! At long last, the city’s finest grill masters will unite once again. That’s right, the 2020 Beijing Burger Festival has arrived, and what’s more, you only have to wait two weeks to sink your teeth into the finest beef and buns that Beijing has to offer – so save the date: Sep 18, 19, and 20 in the entire north half of 望京小街 Wangjing Walk. Grease those tastebuds on Friday from 3pm-9pm and then come back for seconds (or thirds) on Saturday and Sunday from 11am-9pm. It is bound to be tons of juicy fun for the entire family!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR EARLY-BIRD TICKETS FOR BURGER FEST 2020 NOW

It’s been a long year, and Beijing could use a hero to save the day – not to mention a whole bunch of entertainment, music, activities, and of course, food and drink vendors that make Burger Fest the beefy blast that it is every year. This year will be extra super fun and tasty, however, as hordes of superheroes pour into the Wangjing Walk, threatening to munch down on crimes of blandness while locking up dry and tasteless burgers once and for all!

Burger man ready to save the day once more!

Juicy Juicy burgers as far as the eye can see!

What’s more, the fest will feature the superpowers of our title sponsor JSS and their caped delivery crusaders, a great way to get your favorite burger – or just about anything else, from fine foods to fresh groceries – brought straight to your door.

Early bird ticket holders will get a free superhero mask as a gift!

Burger lovers are encouraged to dress up as their favorite superhero – we may be restricted from using trademarked characters, but that doesn’t mean you can’t! If you’d rather not scour Taobao for a costume, though, then you’ll definitely want to grab an early-bird ticket, which comes with a special superhero eye mask! But if you really want to get your burger senses tingling, then opt for the Super Package, which includes an exclusive Super Burgerman or Burger logo T-shirt, a JSS tote bag with an RMB 198 JSS delivery card, and a superhero eye mask.

It’s a superhero, super fun-filled fest!

It’s like Halloween came deliciously early! Take the superhero theme and make it your own! This is a great opportunity for both you and your kids to channel your favorite superheroes. And who doesn’t like a good burger? This might be one of the few times when mealtime turns into fun-time. Here’s an idea for a family costume: The Incredibles! The list of possibilities is endless!

Just some of the swag awaiting early bird ticket holders

Furthermore, if there’s one thing a hero should fight for, it’s your right to have an opinion on the best burger in Beijing – truth and justice will be served – so come out to the fest and try all of the latest and greatest burgers before deciding for yourself whether they hold up to the classics, then vote for your favorite in the 2020 Burger Cup. Be sure to follow the Beijinger’s official WeChat account (ID: the Beijinger) to get your ballot when voting starts on Friday, Sep 18, the same day the festival starts.

Scan the QR code to grab your tickets now!

Missed Burger Fest last year? Check the pics below for an idea of the kind of party you can expect. Critics say it’s always both rare and well done:

KEEP READING: Beijing’s Best Family-Friendly Events, Sept 5-6

Photos: theBeijinger, Uni You

If 2020 were a subscription service, most of us would have hit the unsubscribe button a few months back. It feels as though all that could go wrong this year has gone wrong, including summer plans made months in advance. But all is not lost. You don’t have to bundle your family into a plane bound for another country or another exotic location to have fun, cos all the fun you need is right here in Beijing.

When was the last time you allowed yourself the heart-pounding thrill of riding on a rollercoaster or getting drenched as you fly through a water slide, without any regard for your phone or designer bag? You can make this summer the first to relive the joys of childhood in Beijing’s amusement parks. The Maldives might be out this year, but the pirate rides and rollercoasters are waiting for you to ride them. All you need to know is where to go to find them.

Happy Valley Amusement Park 北京欢乐谷

Address: Xiaowuji North Road, East 4th Road, Chaoyang District 朝阳区东四环小武基北路
Opening hours: Daily 8.30am-10pm
Price: RMB 260/adult, RMB 160/child, RMB 180/night safari

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since you came to Beijing, you’ve heard of Happy Valley! Complete with over 40 rides – 10 of which are extreme rides, is one of the biggest amusement parks in Beijing. If you have ever been to Disneyland, you might feel a sense of deja vu and it’s no accident as it was designed to feel similar. If you’re one of the rare few who don’t like rides, then you can enjoy a day at the cinema at the seven-screen IMAX theater. And on your way out, you can grab a few funday trinkets at the shopping complex located on the grounds.

Chaoyang Park, Paradise of The Brave 勇敢者乐园

Address: 1 Chaoyang Park South Rd, Chaoyang District 朝阳区农展馆南路1号
Opening hours: Daily 6am-10pm (last entry at 9pm)
Price: RMB 70

Beijing is quite the sight to see in its full summer glory. Chaoyang Park, in particular, complete with its nature, walks, trees, and pools, is a particular delight for any family. At Paradise of the Brave, kids can enjoy playing in the tree canopy games, while the adults can indulge in a little grownup-size fun on the massive party bike with a bottle or can of your favorite drink.

Crab Island 蟹岛绿色生态度假村

Address: 1 Crab Island Road, Chaoyang District 朝阳区1号蟹岛路
Opening Hours: Daily 10am-5pm
Price: RMB 78

If you’re looking for a hotel holiday experience within the city, then Crab Island Carnival might be it. Complete with hotels and conference centers, this amusement park also has a water park, horse-riding club, go-carting facility, and farm. Depending on whether you are jelly-jointed or have nerves of steel, there are corresponding rides for your level of courage. You can choose to buy an all-inclusive ticket, which allows you access to ten out of twelve possible rides or can choose to purchase tickets at every individual ride, which might work out as more expensive. It’s is a smaller park, so more manageable when trying to keep track of the entire family if everyone decides to do their own thing.

Green Island Paradise 绿岛乐园

Address: South Section of Songliang Road, Tongzhou District 通州区通州大运河森林旅游区
Opening hours: Daily 9am-5pm
Price: RMB 180

So maybe your French Riviera trip will have to be shelved until further notice, but that doesn’t mean you have to go without the Riviera experience entirely. Beijing’s own Grand Canal Park which itself is a UNESCO heritage site with beautiful wetlands makes for a beautiful picnic, cheese, and wine by the river location, and if you feel adventurous, the entire family can head over to the Green Island Paradise amusement park and enjoy a wide array of rides.

Beijing World Park 北京世界公园

Address: 158 Fengbao Road, Fengtai District 丰台区花乡丰葆路158号
Opening hours: Daily 8am-4.30pm
Price: RMB 100

A simple and cheaper solution to a world tour this year might be a visit to this park, but if you’re looking for thrills and excitement, maybe try another place. Beijing World Park attempts to give visitors a taste of all the world’s most iconic sites and monuments without leaving Beijing. All the monuments are made to a smaller scale, with everything from the Statue of Liberty to the Taj Mahal, and one would suspect a model of the original Notre Dame. The park is large, over 46.7 hectares, and perfect for strolls with the family. And once you have had your fill of the world’s monuments, you can indulge in a bit of shopping at the shopping, entertainment and dining section of the park.

Beijing Nanhaizi Elk Museum 南海子麋鹿苑博物馆

Address: Luyuan Road, Sanhaizi, Quan Country, Daxing District 大兴区旧宫镇旧忠路
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 9am-4pm
Price: Free

Getting out of the stifling heat in the city should be a priority this summer. Beijing’s Nanhaizi Elk Museum to the south of the city offers a great chance to escape the heat and the concrete jungle, to see the rare 坡쨔 mílù or Père David’s deer, a Chinese antlered deer that narrowly escaped extinction and disappeared from the Chinese mainland for almost a century. The reserve is also home to numerous types of wetland birds, peacocks, and even mustangs.

KEEP READING: Exploring Shunyi’s New Dongjiao Wetland Park

Photos: Unsplash

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 June issue

When standing on Chang’An Avenue, or in the shadow of the skyscrapers in the CBD, Beijing can really feel like a concrete jungle. But among all the busy streets and seemingly endless construction sites there is an abundance of beautiful green spaces and parks, for people of all ages to enjoy. Of course, the best park for your family is the one that you can most easily get to, and feel safe enjoying with your brood, but even so, a few do still stand out among the crowd.

Chaoyang Park 朝阳公园

Address: 1 Nongzhan South Road, Chaoyang District 朝阳区农展馆南路1号
Opening hours: Daily 6am-10pm
Price: RMB 5, additional for special activities and theme parks

Chaoyang Park is, unsurprisingly, the king of the parks in Chaoyang District. Measuring a whopping 289 hectares (New York’s Central Park is 341 hectares) it has just about everything you could want in a park: grassy lawns, acres of flower beds, an extensive lake system complete with paddle boats for hire, a 5km running track, more than one amusement park (think rollercoasters and a climbing wall), a laser-tag field, badminton courts, basketball courts… the list goes on. It is also very well stocked with restrooms and concession stands, making it an easy place to spend the day no matter the age of your children.

Tuanjiehu Park 团结湖公园

Address: 16 Tuanjiehu Nanli, Chaoyang District 朝阳区团结湖南里16号
Opening hours: Daily, 7am-10pm
Price: Free; additional for special activities and water park

Pocket-sized Tuanjiehu Park is one of the most overlooked parks in the city, but so worth exploring with your family. There are so many different fun things packed into this tiny space: an outdoor skating rink, play equipment, paddle boats, wooded hills with trails to explore, and even a full-sized water park complete with a sandy beach, wave pool, and slides. Tuanjiehu is also a very active community park, so no matter what time you go there, you’ll find people dancing, practicing tai-chi, playing musical instruments, singing in a choir, kicking a  shuttlecock, or just taking in the striking views of the CBD right next door.

Old Summer Palace  (Yuanmingyuan) 圆明园

Address: 28 Qinghua Xilu, Haidian District 海淀区清华西路28号
Opening hours: Daily 7am-7pm (May-Aug); 7am-5.30pm (Nov-Mar); 7am-630.pm (Apr, Sep-Oct)
Price: RMB 10, plus RMB 15 (ruins and labyrinth), students half-price. Free for kids under 1.2m

The Old Summer Palace is a must-visit site in Beijing, even though the most important sites are now actually in ruins, as it was famously looted by Allied forces in 1860. This is a very big park, so be prepared for walking, but the seemingly endless grounds, temples, lakes, and landscaped gardens draw you ever onwards. The northern sections tend to be calmest, even on busy weekend days, perfect for a relaxing stroll. In winter, the vast Fuhai Lake is a very popular spot for ice skating, and during summer all ages can have fun spotting the park’s famous black swans.

Ready to go further? Here are two beautiful parks you may have never heard of…

Hanshiqiao Wetland Nature Reserve Park 汉石桥湿地公园

Address Hanshiqiao Village, Yangzhen Area, Shunyi District 顺义杨镇地区汉石桥村
Opening hours: Year-round
Price: Free

Hanshiqiao Wetland Nature Reserve Park is the only remaining natural reed marsh in the city, and subsequently boasts hundreds of wild plants and many species of birds. Especially accessible for those in the north-east, it’s a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city, with plenty of walking and cycling paths throughout. Rent bikes, or get out into the water on a pedalo. The reserve is also popular for fishing, and, of course, bird-watching. According to Terry Townshend of Birding Beijing, it’s the ideal place to observe grey herons, great and little egrets, Chinese pond herons, oriental reed warblers, common cuckoos, and Indian cuckoos.

Grand Canal Forest Park 大运河森林公园

Address: Songliang Road, Tongzhou District 通州区宋梁路南段
Opening hours: Year-round
Price: Free

Another beautiful green space right on our doorstep, the Tongzhou Canal Forest Park is a calm and peaceful spot to spend the day with your family. Extending for kilometers on both banks of the mighty and historic Grand Canal (the northern terminus is just a bit north of the park, while the southern terminus is some 1,700+km away in Hangzhou), it is perfect for cycling, day-camping, kite-flying, and picnicking.

KEEP READING: Dig out Your Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. It’s Water Park Season! 

Photos: Anna Pellegrin Hartley, Uni You, Sabrina Zhang

This article appeared in the beijingkids 2020 June issue

With most travel restrictions still in place, those lazy summer days spent on the beach of some tropical island are still out of reach. But hey, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dig your bikini out of winter storage. Chaoyang Park is full of activities for the whole family, and recently they’ve given their “beach” a facelift.

A beach right in the middle of the city? You betcha!

While going there is not going to the same as laying out on the white-sand beaches of Boracay in the Philippines, it’s as close to an island vacation as we can get without leaving Beijing at the moment.

Approximately 300 meters from the East gate of Chaoyang Park, the park’s sandy beach has just been given a fresh coat of sand and a thorough scrub down to be pristine clean for the summer. And while you can’t swim yet, you’re more than welcome to slip on a bikini for some laid back tanning, picnicking, beach volleyball, and making good old fashioned sandcastles with the family.

Time for a spot of beach volleyball

The sandy beach is open daily from 9am to 5pm. All-day entrance costs RMB 30 per person. Kids 1.2 meters and below enter for free but must be accompanied by an adult.

KEEP READING:  Our Gude to the Chaoyang Park and Liangmaqiao Area

Photos: Chaoyang Park Official WeChat Account