On Saturday morning at around 10am,  my thermometer on the balcony registered 36 C in the shade.

For us, it only meant one thing: Either hit the pool or head to a tropical island. Unfortunately, taking impromptu trips to an exotic destination with three young children, one of them being a 3.5-month-old baby without a passport, seemed highly unlikely, so we decided to go with the first option.

My go-to swimming pools are Guoce and Dynasty Garden; however, this time I wanted to explore another place that I had heard about: the Splash Recreation Club at CITIC Hotel Beijing Airport. All these pools are located in Shunyi a 45-minute Didi ride away, so we knew that getting there would take some time. As we are now a family of five, and we do not all fit in a regular-sized vehicle, seven-seaters are what we use for our daily commute. And these rides can get quite expensive for longer trips, so there was no point in driving out to Shunyi for only a few hours. So, we decided to check into the hotel and spend two days at the pool.

We got to the hotel around 3pm, and after checking in we walked through a long corridor to the elevators to reach our room, where we just left our things before heading back down to the pool. We found it easily as there were signs with arrows pointing in its direction. There is a front desk where you can buy your tickets, but if you’re a hotel guest, you get to use both indoor and outdoor pools for free.

Tickets are RMB 120/person and RMB 80/child (1m-1.4m tall) and kids under 1m  get in for free. There is also a family ticket for one adult plus one child for RMB 150. Towels are available for free at the front desk.

It was Saturday afternoon, and I would have expected the swimming pool to be crowded, especially because it was so close to the airport and people were constantly arriving and departing. However, I was pleasantly surprised. When we got there, there were no more than 20 people comfortably lounging on beach chairs in the shade of parasols. There were plenty of free lounge chairs, so we had no problem finding the perfect spot for the day. The kids, of course, couldn’t wait to get into the water, and I must admit, I couldn’t either. The water was clear and warm.

The swimming pool isn’t super huge (as a matter of fact, it’s on the smaller side), but it’s well-maintained and not crowded. The best thing about it is that it’s just the right size for parents to be able to watch their kids closely from a beach chair, without having to walk around the pool.

There are basically two swimming pools: a bigger, deeper pool with a depth of 1.5-1.6m and a small 0.7m deep kiddy pool. There is also a small playground with sand surfaces and slides and swings, so my kids were getting in and out of the pool, going down the slide, and heading back into the water.

Two outdoor showers made it super easy and convenient to quickly wash the sand off of the kids so they could jump right back into the water.

As for food and drinks, we saw a small trailer café right next to the playground area, but it was closed and looked pretty deserted, so our educated guess is that it won’t open anytime soon. On the bright side, waimai is available, so you definitely won’t go hungry. There are also quite a few restaurants around the hotel if you prefer to eat out.

If it gets too hot, the indoor swimming pool is conveniently located only a few steps away. We didn’t use it but noticed that it was much busier than the outdoor one.

There’s an additional source of entertainment for billiards enthusiasts: If you wish to hide from the sun for a few minutes and enjoy a game of pool, you can do so from the air-conditioned play area.

The changing rooms with showers and toilets can be found next to the indoor pool, but there’s also an additional women’s changing room at the entrance.

Sunday was even better because we got to spend the whole day chilling by the pool and it never got crowded. It was definitely worth the 45-minute drive – great for kids and adults alike.

Find it:
CITIC Hotel Beijing Airport, 9 Xiao Tianzhu Nanlu, Shunyi District
北京顺义区小天竺南路9号中信酒店北京
Tel: 6456 5588
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 10am-10pm

Images: Sanja Stojkov