2025 Gaobeidian Travel Guide: Must-see attractions, popular food, hotels, transportation routes (updated in August)

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📅 Itinerary Plan A weekend trip to Hebei to visit two of the Eight Great Liao Dynasty structures—Kaishan Temple & Geyuan Temple Day 1: Depart from Beijing on Saturday morning, drive about an hour to Kaishan Temple in Gaobeidian City, Baoding, Hebei. There's a parking lot on the east side of the temple, and admission is free with registration—visit takes less than an hour. Then drive under two hours to Laiyuan County, check into the hotel, have lunch and rest briefly before heading to Geyuan Temple (parking is tricky nearby; you can park at Laiyuan Department Store parking lot and walk about 300 meters). The temple door had a "temporarily closed" notice but was unlocked with visitors inside, so we entered as well—visit also took less than an hour. With time to spare, we also visited Lai Shuiyuan Park and Taishan Temple with Xingwen Pagoda (a national heritage site, said to be a Tang Dynasty pagoda but heavily restored over time—somewhat underwhelming). Day 2: Visit Baishan Mountain or Wulonggou Great Wall on Sunday, then return to Beijing (~3 hours). 🏨 Hotel Recommendation Lakeside Hotel in Laiyuan—choose a lake-view room facing Lai Shui Lake for lovely, peaceful scenery. 🍴 Food Recommendation 300 meters left from the hotel: Jin-Cha-Ji Restaurant, tasty and highly recommended. 📌 Practical Tips Laiyuan is much cooler than Beijing (7–8°C lower), pack long sleeves for mornings/evenings.

I was standing in front of the gate of Kaishan Temple when the cold wind blew across my cheeks. This ancient temple from the Liao Dynasty, hidden deep in the ancient village of Gaobeidian City, Baoding, Hebei Province, now looks like amber frozen in time in the freezing temperature of zero degrees. The iron horses hanging from the eaves sing in the wind, and the bronze sound spanning thousands of years and the whistling of wind among the brackets are like the breath of the Khitan craftsmen across time and space. … I heard that Kaishan Temple has reopened. It is almost the time of Waking of Insects and spring is getting stronger. I originally planned to go there on the weekend, but when I woke up on Sunday, the temperature dropped sharply and snowflakes were falling. I came after a little hesitation. When I walked into the faded red lacquer door, I was greeted by not only the subtle fragrance of pine and cypress, but also a mysterious tremor that spanned ancient and modern times. Although I was freezing, my heart was burning because it was worth it. … On a morning in the second year of Chongxi in the Liao Dynasty (1033), when the first wooden beam was joined by mortise and tenon joints, the craftsmen probably never imagined that this hall would travel through ten centuries of spring and autumn and meet us in the chilly spring of 2025. At this moment, it is taking on the northern wind in the most relaxed posture. …… ✨Kaishan Temple is commonly known as Dafo Temple. According to the "Xincheng County Chronicles", Kaishan Temple was built during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, and the main hall was built in the second year of the Chongxi period of the Liao Dynasty (1033). There are only three single buildings left. The Mountain Gate Hall, Heavenly King Hall and Main Hall are arranged in sequence from south to north. There is also a piece of remaining stone carvings in the courtyard. This is all of Kaishan Temple today. During the Cultural Revolution, cultural relics were generally destroyed, but Kaishan Temple was spared because it was used as a granary. It was officially opened after renovation in April 2023, but a sudden flood forced the temple to close. There are still traces of flooding on the gate of the hall. Fortunately, thanks to the unremitting efforts of cultural heritage workers, it has now reopened and is once again showing its unique charm. ✨Kaishan Temple may be the least famous and the most low-key among the eight Liao structures, but when you really approach it, you will be shocked by its hidden grandeur. ✅ Useful information: 1️⃣ The stone tablet in front of the main hall was erected during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, and it records the process of rebuilding Kaishan Temple. 2️⃣The Main Hall is five bays wide and three bays deep, with a single-eaved hip roof. There are only four pillars in the hall, which provides a wide field of vision. During the construction process, the "column-moving" and "column-reducing" techniques common in Liao and Jin architecture were used. 3️⃣The roof of the main hall adopts the method of large cross arms and large supporting feet. It is not supported by beams. Instead, it slants upward from the inside of the upper horizontal beam, and the upper part is suspended to support the end of the ridge beam. This setting is more ingenious and magical than the usual method. 4️⃣There are two Tang Dynasty Guanyin statues in the hall. One stands behind the Buddha statue in the main hall. You need to go around to the back door of the main hall. Its eight arms are damaged, but the base color is still preserved. Its face is solemn and it is covered with necklaces. The other one was lying quietly in a dark corner nearby. Its face couldn't be seen clearly, and it looked a little pitiful. 5️⃣You can vaguely see faded mural patterns on the arch above the back door of the main hall, and a few blurry words are engraved on the pillar on the left, "Three people on July 19, the first year of Zhishun", the ancients visited here! … When I put my frozen palms on the wooden door of the hall to feel the pulse of the wood grain, the body temperature of modern people resonated with the thousand-year-old wood, and I suddenly understood that architecture is not only a container of space, but also a messenger of time. When I left, I looked back again. The outline of the hall seemed more solemn in the cold light, but the arcs drawn by the flying eaves and brackets were as light as when it was first built. Suddenly I understood that truly great buildings never need a greenhouse to worship them, just like those ancient souls that become clearer in the cold wind. The colder the season, the more they can illuminate the warmth of the civilization passed down from generation to generation. … ❗️Practical information: 🚗Location: Gaobeidian City, Baoding, Hebei Province, about 7km by taxi from Gaobeidian High-speed Railway Station. I took a taxi directly from Zhuozhou, 💰50+ 🕒Open: 9:00-11:30, 14:00-16:30 (closed on Mondays), admission stops at 11:00 noon, and the venue will be cleared at 11:30. Friends who want to come should manage their time well 🎫Tickets: Currently free, no reservation is required, and the staff will ask you to register after entering the museum ❤️There is a seal of the Great Hall on the registration table, which is also a surprise!

Visit the Mahavira Hall of Kaishan Temple in Xincheng Town, Gaobeidian City, one of the eight Liao Dynasty structures Kaishan Temple opening hours 9:00–11:30, 14:00–16:30 Easy to find by car with navigation. Free attraction, called "Big Temple" by locals. There is only one staff member inside, and you can visit after registration. Not many people The main hall has a single-eave hipped roof with five bays. The platform is rectangular, and the front is slightly smaller than the platform's terrace There is an area surrounded by fences in the yard, with remaining stone tablets, etc.

Today's ride is approximately 192 kilometers. 🌺 route: Beijing ~ Gaobeidian, Hebei (Nanhu Village, Beiku Town) ~ Return to explore Zhuozhou Film and Television City ~ Beijing. The food along the way is cheap and delicious. 🌺 Road conditions: Most of it is bike-friendly, with separate lanes, and the road conditions are good from Beijing to Zhuozhou, but there is too much sand and gravel on the road afterwards. When riding at night, you need to light up many sections by yourself, and there is no ghost or drifting the whole way. 🌺 Gaobeidian Introduction: 1. Beiku Town The creative park is built entirely of red bricks, where you can eat, drink and enjoy art collection exhibitions. You can also check in and take a few photos while you are there. In the park, there are international antique piano art exhibitions, a strange stone collection hall, a camera, clock and ancient coin exhibition, and an antique lock collection hall for visitors to visit and appreciate. . . 2. China Door and Window Museum No, I was too tired. 3. World Specialty Town No, for the reasons given above. It is said that there are many world specialties in it 4. Kaishan Temple . . . 🌺 Zhuozhou Introduction: 1. Film and Television City CCTV Film and Television Base has shot many popular movies and TV series, and the props and scenery on the site are spectacular. Judging from the diaries posted by others, it is most likely abandoned. At least the inside looks like no one is taking care of it, but there is a guard on duty at the gate. Not far from the gate on both sides, many walls collapsed. 2. Twin Towers of the Liao Dynasty in Zhidu Temple How to create new and creative photos surrounded by contemporary residential buildings has always been a challenge online. . 3. Gao Family Courtyard Looking at the map, there is a large area of ​​old houses. Save it for when you're driving. . .

Of the eight Liao Dynasty buildings, the two in Hebei are the hardest to find, and Kaishan Temple in Gaobeidian is one of them. ➡️Gaobeidian is named after its tall stone tablets. It was historically known as "New City" and was located on the border of the Liao and Song dynasties. After the Treaty of Shanyuan, it became an important border town. With the stability of the border and the prosperity of the market, people began to build grand buildings, and the main hall of Kaishan Temple was built at that time. 🏯The main hall of Kaishan Temple is five bays wide and three bays deep, with a single-eave hip roof. It was built in the second year of the Chongxi era of Emperor Xingzong of the Liao Dynasty (1033) and is nearly a thousand years old. ⛩️The Liao Dynasty followed the Tang system, and the main hall of Kaishan Temple has a strong Tang style. The exterior has large brackets and deep eaves. The interior beam structure uses a reduced column construction + moved column construction to increase the interior space of the building, allowing for larger Buddha statues and pedestals.

Gaobeidian Shenglin International Hotel Shenglin International Hotel is located on Xinhua North Street in the Economic Development Zone of Gaobeidian City, Hebei Province. It officially started operations in August 2017 and is a garden-style luxury business hotel that integrates guest rooms, dining, and conferences. The hotel enjoys a unique geographical location, situated in the eastern new city area of Gaobeidian City, close to Xinfadi Financial Street and the logistics park, only 1.8 kilometers away from the city's Yanzhao Park, and there is a national mountaineering training base 3.7 kilometers away; transportation is developed, and travel is convenient: the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway entrance is just an 8-minute drive, Gaobeidian East Station is a 12-minute drive, and it takes less than an hour to drive to Xiong'an and Beijing, making transfers to various places worry-free. The hotel has a total construction area of 43,000 square meters, with the main building standing 19 stories high, grand and imposing in stature, and features a large green ecological garden, with an elegant environment and pleasant scenery. The hotel has 242 carefully designed business guest rooms of different types, with complete facilities and equipment in the rooms, including a unique intelligent control system and an independent temperature control system. The hotel has a Western restaurant with European-style decoration that can accommodate 150 people dining at the same time, and a Chinese restaurant with several luxurious private rooms, inviting famous chefs to present delicious dishes with full color, aroma, and taste. The hotel also has 9 different types of meeting rooms and multifunctional banquet halls, capable of holding meetings for 6-600 people. In addition, the hotel is equipped with a tea room, a comprehensive gym, a constant temperature swimming pool, foot therapy, a beauty center, and a boutique shopping store, making it an ideal place for elite individuals to pursue a stylish life. Staying at Shenglin International Hotel, you can enjoy the natural oxygen bar of the green ecological garden; the large free parking lot in the park makes entry and exit more convenient and fast. With sincere service, enjoy a prestigious life!

Gaobeidian Shoheng International Hotel Liquor The store is located at Xinchang North Street, the intersection of Xinchang North Street and Yiqing Road, Gaobeidian City, Hebei Province. It is located on the Financial Street of Shouheng Park, adjacent to the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, Beijing-Kunming, Langzhuo and other highways, National Highway 107, National Highway 112, Beijing Guangzhou Railway and Beijing-Shijiazhuang Expressway pass through the city, making transportation convenient. Among them, Beijing-Shijiazhuang Expressway and Langzhuo Expressway are about 5 minutes' drive from the hotel. From the hotel, you can reach the prosperous and charming Beijing city in a short time, and the transfer across the country is smooth. The hotel has a total construction area of ​​45,690.3 square meters. It is a large-scale foreign-related hotel integrating guest rooms, conferences, catering, and recreation. It has many luxury suites and superior guest rooms, all equipped with multimedia broadband network, satellite closed-circuit television, international and domestic direct dial telephones, Personal safes, electronic door keys, building automation, etc. make guests' lives safe and comfortable. There is also a multi-functional banquet hall that can accommodate 500 people and multiple small and medium-sized conference rooms. It is equipped with advanced audio-visual and lighting equipment and a dressing room, which can meet the needs of various specifications of meetings. The hotel's Chinese restaurant, Western restaurant, and tea hall are decorated in European style, which is simple, simple, smart and modern. All delicacies are prepared by famous chefs, allowing you to appreciate the different food cultures of China and the West.

Amidst the rugged valleys of Ayer Itam on Penang Island, there is a large Buddhist monastery that attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists every year. The history of this large temple dates back to the late 19th century, when Venerable Biao Lien, a Hokkien monk, was visiting Penang for the Buddhist Lent. He discovered a hill that resembled a crane spreading its wings, a good location according to Feng Shui principles, and decided to build a temple on it, giving it the Hokkien name ‘Kek Lok Si’, meaning ‘Temple of the Pure Land of Buddhist Lands’. Construction began in 1891 and ended in 1905, just one year before Venerable Biao Lien passed away. During the time of the second abbot, the temple built a large pagoda, the ‘Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas’, which is 100 feet high. It has a unique architectural style: the lower part is built in Chinese style, the middle part in Thai style, and the top part in Burmese style. To show the unity of Buddhism that does not discriminate between races or sects of its followers. With a total area of ​​over 30 acres, Kek Lok Si Temple holds the title of the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia without any competition. Apart from the magnificent Ten Thousand Buddhas Pagoda, this place is also full of beautiful architecture such as Bodhisattva Hall, Deva Hall and Tripitaka Hall which houses countless Buddhist art such as Buddha statues, paintings, carvings and many more. It is understandable that Kek Lok Si Temple has become the first popular tourist attraction that people pin in their minds when visiting Penang. It is said that the biggest Chinese New Year celebration in Penang is held at this temple. The temple is decorated with thousands of lanterns every night during the festival. Location: Kek Lok Si Temple, 11500 Ayer Itam, Pulau Pinang (Map) #travel Opening hours: Daily 08.00 – 17.00 hrs.