Beijiners' family hang out for weekends. The yellowish slightly muddy hot spring has smooth touch.(photo: May 2009)
Spent my Golden Week, a Japanese spring holiday season in Beijing, China. This was my first visit to Beijing. There are some hot springs in and around Beijing, I visited four of them besides the famous tourist spots like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.
The giant panda wasn't so cute.
The Huaqing Spa Hotel is known for the first large scale garden-style open-air baths in Beijing. It's easy to visit for foreigners as it's within walking distance from the subway station.
I felt the admission fee of ¥89 (nearly 1300 yen) was a bit expensive compared to the other consumer prices (Usually I don't spend more than 1000yen for soaking in Japan). Hot spring soaking might be a snobbish leisure for beijiners.
There are also some indoor baths.
◆Huaqing Spa Hotel
Type: Gender Mixed. Swim suites necessary.
Address: No.2 Jia Linshuiqiao, Chaoyang District, Beijing, China
Business hour: 9:00 AM to 02:00 AM
Holiday: None
Admission fee: ¥89 (¥128 including a meal at the cafeteria)
Equipment (for day visit bathing): Open-air baths, indoor baths, a swimming pool, a cafeteria. Free Bath towels.
Access: About 10 minutes walk from the Lishuiqiao Station of the Subway Line five & thirteen.
Link: Official website of Huaqing Spa Hotel in English
My rating (out of five): 3
Hi onsen soaker
ReplyDeletewhat do you thingh about this chinese onsen?
For me this is a decorated swinming pool, this has nothing to do with the onsen culture & spirit :purification, nature, body treatment, shared "hadaka no tsukiai"
Mata ne
Hi Dreny-san,
ReplyDeleteYes, it's absolutely different from Japanese onsen. It's something strange, but I enjoyed the difference. Also I respect their bathing habit and culture. And the water was what I know as ONSEN.
Hi Onsen soaker sama
ReplyDeleteI wanted to say that each kind of bath has a different cultural meaning and a different word.
In Holland( and northen europe) the tradionnal sauna exist in every town and is a place for local people to socialise once a week. The sauna and the swimming pool as such are mixed and naked. The restaurant and the place to rest are cloth on.
In France people are going to the traditionnal hot spring allways for medical reason and is cloth on. It is believed that the hot spring water has medical benefits and it is often payed by social security.Yes we are crazy
In Hungary the hot spring are generally hudge not deep so people can walk inside, talking some even play chess, some are open air other are in fantastic 19 century classical buildings like cathedrals and alwways cloth on.
I like each of them and respect their bathing habits like you say, but onsen is for me only related to the japanese culture and way of taking a bath.I would more speak about hot spring who exist in many places;
Any way the most important was that you enjoyed the place and the time you spent there;
Dreny