Lake Houhai Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information
Houhai is a lake in Beijing, part of the Shichahai lake area. In recent years it has become famous for nightlife because it is home to several popular restaurants, bars, and cafes.Until recently Houhai only consisted of a few restaurants. Houhai first became popular with modern establishments on the newly constructed Lotus Lane in 2003.The area is especially popular with foreign tourists visiting Beijing, but is also often visited by the expatriate community and younger locals.
What to see and do here
See
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Lake Houhai is a man-made lake, also one part of Shishahai which is composed of Qianhai, Houhai and Xihai. The Houhai area takes up 146.7 hektares, and 34 hektares is covered by water. Houhai has a history of over a thousand years. Here you can see beautiful water waving with the breeze and weeping willow showing off their slender bodies. From time to time, there will be little boats cruising around on the surface of the lake, decorating the green water.
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Bars: Especially at night, the lights of all bars will be lightened up and the whole bar street will take on a lively scene. What said bars are not for watching, here, bars forms a scene even more beautiful then some parks.
Do
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Get yourself a beer in a bar: With various of bars along the little street, eastern and western styles, and all kinds of food and drinks, you can sit in any of the bars here and talk or paly some games with your friends and family, and you will find 24 hours a day is far from enough.
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Cruise on Lake Houhai: Sitting in a comfortable boat or drive a little boat by yourself, eating some snacks whille watching the beautiful sceneries on the banks, you will feel the meaning of life. Price: 25 RMB per person.
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Rickshaws: If you take a rickshaw tour around the HouHai area, there are two historical spots that you are very likely to visit. China's last emperor, Puyi, was born in a mansion near HouHai. Another courtyard house (SiHeYuan), in this case a very large one, was the longtime residence of Song QingLing, the wife of Sun YatSen. Both these mansions are now museums. The expansive gardens and ponds provide a glimpse of what life was like for the privileged before the Communists, who officially frowned on such extravagance.
Weather here
The climate here is of the continental type, with cold and dry winters, due to the Siberian air massses that move southward across the Mongolian Plateau. The summers are hot owing to warm and humid monsoon winds from the southeast bringing Beijing most of its annual precipitation. January is the coldest month and July is the warmest. Winter usually begins towards the end of October. The summer months, June to August, are wet and hot with about 40% of the annual precipitation.
Dining
Apart from the bars, there are also some good restaurants and every restaurant in Houhai has its own style, decoration, food and drink.
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Kao Rou Ji: Near Silver Ingot Bridge (Yingding Qiao) close to the Drum Tower is this old Beijing stand-by that has been firing irs oven since Qing times. If joining Lakeside Walk or Beijng Bike Ride you will pass nearby, so you can stock up on calories with the flavoursome coriander-laced roast mutton, barbecue lamb along with hot and sour soup, sesame buns and roast duck.
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Buffalo: Buffalo's menu is very interesting. It's like a CD cover with extremely romantic names like 'love can be food' and 'fish from the love sea'.
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South Silk Road is one of the Yunnan and Guizhou food restaurants favored by local diners seaking a nice environment. Its sofa seating and large glass window let customers have a good view of Houhai while eating.
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Nuage, the famous Vietnamese restaurant, has very striking decorations. Some people have compared it to The Lover, a Hong Kong-France collaboration written by Marguerite Dura. Business is booming, and Nuage is expanding into a new building.
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La Baie Des Anges is a restaurant opened by two Frech brothers Oliver Six and Benjamin Six.
Get around
Lotus Lane's ample terraces are the place to people watch in warm weather, but equally intriguing are the ancient alleyways around the lakes. Already popular are hutong tours by bicycle rickshaw. No need to book ahead: touts will find you and try to charge US$25 or more.
A cheaper option is to tour by foot, particularly the alleys west of Houhai Lake, home to some of Beijings best traditional stone housing. Turn one corner, then another, and you feel lost in the old Imperial City of centuries ago.
Or pedal yourself. Universal Bicycle offers bikes for 10 yuan (about US$1.25) per hour, double for bicycles built for two, from a stall near the Han Cing Restaurant.
Sleep
The hotels around Houhai are not fancy, but the few that are open to western guests provide a good dose of local color. Options include the Bamboo Garden Hotel (24 Xiaoshiqiao Hutong; 86-10/6403-2229) and Lu Song Yuan Hotel (22 Banchang Hutong; 86-10/6404-0436).
Both are courtyard hotels, abounding in character with rooms from about US$50-75.
- Xihai Hotel (62 Gulou Xidajie; 86-10/6401-8822; doubles from US$40) is a gem few locals know. The architecture is authentic old Tibetan; its run by the Tibetan Autonomous Region (the Dalai Lama visited in the 1950s).
Entertainment
Shopping
Lotus Blue Shop (51-17 Di' anmen Xidajie/6617-2714) A few doors from Lotus Blue Bar is the trendiest boutique on the lake, with prices to match. It stocks a nice assortment of handicrafts from around Southeast Asia, with loads of unique Chinese porcelain figurines ranging from US$80 to $150.
The old hutong alleyways from Yinding Bridge toward the 13th-century Drum Tower are great for browsing, even if you arent in a buying mood. Antique shops offer local collectibles including vintage photos of Houhai, looking remarkably unchanged after half a century.
Standing out from numerous clothing and trinket shops is Tibetan boutique Garum Meijing (12 Yandai Xiejie/6402-8988). Much of the jewelry and fabric is Tebatan-style from Nepal, but ask them to open the upstairs display of artifacts including some genuine Tangkas (Tibetan scrolls).
There are also a lot of little stores alongside the alley which leads to Di'anmen Dajie. There you can find whatever you want. If you are good at bargain, you will get something you really want for 1/3 of the price the shop owners offer.
Nightlife
Once you are here at night, you will never want to go anywhere else.
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Bars No Name (86-10/6402-1663) has no address either, although its easy to find Houhai's original Cathedral of Cool: just look for the vine-covered wooden hut south of the charmingly arched Yinding Bridge. Bai Feng conceived the place as a kind of backyard clubhouse, and three years on, its wicker chairs, funky decor, and a wide range of teas and drinks, from juices to margaritas, still draw in Beijings A-list.
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The Left Bank (11 Qianhai Beiyan; 86-10/6612-9300) C There evolved two styles of Houhai bar: the ramshackle student sprawl of No Name and Buddha, or the cool chilling centers, complete with couches. The Left Bank (for its location, on the west, or left side of the lake, and its model, Paris' Left Bank) goes for the latter, with the look and comfort of a large den. A nice place to plot, or merely cuddle.
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Sex and da City (15 Tianhefang; 86-10/6612-5046) draws crowds on Lotus Lane with its stylish design, particularly upstairs, where a trio of curtained areas offer suite-like seating with stunning lake views. The downstairs bar is lined with lilies, which inexplicably works, unlike the two-story tall mural of Marilyn Monroe.
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Lotus (29 Yandai Xiejie; 86-10/6407-7807) Not to be confused with Lotus Lane, this bar with separate restaurant in the winding alley leading to the Drum Tower (Gu Lou) remains one of the areas original zen centers, with tranquil design by Wang Hui. The two-story tower bar has a good collection of crafts on display downstairs, pillow and couch seating upstairs with a nice atrium. Smells of incense and one of the best drinks menus on the lake (try a shot of creme de mint in a cup of hot coconut milk).
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Great Wall at Badaling
Forbidden City
Tian'anmen Square
Temple of Heaven
Ming Tombs
Great Wall at Mutianyu
Great Wall at Juyong Pass
Hutong in Beijing
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Great Wall at Simatai
Lama Temple
White Cloud Temple
Cuandixia Village
Prince Gong Mansion
Great Wall at Jinshanling
Old Summer Palace
Nanluoguxiang Alley
National Aquatics Center
Bird's nest, the National Stadium
Sports Venues for '08 Beijing Olympic Games
Beijing Badaling Ski Resort
Beijing Jundushan Ski Resort
Beijng Lianhuashan Ski Resort
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Beijing Shijinglong Ski Resort
Beijing Yunfoshan Ski Resort
Beijing Aquarium
Pine Valley Golf Club
Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Club Clubhouse
Wangfujing Walking Street
Lake Houhai
New Oriental
Lan Kwai Fong
Foreign Tourist Street
Kundu Bar Street
