Beijing afternoon · Ming Tombs

334 km from Beijing

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Why this ride

334 km from Beijing to Beijing, about 5 h 03 of riding. It goes by way of Summer Palace, Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal, Ming Tombs and back through Summer Palace. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Roadbook

1. Beijing start

   Beijing has been a capital, on and off, for most of the last eight hundred years, and the centre of the city still carries the weight of that. At its heart sits the Forbidden City, the vast palace complex from which Ming and Qing emperors ruled, with its red walls, yellow-tiled roofs and nine hundred or so buildings, and just south of it lies Tiananmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world. The city's grid of boulevards and ring roads is laid out around this axis, and anyone who has looked at a map will see the logic.

   The afternoon trip described here goes north-west to the Ming Tombs, the burial ground of thirteen of the sixteen Ming emperors, set in a broad valley ringed by mountains about fifty kilometres from the city. The site was chosen according to feng shui principles, with hills to the north and a stream to the south, and it is reached by the Sacred Way, a long avenue lined with pairs of stone animals and officials, including lions, camels, elephants and horses, which seem to stand guard over the valley. The tomb of the Wanli emperor, Dingling, has been excavated, and visitors can descend into a vast underground palace. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

   Riding in Beijing needs a clear head about the rules. Motorcycles face strict controls in the city centre, with registration and licensing rules that make it nearly impossible for visitors to ride their own bike. Traffic is heavy, the ring roads can be jammed at any hour, and signage is mostly in Chinese. If you travel here, the metro is cheap, clean and efficient, and taxis and ride-hailing apps are plentiful. The air can be hazy, particularly in winter, and the best weather is in spring and autumn.

   Fuel and food are no issue in a city of this size. The hutongs, the old alleys around the Drum Tower and Houhai lake, are full of small restaurants, and Peking duck is of course the dish to try, carved at your table with crisp skin, pancakes and sweet bean sauce.

   If you can, walk the lanes of the old city at dusk, when the lanterns come on and the cooking smells drift out of doorways.

2. Summer Palace sight

   The Summer Palace is the Qing court's idea of escaping the city, and even with the modern capital spread out around it, the idea still works. The core is Kunming Lake, a large artificial basin, with Longevity Hill rising from its northern shore and covered in halls, pavilions and the tall Tower of Buddhist Incense. The Qianlong Emperor shaped the garden in the mid eighteenth century, reportedly to celebrate his mother's birthday, and modelled parts of it on the scenery around West Lake in Hangzhou. British and French troops burned it during the Second Opium War in 1860, and the Empress Dowager Cixi rebuilt it later in the century, which is where the famous story comes from that she paid for it with money meant for the navy. The marble boat moored at the lakeshore, which cannot sail, has become the punchline of that tale.

   The Long Corridor running along the shore is the thing to walk, painted with thousands of scenes from legends and novels on its beams. Go early, ideally right at opening, because by late morning tour groups fill it shoulder to shoulder. Winter brings a sharp, clean light and sometimes ice on the lake; spring has blossom and the sandy wind from the north; summer is hot, humid and crowded.

   As for the riding, be realistic. The palace sits in Haidian district, northwest of the centre, inside the urban sprawl, and Beijing places strict limits on motorcycles, especially those not registered in the city and especially inside the inner ring roads. Check the current rules before you plan a route, and expect heavy traffic, electric scooters on every side and very little in the way of enjoyable corners until you head out toward the Western Hills. Once you do, the roads climbing toward Fragrant Hills and beyond into Mentougou get properly interesting, with switchbacks and temples tucked into the valleys.

   Fuel, food and every other service are everywhere around the palace; this is a city of millions. There are noodle and dumpling places within a short walk of the gates, and the area near Peking University and Tsinghua to the east has cheap student food. Park legally, keep your helmet with you and give yourself half a day inside: the grounds are much bigger than they look on a map.

3. Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal sight

   For centuries, Beijing depended on grain shipped from the south along the Grand Canal, the longest artificial waterway in the world, and Tongzhou was where the boats arrived. The Tonghui canal connected Tongzhou with the capital, carrying grain, timber and goods to the city's markets and granaries. The Grand Canal, built and rebuilt over more than two thousand years, was listed by UNESCO in 2014, and the Tongzhou section is its northernmost part. Today, the waterfront has been landscaped into parks, with walkways, bridges and the old Ranteng pagoda rising above the water.

   Tongzhou has become Beijing's new sub-centre, with government offices moving here and new districts rising around the old town. The Grand Canal Forest Park stretches along the water, with trees, lawns and paths, and people come to stroll, fish and fly kites. The pagoda, an elegant tall brick tower, is a landmark that boatmen used to know they had reached the end of their journey. The new Universal Studios Beijing is also in Tongzhou, a contrast to the history of the canal.

   Riding in Beijing has its challenges. Motorcycles without local plates face restrictions in central areas, and foreign riders need special permits; most visitors on two wheels join organised tours. The roads in Tongzhou are wide and modern, with heavy traffic, and the canal side has cycling and walking paths rather than motor roads. Outside the city, the plains to the east are flat and agricultural, while the mountains north and west of Beijing offer twisty roads and the Great Wall. Air quality can be poor in winter, and summer is hot and humid.

   Tongzhou has pumps, a supermarket and a few places to eat. Food here is Beijing fare: Peking duck, zhajiangmian, noodles with fermented bean sauce, dumplings and street snacks such as jianbing, a savoury crêpe eaten for breakfast. Tea houses offer a quiet break. Walk along the canal in the evening, when the pagoda is lit and the water reflects the lights, and think of the grain boats that once crowded these waters, after a journey of hundreds of kilometres from the south.

4. Summer Palace sight

   The Empress Dowager Cixi is said to have spent money meant for the Chinese navy on rebuilding the Summer Palace, and the story is captured in stone: a marble boat moored permanently at the edge of Kunming Lake, a ship that will never sail. Whether the tale is entirely fair to her is debated, but the palace itself is beyond argument, a vast imperial garden of lakes, hills, halls, pavilions, bridges and covered walkways on the north-western edge of Beijing, laid out in the eighteenth century under the Qianlong Emperor, burned by British and French troops in 1860, rebuilt and burned again in 1900, and restored once more. It was listed by UNESCO in 1998 as a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design.

   The Long Corridor, more than seven hundred metres of covered walkway painted with thousands of scenes from history, legend and nature, runs along the lake shore, and Longevity Hill rises above it, crowned by the Tower of Buddhist Incense. The views across the lake to the Seventeen-Arch Bridge and the western hills are among the most famous in China.

   That is good news for anyone on two wheels: the hills of Mentougou hold ancient temples such as Tanzhe and Jietai, and the Ming-era village of Cuandixia, with winding mountain roads, river valleys and fresh air that feels a world away from the city.

   Riding in Beijing itself is complicated. Motorcycle access in the centre is heavily restricted, foreign riders need Chinese permits and licences, and traffic is dense and unpredictable. Outside the city, in the western hills, roads are quieter but can be steep and narrow, with trucks, buses and cyclists on weekends. Fuel, food and every service are plentiful in Mentougou and the surrounding districts.

   Food is a joy: Peking duck, jiaozi dumplings, zhajiangmian noodles with bean sauce and street snacks of every kind. Come in autumn, when the skies are often clear and the hills turn red and gold, or in spring, when blossom fills the palace gardens. Summer is hot and humid, winter cold and dry. Arrive at the Summer Palace early, before the crowds, and walk the Long Corridor while the lake is still and quiet.

5. Ming Tombs turn

   North of Beijing, where the plain meets the first ridges of the Jundu mountains, thirteen emperors of the Ming dynasty lie buried in a broad valley chosen for its perfect feng shui: mountains behind, a gentle slope, water in front. The first to be buried here was the Yongle emperor, the ruler who moved the capital to Beijing and built the Forbidden City in the early fifteenth century; his tomb, Changling, is the largest and best preserved, with a magnificent hall supported by enormous columns of nanmu wood. UNESCO lists them with the other imperial tombs of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

   The approach is along the Sacred Way, a long avenue lined with stone statues of animals, lions, camels, elephants and mythical beasts, some standing and some kneeling, and of military and civil officials, all carved in the fifteenth century to guard the route to the tombs. Walking it under the willows is a peaceful experience, far from the noise of the city. Dingling, the tomb of the Wanli emperor, was excavated in the 1950s, and visitors can descend into the underground palace, a series of vaulted stone chambers. The excavation was a mixed blessing: many of the artefacts were damaged by poor conservation, and during the Cultural Revolution the remains of the emperor and his empresses were destroyed. Since then, no other imperial tombs have been opened.

   The landscape is pleasant, with orchards of persimmons and apricots, reservoirs and wooded hills. The Great Wall at Badaling and Mutianyu is not far away, and the roads through the mountains north of the tombs wind through valleys and over passes.

   Riding a motorcycle in Beijing, however, is complicated. Foreigners need a Chinese licence and properly registered vehicle, and motorcycles face significant restrictions within the city, particularly bikes with non-Beijing plates. Organised motorcycle tours with local guides and permits are the realistic option for visitors. The roads to the tombs from the city are busy multi-lane highways, while the country roads further north are quieter and more scenic. Changping, six kilometres away, has fuel and all services. Spring and autumn are the best seasons; summer is hot and humid, and winter is cold, dry and windy.

6. back through Summer Palace stop

   back through Summer Palace comes up 224 km in.

7. back through Tongzhou Section of Tonghui Canal stop
8. back through Summer Palace stop

   back through Summer Palace, late in the day.

9. Beijing finish

   The route ends here after 334 km.

Where this sits