Why this ride
An 89 km round trip from Beijing - roughly 1 h 31 in the saddle. It goes by way of Summer Palace and back through Summer Palace. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble and Summer Palace
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 89 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 31
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble → Summer Palace
The ride follows Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble → Summer Palace for 20 km.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 20 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble
A line runs through Beijing, and you can ride beside it for nearly eight kilometres, from the Yongding Gate in the south to the Bell and Drum Towers in the north. It is the central axis of the old city, and everything of importance in imperial Beijing was arranged along it or symmetrically on either side. The Forbidden City sits at its heart, with the great halls of the emperors, and the axis passes through Tiananmen, the Gate of Heavenly Peace, the artificial hill of Jingshan Park, and the old temple precincts. UNESCO listed the axis in 2024.
Read the complete Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble is where the day begins. Next is Summer Palace.
2. Summer Palace
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.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Summer Palace comes up 20 km in. Next is Summer Palace.
3. Summer Palace
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.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
39 km in you reach Summer Palace. Next is back through Summer Palace.
4. back through Summer Palace
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Summer Palace write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Summer Palace, late in the day. Next is Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble.
5. Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble to Summer Palace
Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble → Summer Palace is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Summer Palace to Summer Palace
Summer Palace → Summer Palace is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Summer Palace to back through Summer Palace
Summer Palace → back through Summer Palace is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Summer Palace to Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble
back through Summer Palace → Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.