15 Jun 2025 - PEK Day 2: Exploring vicinity around hotel at Puhuangyu (蒲黄榆)

Our main program today was to visit the Summer Palace.  Before that we decided to have a quick exploration of the vicinity around our hotel. Puhuangyu (蒲黄榆) is a neighborhood that feels distinctly local yet conveniently connected. Unlike Beijing’s grand boulevards or tourist-packed hubs, Puhuangyu offers a snapshot of everyday city life.  Next to our hotel is a mid-size mall with many food outlets and a big supermarket.

Along the residential street are rows of shops and restaurants.

The main reason we booked this hotel is that there is a metro station right in front of it.  This station serves 2 lines, with line 5 runs north–south and line 14 provides an east–west connection.  Because of this, Puhuangyu is more of a transportation hub for locals than a tourist hotspot, but that’s part of its charm.

After we got ourselves more familiar with the surrounding, we took the metro to Beigongmen (北宫门), where Summer Palace is situated.  As we were not sure if there is any eating place inside Summer Palace, we decided to have our lunch at a KFC outlet across the metro station.

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