Full Day Beijing Art and Architecture with Lunch

Your guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel in downtown Beijing and will first head out to the Olympic Green, the centre of the 2008 Summer Olympics, where two of the most prominent sporting venues were specially erected. The $423 million main stadium is the world's largest steel structure which can hold up to 80,000 spectators. The design was awarded to a submission from the Swiss architecture firm in April 2003. The design, which originated from the study of Chinese ceramics, implemented steel beams, giving the stadium the appearance of a "Bird's Nest", due to the seemingly random, nest-like steel structure that forms its outer shell. The venue is now used for other sporting tournaments, exhibitions and demonstrations.

Nearby, The National Aquatics Centre, more commonly known as the Water Cube, is just opposite the Bird Nest on the other side of the central Olympic boulevard. The building was designed to resemble a box of bubbles (clad in hi-tech polymer that is inflated from the inside), symbolizing water and the aquatic activities taking place inside and brightens up the city at night, when a carefully choreographed light show turns the Water Cube into a visual spectacle. After the games, the Water Cube underwent a year-long renovation that has turned part of it into a very successful indoor water park.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we drive to a former factory complex just outside of the centre. Previously a major manufacturing plant (between the 1950-ies and 1990-ies) for electronics, by the start of the 21st century, artists from all corners of China saw the potential to bring new life to these factory halls and reshaped it as it now known as 798 Art District (the numbers 798 refer to the original factory designation). The fabulous, German designed building is now home to dozens of art galleries and workshops, bringing together contemporary art, architecture, and culture in a historically interesting location.

The curved building, nicknamed ‘The Egg’ because of its shape that is the National Grand Theatre shows visitors that architecture has continuously developed the city. The building is situated in the heart of Beijing right next to the Great Hall of the People and about 500 meters from Tiananmen Square. Used for exhibitions, opera performances and concerts, the spaces in and around are open for the public and have been complemented for its beautiful integration in the city. How Beijing has grown to its current size is best viewed at the Beijing City Planning Exhibition Hall, totally dedicated how urban planning has shaped the capital and what the future will hold, including dealing with economic planning and keeping an eye out on the environmental impact of its expansion plans.

After seeing the development of Beijing ‘from above’, we head back your hotel where you will arrive at approximately 17:00 hrs.