Sometimes, people are tired of busy life in cities. They would like to go the suburb of Beijing to enjoy an easy life, like mountain climbing, cycling and fruit picking. Fenghuangling Nature Park can satisfy all the above-mentioned requirements. It lies in Sujiatuo Town in northwest Haidian District which enjoys good bio-environment. You can enjoy flowers in three of four seasons and beautiful scenes all year round in the park. It’s an ideal place for you to go for a walk in spring, stay away from the heat in summer, get fruits in autumn and enjoy snows in winter.

Last weekend morning, I took subway line 4 to Beigongmen Station (the north gate of the Summer Palace), then switched to bus No 346 and got off at the terminal station. Just walking for two or three minutes, I found the entrance to the park.　　

Park map with featured spots and pakr introduciton

The ticket is 25 RMB for adults. (If you have any question, please contact with Fenghuangling Nature Park Tourist Center: 010-62455933.) There are more than 40 total scenery spots in the park, which can be seen from following three touring routes, north, south and middle route. The north route features a lot of main scenic spots. The south route is a natural line for relax and adventure. In addition, Huangpu Yard, Guandi Temple and Lvzu Cave can bring you rich religious cultures.

The middle route is most easy climbing line which starts at the Buddhist Longquan Temple, not far from the entrance is the ancient temple, originally built in AD 951. After considering my condition, I chose this line. Walking along this line, I saw the Immortal Cave, the Three-Buddha Cave, the Xuanyuan Cave and the Xiuxianyi, the most complete cave group for health preservation. Interesting natural rock formations and buildings are everywhere, like the White Pagoda Reservoir, the Shadow Pavilion and Stone Carving of Fenghuangling, Lion Hill, Jade Rabbit Stone and the Immortal's Footprint. I did not reach the peak of Fenghuangling, I still found several good places to overlook the whole city.

Buddhist Longquan Temple

After nearly two hour’s walking, I felt hungry and found Fenghuangling Restaurant at the foot of the mountain to have a lunch with local delicious food, like wild vegetables, roast fish, a steamed bun made of corn flour with a vegetable filling and so on. There you can enjoy the specialty of Chinese village food.

Roast Fish

stewed chicken

If you still have energy, you can go outside the park and walk ten – twenty minutes for fruit picking. There are many orchards near Fenghuangling Nature Park. The one I went was the nearest one, named Sijishuiguo(Four season fruit) with nearly 40 acres of different kinds of fruits. From May to November, they provide cheery, apricot, nectarine, peach, plum, prune, apple, Chinese date and pear for visitors to pick up. For people lived in city since childhood, it is a very interesting experience. The owner of the orchard is very nice, she told me how to choose and pick up the fruit.

I chose to pick up an apple

I can also enjoy the scenary of fenghuangling Nature Park in the garden

In general, Fenghuangling Nature Park is a good place to escape the noisy and busy city life for relax and health.　

Author: selina