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QINGDAO 
INTERNATIONAL     
BEER FESTIVAL 

     + BONUS DALIAN BEER FESTIVAL

Gan Bei & Meet the Locals

3 Weeks in July / August - Qingdao CHINA - Incl Dandong & Dalian

Photo by WIX

Plane flying over a map

INFORMATION

The Largest Beer Festival in Asia

2020-05-07%2000_32_01-Beijing%2C%20China

 HIGHLIGHTS - beers coming out your ears

 

  • Beijing 5N to Qingdao 7N via Dandong 3N and Dalian 6N

  • Tiananmen Square

  • Forbidden City

  • Summer Palace

  • Chairman Mao

  • The Great Wall x 2

  • Beer festival x 2

  • Dalian Castle Hotel

  • Beijing Duck in Beijing

  • Korean BBQ

  • Miami of China

  • Beer Street

  • Beer Museum

  • North Korean border

  • The World's most popular Spirit

  • The Worlds Biggest Airport

  • The World's largest City Square

  • Seafood Capital of North Eastern China

  • Four fascinating and very different cities

                                All travel information including hotels etc is at the bottom of this page

  • Fly in and out of the northern capital Beijing. Stay in traditional accommodation near the major attractions. Visit Tiananmen Square (and Mao and buy some Communist Kitsch), the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. Read Empress Dowager Cixi : The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang for some fascinating background. Take a day trip out to the Great Wall. Go for a hike. If you like. Visit the Hutongs if there are any left. Get up early and join in the Tai Chi.

  • Spend the evenings enjoying the restaurants and bars around Houhai Lake. Join in with the grannies old time dancing in the local park. Or Wangfujing Snack Street is a good place for dinner. Find the best Beijing (Peking) Duck Restaurant. One place opened in 1864. Go to an ancient tea house and soak up some traditional culture. Sometimes they put on some entertainment. Just watch out for the Beijing Tea House Scam. See the the amazing Chaoyang Acrobats who have been plying their trade for a thousand years.

  • Take the high speed train to Dandong on the border of North Korea. There are a few ways to take a peek into the Hermit Kingdom. Walk along the "Broken Bridge"(broken by the USAF it now provides a convenient viewing platform), go for a speedboat ride along the Yalu River, climb the eastern most area of the Great Wall and follow a path along the river. You can even souvenir some fake NK money. 

  • You'll be surprised how cheap your room at the Hilton is. The town is growing wealthy by handling 50 % of NK's trade. This means it has some quite modern infrastructure. To learn about the Korean War from the Chinese and NK perspective go to the Museum to Commemorate US Aggression. Take a stroll along the riverfront boardwalk. There is usually a lot of activities going on in Yalu Park. To pig out on Korean BBQ head to Korea Street. Or try some North Korean cuisine. 

  • Back on the train to the "Miami of China" seaside Dalian. You'll be glad to learn the great value hotels continue. If you thought the Hilton was nice how about staying in a castle. This place also has a beer festival and it should be happening while you are here. Two for the price of one. You'll be able to get some practice in. Take the cable car up the mountain for lovely views of the city. Head to Fisherman's Wharf so you can pretend you're in the US in the 1900's. Spend a day on the beach. Take a day trip out to the hot springs. Experience the Russian history in Russia Street. The Japanese were here and left their influence also. 

  • It's a good place to eat and drink. The oysters are famous and it was named the Seafood Capital of North Eastern China. Street food is popular and there are at least 5 different streets you can seek out.

  • If you've never seen Pandas and want to you will find them playing with each other at the Dalian Forest Zoo. There are various amusement parks around the place. There are several sight seeing cruises that offer lunch or dinner. A day trip to historic Lushun aka Port Arthur is a must. A visit to the Lushun Prison will shock you. Learn about the Russian Japanese war of 1904 - 1905 at Hill 203. There are plenty of other attractions to fill in your day.

  • Take the ferry across the Yellow Sea to Yantai. From here it's a four hour train trip to Qingdao. Apart from the Beer Festival this is a very interesting city with lots to see. I've suggested 7 nights but stay for as long or short as you like. The festival goes for a month. See details below.

  • You can get back to Beijing by high speed train. If you want to se more of the country you could take another high speed train to Xian and do #14 Xian to Kashgar. Or you could take a high speed train from Qingdao to #115 Shanghai. You could even do #13 Ancient Cities and Mountains in reverse. The weather would be accommodating. Cheers and Gan Bei.

Beer
Weiss Beer
Tsingtao Beer

  Image by Oliver Marcus Kaptein from Pixabay 

The Great Wall

  Image by jawed iqbal from Pixabay 

Bridge to North Korea across the Yalu River

  Image by iiilee from Pixabay 

Large hotel in Dalian

  Image by  锦光 李 from Pixabay 

The city of Qingdao

  Image by  JUNO KWON from Pixabay 

IPA Beer

     QINGDAO PIJIU

 

DATE -

  • Late July - August

LENGTH -

  • It has evolved from 2 weeks to a month.

HISTORY -

  • First one was in 1991 when Qingdao was celebrating its' 100th birthday.

  • China's national beer Tsintao is brewed here. The brewery was founded in 1903.

  • In 1898 Qingdao was a quiet fishing village when Germany attacked and forced a 99 year lease from the Rulers of the Qing Dynasty. They were kicked out however by Japan in 1914 during WW1.

  • Germany's legacy is a beautiful town with colonial buildings and great beer.

WHERE -

  • On the seafront at Golden Beach Beer City the World's largest beer square in Qingdao and several other areas, Shandong Province (Sister State to South Australia) 699 km SE of Beijing

ABOUT -

  • Over 200 brands of beer from around the world, 4 main venues, 1,400 types of beer in 9 beer halls,

  • 400 performances and activities,

  • Daily schedules are programmed between 9 am and 11 pm for every day of the festival 

INCLUDES -

  • Beer in a bag, Drinking competitions, Bikini Beer Girls, Parades, Beer tasting, Live Music, Food, Interactive performances, Trade fair, Brewery tents, Carnival rides,

  • 6 million visitors, big time karaoke, kebabs, Coloured fountain, laser and audio shows,  big firework shows over the sea, many stages and varieties of music,

  • Mascots, Lots of food, Dirndl Girls (German Beer Girls), Brazilian dancing girls, Beer Gardens, German sausage, South Australian wine 

HIGHLIGHT -

  • Celebrating the nectar of the gods, making new friends and eating meat on a stick.

BRING -

  • Your thirst and your money

SAFETY -

  • Many requests to finish your drink in one go,

  • Lots of friendly drunk people will approach you,

  • Facial recognition cameras are being used


PARTY FACTOR -

  • Their slogan is Gan Bei (Finish Glass) with the world - 24-day-long bacchanal carnival.

TIPS -

  • There is a Beer Museum at the Brewery with a Drunken House drunk simulator,

  • Qingdao is also famous for meat on sticks,

  • Very friendly locals, beer is expensive but plenty of people will share with you,

  • Like Guinness you need to try Tsingtao in Qingdao,

  • Order take away beer by the kilo,

  • Seafood is very good here,

  • Qingdao has good nightlife,

  • German bakeries in the "Old Town"

  • Don't miss Beer Street in the Old Town

Art of the world and an aeroplane flying around the world
American Ale
Pilsner
Anchor 1
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