Immense grasslands are also recommended to spend holidays. You can leisurely ride on the grassland watching the cattle and sheep when the wind blows and grass lowers.
▶ Jingxi Grassland
Jingxi Grassland is situated in Tent Park of Jingxi Prairie, East Garden Town, Huailai County, Zhangjiakou City. As the biggest grassland in Beijing with an area of 90,000mu, it is the prairie closest to Beijing, and it is joined by Kangxi Grassland.
Being only 80km away from Beijing, it is joined by Kangxi Grassland. With Guanting Reservoir on its west and Haituo Mountain on its north, Jingxi grassland, with spectacular natural scenery, is adjacent to the Badaling Great Wall. The Jingxi grassland is celebrated for superb scenery, such as the green hills and grassland as well as clear lakes. It becomes very quiet when night comes, and tourists can completely relax themselves while enjoying refreshing breeze and looking at the twinkling stars in the sky.
Strolling through the vast grasslands, you can see groups of cattle and sheep everywhere. The white Mongolian style yurts on the grasslands seem like those small white flowers on a large embroidered blanket, which are both beautiful and natural.
Name: Jingxi Grassland (京西草原)
Address: Taishizhuang Village, East Garden Town, Huailai County, Zhangjiakou City
▶ Yudaokou Grassland & Forest Scenic Area
Yudaokou Grassland & Forest Scenic Area has many species of wildlife, including rare wildlife of dozens of species. Therefore, it is described by many people as "the source of water, the hometown of clouds, the world of flowers, the ocean of forests, and the paradise of rare and valuable animals". In summer, Yudaokou Grassland is covered by lush grass and beautiful flowers.
Yudaokou Grassland & Forest Scenic Area is extremely rich in tourism resources. The natural landscapes such as Fairy Cave, Taoshan Lake, Moon Lake, Baihuapo, Grand Canyon and Gui Shan are breathtakingly wonderful; and the human landscapes including Green Tea House, Cuihua Palace, Yuquan, Ovoo Hill, Drill Ground, Ancient Royal Road, Yadai Shan and Tianti Liang contain profound royal cultural connotations.
Half a day is enough to visit the scenic area solely. You can drive into the grassland. With meadows, lakes, springs and pavilions, the grassland has a very pleasant environment ideal for photographing, picnic and sightseeing. Besides, there are entertainment activities such as horse riding. Yudaokou Scenic Area is a warm-up for Saihanba National Forest Park. After visiting it, you can further go north to indulge in the grassland and forest sceneries in Saihanba National Forest Park.
Name: Yudaokou Grassland & Forest Scenic Area (御道口草原森林风景区)
Address: Yudaokou Scenic Area, Weichang Manchu Mongolian Autonomous County, Chengde City. 承德市围场满族蒙古族自治县御道口风景区
▶ Saihanba National Forest Park
Located in the Bashang area of Chengde city, Hebei Province, Saihanba National Forest Park is the biggest forest park in North China. It is also part of “Mulan Paddock”, one of the famous hunting grounds for the royal families in the Qing Dynasty. With “ecology, royalty and folk lores” as its main features, it is a forest and grassland eco-tourism resort. Blessed with abundant water, grass and forests resources, it has also attracted numerous wild animals. Back in the Liao and Jin dynasties of China, it was known as “Boundless Pine Forests”.
It would be a shame if you come to a grassland without riding horses. There are many stud farms of a certain scale in Saihanba, and their price of horseback riding is rather stable. Tourists get to choose which horse they’d like to ride. However, tourists also need to carefully differentiate the horses since there are also a lot of wild horses that are not included in the farms.
Besides riding horses, tourists can also enjoy driving off-road vehicles. In Saihanba national forest park, there are many 4-seat off-road vehicles on many grasslands that can be rented by tourists. Then visitors can drive off-road vehicles on the boundless grassland, while enjoying the fresh air and spectacular natural scenery. With a number of large and small lakes in the Saihanba scenic area, you can also experience some water sports to enjoy the cool of summer, such as fishing, pedal boats, rafting, high-altitude downhill, speedboats.
Best time for traveling: June, July, and August (midsummer). With the highest temperatures in this season usually being no more than 25°C, it is a great place for summer vacation and sightseeing.
Name: Saihanba National Forest Park 塞罕坝国家森林公园
Address: Saihanba National Forest Park, Weichang Manchu Mongolian Autonomous County, Chengde City 承德市围场满族蒙古族自治县塞罕坝国家森林公园
▶ Hongsongwa Grassland
Hongsongwa National Nature Reserve, situated in the very north-eastern end of Weichang County, is one of the four major scenic spots in Mulan Paddock. Thanks to its rich wind resources, it has built a wind power plant consisting of rows of huge wind turbines. Besides, it has also raised some yaks, which has formed its special characteristics.
Since the climate here is nice and cool in summer, Hongsongwa becomes an ideal summer resort. At that time, the luxuriantly green forest and grasslands will be dotted with beautiful wildflowers. What a feast for the eyes!
Due to its remote location and poor tourism promotion, Hongsongwa has rarely been visited. However, for that reason, its environmental protection is the best among these scenic spots. The blue sky, white clouds, the vast expanse of green grassland, and those flowers of different colors inlaid on the grassland... When you set your foot on Hongsongwa Grassland, you just can't help shouting: “Wow, it’s so beautiful, so green, so spectacular!” Let’s walk into the Hongsongwa Nature Reserve.
Hongsongwa Nature Reserve is located in the very north-eastern end of the Weichang Manchu Mongolian Autonomous County of Hebei Province. More specifically, it is situated in the junction of the eastern section of Saihanba in the southern Daxinganling Mountains and the northern end of North Hebei Mountain area. That is to say, it is located in the transition zone between montane forest-grassland belt and the Inner Mongolia Plateau typical zone. Its unique geographical location in the forest meadow sub-zone has contributed a lot to its biodiversity.
At present, there are two ways to arrive there. One is to walk in the direction of the Mountain Bay; the other is to go straight in the direction of the Shenlongtan scenic spot in the Saihanba mechanical forest farm.
Name: Hongsongwa Grassland 红松洼草原
Address: Weichang County, north of Chengde City 承德市北部围场县境内
