With the Chinese New Year approaching, if you want to unlock a weekend getaway around Beijing, this 2-day immersive food, shopping, and snow play itinerary in Pinggu lets you experience it directly: visit the market to enjoy the lively atmosphere, admire ice waterfalls and beautiful scenery, ski to your heart's content, with all meals, accommodation, and transportation arranged for an easy and joyful winter experience.

DAY 1: Jinhaihu Kaoshanji Market → Jingdong Grand Karst Cave → Yuzishan "Yiguoxian" / Wanghu Restaurant → Jingdong Grand Canyon and Yuzi·Valley Ice Waterfall Art Season → Wangshan Chagu Homestay / Easy Bar Homestay

Jinhaihu Kaoshanji Market

Jinhaihu's Kaoshanji Market carries a 600-year historical heritage and is a bustling market destination full of local life in the Beijing suburbs.

It opens on the 2nd and 7th days of the lunar calendar month, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The market covers nearly 30,000 square meters, with over 500 vendors operating. Nearly a million visitors come each year to check in. The site is lively and noisy, with calls of vendors and bargaining voices intertwined.

Here, a wealth of good products gather and are very photogenic. Not only are there fresh and affordable local melons, fruits, and vegetables, but also freshly ground spices like Sichuan pepper powder, star anise, sesame paste, and fragrant sesame oil with rich flavors; clothing, shoes, hats, printed cotton fabrics, and knitted home textiles come in a wide variety and can be purchased all in one stop; freshly roasted peanuts, sunflower seeds, stuffed steamed buns, donkey meat sandwiches, and other traditional delicacies can be eaten while browsing; farming tools like hoes, sickles, and staffs, as well as pots, pans, and bowls, are solid in quality and transparently priced, making it the first choice for local farmers to restock.

Jingdong Grand Karst Cave

After visiting the market, you can head to the Jingdong Grand Karst Cave in Huangsongyu. This is the first large karst cave group discovered in the dolomite strata in China.

The cave extends about 2,500 meters in length, covering more than 20,000 square meters, including over 100 meters of waterway. The cave maintains a constant temperature of 15°C, warm like spring. Upon entering, you can shed your heavy winter clothes.

The stalactites formed over hundreds of millions of years shine brilliantly under the lighting. The cave walls feature rocks in various shapes, resembling floating clouds, lotus flowers, giant mushrooms, or western wind rolling curtains, crystal clear and colorful, fully displaying a magical geological wonder.

Yuzishan "Yiguoxian"

After touring the karst caves, you can taste the local farmhouse specialties of Pinggu. The "Yiguoxian" at Yuzishan is a classic dish of Beijing Baicheng Farmhouse. As a traditional farmhouse delicacy, it cooks staple food and dishes simultaneously, reflecting the culinary wisdom of several generations of local farmers. It includes various types such as sticky bean roll with green beans, braised noodles with green beans, and stewed small fish.

Wanghu Restaurant

Wanghu Restaurant has specialized in grilled fish for 23 years. It enjoys a superior location, ideal for check-in photos. You can enjoy delicious food while admiring the mountains and water. Its signature Wanghu grilled fish is made with a secret sauce of more than twenty seasonings, paired with fresh rainbow trout, offering a unique flavor.

Jingdong Grand Canyon and Yu·Valley Ice Waterfall Art Season

After a hearty meal, head to Jingdong Grand Canyon located in Yuzishan Cun, Pinggu. The area boasts beautiful natural scenery, including five large natural pools and towering canyon crevices. Visitors can experience a glass skywalk hundreds of meters high, a cableway over a thousand meters long, and a 4-kilometer-long century slide.

In winter, Jingdong Grand Canyon transforms into a snowy wonderland, with the canyon, pools, and waterfalls all becoming limited-time ice and snow landscapes.

The Yuzi·Valley Ice Waterfall Art Season in the scenic area lasts until March 1st. The natural hundred-meter ice waterfall features an integrated sound and light show, combined with valley cuisine and an audiovisual feast, creating a unique Chinese New Year experience.

Visitors can find fun in the ice sculpture maze, admire ice-encased roses preserved within the sculptures, and enjoy hundreds of ice lanterns lighting up the winter nights. Moreover, Jingdong Grand Canyon is a pet-friendly attraction, allowing visitors to explore the icy wonderland with their pets.

Wangshan Chagu Homestay

After enjoying the ice waterfall, you can stay at nearby distinctive homestays. Wangshan Chagu Homestay is located in Taopeng Cun, Shandongzhuang.

It has six courtyards and 18 guest rooms, accommodating up to 45 guests simultaneously, and can host team-building events for up to 60 people.

Centered around tea, it integrates traditional tea ceremonies with modern lifestyle aesthetics, forming a cultural complex. It features three core sections: tea technology experiments, tea art creation, and tea lodging and dining experiences. It also highlights five distinctive features including immersive tea living and innovative inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. The dining mainly offers Chinese tea-themed dishes and various tea beverages.

Easy Bar Homestay

Easy Bar Homestay is located at the foot of Yuzishan Cun in Shandongzhuang. It is a new type of accommodation combining French countryside resort style homestay with an outdoor garden café.

There are a total of 5 guest rooms, integrating three major spaces: art, life, and architecture, with thoughtful design details visible everywhere.

The dining mainly features Western-style dishes, with specialties including black truffle pizza, Margherita pizza, and coffee. At night, guests can gaze at the starry sky in the courtyard, and in the early morning, capture the mountain mist, adding beautiful memories to the journey.

DAY 2: Yaji Shan (Mountain) → Yajishan Puyuan Vegetarian Restaurant → Beijing Yuyang International Ski Resort

Yaji Shan (Mountain)

After a night of rest, head to Yaji Shan (Mountain), a national AAAA-level scenic area known as the "Blessed Land Near the Capital" and the "Northern Mount Tai and Mount Dai." It has a long history and profound cultural heritage and has been a sacred place for praying for blessings since ancient times.

Every year, it attracts tourists from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and across the country to climb the mountain and pray for blessings. The Yajishan Temple Fair is a national intangible cultural heritage event. This year, from the first to the seventh day of the lunar new year, it will be held under the theme "Blessed Land Yajishan, Prosperous Chinese New Year (福地丫髻山 旺旺中国年)."

Visitors can browse the intangible cultural heritage market, watch folk performances, enjoy specialty snacks, and climb high to pray for blessings, immersing themselves in the traditional New Year atmosphere reminiscent of the Kangxi and Qianlong eras.

On the way to the summit, you can step on the 365 blessing steps symbolizing peace and smoothness throughout the year, visit the millennium-old relics such as the Bixia Yuanjun Temple and the Yuhuang Pavilion. From the top, you can enjoy a broad and clear view of the mountain landscape stretching under the winter blue sky, perfect for capturing atmospheric photos.

Yajishan Puyuan Vegetarian Restaurant

After praying and climbing, you can move to Yajishan Puyuan Vegetarian Restaurant to taste delicious vegetarian dishes.

Here, food is combined with health concepts, and the chef carefully prepares a variety of vegetarian dishes that are both visually appealing and flavorful. Signature dishes such as vegetarian spicy hot pot, cashew yam, stir-fried fresh bamboo shoots with Chinese toon, and spicy monkey head mushrooms are refreshing and tasty, helping to relax the body and mind.

Beijing Yuyang International Ski Resort

After experiencing vegetarian cuisine, head to Beijing Yuyang International Ski Resort to fully enjoy the exhilaration of ice and snow sports. This winter, the resort unveiled the nation's first professional-level pet ice and snow theme park, covering an area of 20,000 square meters. Inside, 13 ski trails cascade down from the mountain peak, ranging from gentle slopes for beginners to advanced challenge courses.

Each trail has been meticulously crafted, with the longest exceeding 1.6 kilometers. The resort offers fun interactive activities such as shared ski trails for humans and pets, snow treasure hunts, and pet agility rally races, allowing owners and their pets to enjoy the snow together. Before entering, pets undergo a comprehensive assessment and are categorized by professionals.

The resort is also equipped with a professional pet grooming center, a temporary safe boarding area, and an emergency pet medical station, fully meeting the needs of visitors traveling with pets.

This two-day micro-vacation itinerary in Pinggu includes visiting a century-old market, admiring ice waterfall art, skiing at a pet-friendly snow resort, and mountain climbing for blessings. It packages the lively atmosphere and fun of winter in the outskirts of Beijing, making it perfect for family and friends to explore and unlock a different kind of weekend getaway experience.