Olympic Green

Olympic Park is a perfect example of the development of modern China. It contains numerous stadia and arenas, including the stunning Bird’s Nest Stadium, a waterpark and shopping centre. Stay until after dark to enjoy the fantastic illuminations.

Beijing was the host city for the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics. This necessitated an enormous construction project, and Olympic Park is the impressive result. Adapted for tourism after the finishing of the Games, it attracts many millions of visitors every year.

The park is massive, totalling 1,215 hectares in size, and it includes its own canal and numerous verdant spaces where you can relax and watch the world go by. Stroll along the walkway bisecting the complex to soak up the stunning contemporary design which towers above you on all sides.

The spectacular National Stadium is the pick of the sporting facilities, and it hosted the flamboyant opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 games, as well as Usain Bolt’s world record 100-metres win and countless other incredible athletic feats on track and field. The structure is known as the Bird’s Nest Stadium, due to the way in which the steel beams interweave on the outside of its walls.

The Beijing National Aquatics Centre has been adapted into a water amusement park, with slides and other rides guaranteed to thrill young visitors. In the evening, the pool complex undergoes a huge change, lighting up as part of a hugely impressive illumination show which follows the rhythms of an orchestra playing below.

Olympic Park is found in the north-east of Beijing, in the Chaoyang District. Hop onto one of the many buses which serve the complex, or take a subway to Olympic Green or Olympic Sports Centre. You’ll have to buy tickets to enter most of the attractions on site.