After visiting the Yonghe Lama Temple, what’s the best way to spend the rest of your day? With the spring sunshine lighting up the city, it’s the perfect time for a city walk. This travel journal will guide you through a delightful route filled with historical sights and mouthwatering eats, ensuring a fulfilling experience after your temple visit.
Route: Yonghe Lama Temple (Tea Cake Studio, Yonghe Fried Chicken Pancakes) ➡️ Confucius Temple and Guozijian Street (Sanyuanmeiyuan, Guanxia) ➡️ Wudaoying Hutong
Yonghe Lama Temple (30 minutes to tour)
Yonghe Lama Temple is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing. Each hall enshrines different Buddhas, and the prayers you make vary accordingly, so it’s important to understand this before your visit.
- Tickets: You can book in advance or purchase on-site with your ID.
- Buying Prayer Beads: If you’re only interested in buying prayer beads, you can go directly to the temple’s gift shop at the entrance without queuing.
- Stamps & Blessings: The gift shop offers free stamps and blessings!
- Dress Code: No flip-flops, short skirts, or revealing clothing. Remember to remove sunglasses and hats when entering the halls.
Tea Cake Studio (茶饼斋)｜Beijing’s New Hotspot
- Located about 200 meters ahead after exiting Yonghe Lama Temple.
- Tea Cakes (茶饼): Mostly filled with cream cheese and infused with a subtle tea fragrance. They’re slightly sweet, with a dry texture. Worth a try! 💰7-9 RMB each.
- Black Sesame Cake (黑芝麻奶糕): The first bite is filled with the rich taste of black sesame, and the cake is soft and fluffy. It’s a hit among friends! Highly recommended ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Yonghe Fried Chicken Pancakes (雍和炸鸡烧饼)｜Popular Choice
- Located diagonally across from Tea Cake Studio.
- Fried Chicken: Crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside. The cumin and chili sprinkled on top add extra flavor – impossible to stop eating! 💰5 RMB each.
- Pancakes: Available in pepper, sesame paste, or sugar flavors – pepper is highly recommended. The crust is particularly crisp and tasty! 💰1 RMB each.
Confucius Temple and Guozijian Street
- A street lined with red walls that’s perfect for photos, especially when the sunlight filters through the trees. The atmosphere is truly enchanting.
Sanyuanmeiyuan (三元梅园) and “Rolling Donkey” Rice Cakes (驴打滚)
- Sanyuanmeiyuan offers crowd-pleasing favorites like double-skinned milk, almond tofu, and palace milk pudding. The single-skin milk roll is popular but might not suit everyone’s taste, even among locals.
- “Rolling Donkey” Rice Cakes: These freshly rolled, warm rice cakes are taken from the box by the shop’s auntie, still steaming and fragrant with brown sugar. Temptingly delicious. 💰10 RMB per serving.
Guanxia (观夏)
- A shop with a strong atmosphere, rich in Chinese aesthetics. The best time to visit is on a sunny day when the sunlight casts shadows of leaves and tiles onto the glass and walls. It’s a breathtaking sight and perfect for photos.
Wudaoying Hutong
- A representative of Beijing’s artistic alleys, filled with artsy shops, cafes, bookstores, and a mix of Chinese and Western cuisine – perfect for exploring and tasting!
- Each shop’s design is unique and offers great photo opportunities!