Longqing Gorge sits in the Yanqing district on the north-western edge of the Beijing municipality, roughly eighty kilometres from the city centre and close to the road that leads on to the Badaling and Shuiguan sections of the Great Wall. The gorge is a narrow cut of limestone carved by the Gucheng River through the mountains, and a dam built across it in the 1980s created the deep, still reservoir that visitors now see. The water is a hard green-blue, the cliffs rise steeply on both sides, and because the gorge curves you can seldom see more than a few hundred metres ahead.
The boat trip
From around April to October, the standard visit is a boat ride up the gorge: a small motor launch or a paddle boat following the gorge for about two kilometres between walls that close in to only a few dozen metres in places. Escalators and a short cable car carry visitors up from the entrance to the landing stage, which saves a long climb. Cliff inscriptions, small shrines cut into the rock and a handful of Buddha figures are visible from the water, and the shadows on the rock change fast in the afternoon.
The winter ice lantern festival
In winter the reservoir freezes and the gorge becomes the setting for an ice lantern festival, when blocks of ice are carved and lit as buildings, animals and figures and set out along the frozen floor of the canyon. The show normally runs from January through February, with evening lighting as the main event. Bring more layers than you think you need: the gorge is damper and colder than central Beijing, the ice and the lighting are viewed standing still, and temperatures well below freezing at night are normal. The festival is a domestic attraction rather than an international one, so signage in English is limited.
Getting there and timing
There is no metro. A car or a booked day trip is the realistic option, taking one and a half to two hours each way depending on traffic on the Badaling expressway, and the gorge is often combined with a Great Wall stop. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons for the boat trip; high summer brings afternoon thunderstorms to the mountains, and winter is for the ice festival rather than for boating. Tickets for the boat, the escalator and the festival are charged separately, and the published opening period shifts each year with the weather, so confirm before travelling.
