No.1 Bathing Beach, Shandong, China

4SOH KIEN PENG 5:00 PM Oct 26, 2015

Unique and breezy
I was in Shandong Province for 10 days, traveled from Qingdao to Jinan, Taian and Qufu and later returned to Qingdao again to take my flight back to Singapore. All in, I spent 5 days in Qingdao. Qingdao is one of the most European, greenest and cleanest cities of China. From my travel experience, I would divide the main attractions of Qingdao based on their locations in four prime areas.- The first most compact area is at the Old Qingdao which included the following attractions:- Catholic Church, the Railway Station, the Zhanqiao Pier, Zhanqiao Park, the Tianhou Temple, Lao She Park, Guanhaishan Park, the Signal Hill Park, the German Prison and as far as the Naval Museum and the Small Qingdao Island. The second area centered around this No. 1 Bathing Beach that stretched from the Lu Xun Park, the Huiquan Park, the Xiaoyushan, the Underwater World, the Zhongshan Park to as far as the Badaguan Scenic area, No. 2 Bathing beach and Huashi Building. The third area focused around the Qingdao Olympic Park stretched from the Donghai scenic beach to the May Fourth Square, the Music Square and as far as the Sailing Museum. The fourth area is the Lao Shan Scenic mountain area in the outskirt of the city. For convenience of travel, I stayed at 2 different hotels at 2 different locations while in Qingdao. I chose one near the Hui Quan Square so as to access to the attractions around the No. 1 Bathing Beach. The airport shuttle bus terminated directly at Wending Road near Huiquan Square and I just need to walk across the road from my hotel to explore the No. 1 Bathing Beach and all the other attractions all the way to Lu Xun Park on the right or to Badaguan Scenic Park on the left. There is a public bus right at the bus stop in front of the No. 1 Bathing Beach which you can take to the Lao Shan Scenic Mountain located at the outskirt of the city. The other hotel that I stayed was near the Qingdao railway station. This location was convenient for me to walk to the train station to book the ticket and to take the train to visit the other cities of Shandong. From this hotel, I was also able to explore the nearby attractions which included Zhanqiao Pier, the Catholic Church and so forth. As for the attractions around the Olympic Center, I boarded a public bus just along the main road of my hotel near Huiquan Square and it alighted me in front of the May Fourth Square where I spent about half a day around this area. So, it is quite easy to explore Qingdao using public transport knowing the main four areas of attractions in Qingdao. The No.1 Bathing Beach seems to be the dividing line between the east and west of Qingdao city. I had been to a number of beaches in South East Asia. No.1 Bathing Beach may not be the awesome one but it is unique in that it is not just a sandy beach on its own but it is connected to a long stretch of attractions on the coastline of Qingdao. After your swim, you can take a leisure walk to the scenic Lu Xun Park and all the way to Zhanqiao Pier and you will find many beautiful scenic spots along the way. Or you can walk towards the other way to the Badaguan scenic areas and appreciate the architectural beauty of the German style houses like the Huashilou around that area. During an early morning stroll, I even witnessed newly wed couples taking wedding photos by the beach near the No.2 bathing beach. I was in Qingdao in May and the atmosphere is cooling and breezy and the ambience uniquely mesmerizing. No 1 bathing beach is clean, sandy and lovely and it is free. It is not crowded and is among one of the best decent beaches in Asia. The credit should go to the German imperialists who prey on Qingdao for her strategic location and the rich resources during the First World War and had constructed this beach for their leisure and entertainment.

3Soko37 5:00 PM Mar 6, 2020

Winter ❄️ walk
Taking the long walk from downtown to old city and reaching beach ? number one ☝️. Winter is peaceful with not so many people comparing with warmer days. Limited chance for parking but you can connect beach visit with Badaguan walk around, park or underwater world ?