Beijing Olympic Forest Park to open to visitors free from National Day

The north area of Beijing Olympic Forest Park will open to visitors on October 1, from 6 am to 8 pm. This means that the largest city park in Beijing will finally open to visitors.

Beijing Olympic Forest Park is divided into north and south areas by the Fifth Ring Road. The south area was open to visitors during the Olympic period, while the north area, comprised of 300 hectares, was closed for construction. If the highlight of the south area is flowers, the highlight of the north area is trees. “Different from the artificial sights in the south area, the 300- hectare north area is full of wild trees and flowers, consisting of all natural greenery.” says Tian Jinxian, general manager of Forest Park. The biggest advantage of the park is its size, big enough to accommodate 200,000 visitors at a time; there will be no cap on the number of visitors on opening day.

An overhead view of the “park of big trees” in the north area  of Forest Park

Together with the opening of the north area, an ecological corridor crossing over the Fifth Ring Road connecting north and south will open to visitors. People can tour this 680 hectare park by renting bicycles, automatic electric cars or by getting a full view of the park from the ecological corridor. Tian told reporters that the park is currently studying the feasibility of setting up a small train for sightseeing. If the project is approved in the future, the park will have a new “scenic feature” – a small sightseeing train crossing both areas, which will also be connected with the subway station at the park’s south gate.

To prepare for the opening, Forest Park specially indicates travel distance on panels, making it easy for people to judge the length of their visit. The park also purchased 100 yachts and installed spot and clearance lighting around the main mountain, making the mountain range appear on Beijing’s skyline at night, echoing the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.

In addition, because those using the south area are mainly joggers, Forest Park plans to install sport and fitness equipment in the north area. It has also reserved a space for children’s playground facilities.

Reporters learned that photo exhibitions to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the glory of the Olympic Games and an exhibition showing the scientific achievements of Forest Park will also be held there consecutively.