City guide · Hebei

Beidaihe travel guide: Pigeon's Nest sunrises, Tiger Rocks beach and where to eat seafood by the jin

Northern China's classic beach escape — one sunrise headland, 10 km of calm swimming water, and a bird flyway overhead twice a year.

  • Known forBeaches · sunrise · bird migration
  • Typical spend¥300–600 for 3 days
  • Ideal length2–3 days
  • PaceSlow — early sunrise, slow beach afternoons
Plan this trip Beidaihe tours

Reviewed by our Beijing team Updated 2026-10-10

The short version

Beidaihe is a classic Bohai seaside resort about 380 km — roughly 2 hours by high-speed train — from Beijing, and it earns its keep in two seasons: July and August for swimming off Tiger Rocks, and the migration windows of mid-March to late May and early September to mid-November, when one of Asia's great bird flyways passes overhead. Give it 2 or 3 days: a sunrise at Pigeon's Nest, a beach day at Tiger Rocks, and a seafood dinner bought live at the Shitang Road market.

  • Pigeon's Nest Park opens before dawn in summer (ticket ¥20) — arrive 40 minutes ahead of sunrise time.
  • Tiger Rocks is the cleanest central swimming beach, ¥8 to enter; the free public beaches nearby are better for walking.
  • Birdwatching peaks mid-March to late May and early September to mid-November on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.
  • Buy seafood live at Shitang Road market and pay a stall kitchen ¥1–5 per jin to cook it — half the price of a seafront restaurant.
  • Book ahead for mid-June to late August and the Golden Weeks: rooms fill and rates jump.

City guide

First impressions

Photographs from the coast, and what other travellers wrote afterwards.

Sunrise over the Bohai from the Pigeon's Nest headland
Sunrise over the Bohai from the Pigeon's Nest headland
Tiger Rocks beach — granite boulders on the calmest swimming water in the resort
Tiger Rocks beach — granite boulders on the calmest swimming water in the resort
The bird wetland boardwalk behind the coast, quiet outside the summer months
The bird wetland boardwalk behind the coast, quiet outside the summer months
Live seafood by the jin at Shitang Road market, cooked on the spot
Live seafood by the jin at Shitang Road market, cooked on the spot

I was willing to get up at three in the morning for this rendezvous I had been dreaming about. That streak of red, that blaze where the sea meets the sky — it should be a landscape out of a poem, and it was.

Traveller note — 'Days by the Beidaihe seaside'

The air was wonderful after the rain, and there was hardly anyone on the beach. Best of all, this stretch isn't a managed bathing ground — it has rocks. I love watching waves hit rocks, and hunting for the little creatures hiding underneath.

Traveller note — 'A relaxed weekend in Beidaihe'

Beidaihe is the beach that northern China built for itself. The sand is soft and grey-gold, the water is calm and shallow, and from June to September the whole district runs at holiday pace — kites over the promenade, kids with buckets, pensioners swimming laps before breakfast. It is not a tropical sea, and it does not pretend to be. What it is, is reachable: two hours by train from Beijing, and cheap once you arrive.

The resort has been a summer retreat since the 1890s, when a British railway engineer surveying the line from Tianjin praised the beach and the foreign community of the treaty ports followed. Villas and sanatoria grew up behind the dunes, and something of that gentility survives: pine-shaded streets, quiet lanes of family guesthouses in Liuzhuang, a seafront built for strolling rather than for spectacle.

Two things pull people back year after year. The first is sunrise at Pigeon's Nest, where the sun lifts straight out of the Bohai behind a cliff full of doves — Mao Zedong wrote one of his best-known poems about it in 1954. The second is the birds: Beidaihe sits on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, and in spring and autumn the woods and wetlands behind the beach fill with migrating species. Come for the beach in summer; come with binoculars in spring and autumn.

Beidaihe

Don't leave without

Seven things that are worth rearranging a day for.

  1. Get up once for the Pigeon's Nest sunrise — taxi there 40 minutes early
  2. Walk barefoot in the shallows at Tiger Rocks and watch the waves break on the granite
  3. Buy live seafood at Shitang Road market and have a stall kitchen cook it
  4. Bring binoculars in April–May or September–October and walk the bird wetland boardwalk
  5. Stay for the evening bonfire and shows at Biluota Bar Park
  6. Walk off dinner along Olympic Avenue Park, free and local

Highlights

What not to miss in Beidaihe

Sunrise at Pigeon's Nest

Sunrise at Pigeon's Nest

The cliff of Eagle Rock is the classic place to watch the sun come straight out of the Bohai. In summer the park staff are on duty from about 3 am; the ticket is ¥20 and several hundred doves live on the cliff around you.

A beach day at Tiger Rocks

A beach day at Tiger Rocks

The resort's central beach: clean sand scattered with granite boulders and the calmest swimming water for miles. ¥8 to enter, open 6 am to 10 pm, kites overhead and snacks on the promenade.

The bird migration

The bird migration

Beidaihe sits on one of the world's great flyways. From mid-March to late May and early September to mid-November, the wetlands behind the beach fill with herons, waders and warblers — bring binoculars, not just a swimsuit.

The seafood market dinner

The seafood market dinner

Buy prawns, crab and scallops live by weight at Shitang Road market, hand them to a stall kitchen for a few yuan a jin, and eat exactly what you chose. This is Beidaihe's essential evening.

Evenings at Biluota Bar Park

A conch-shaped tower on a three-sided-sea peninsula at the east end of the beach. Cheap by day, and after 6 pm it becomes the resort's loudest venue — bonfires, beer and shows until late.

Lianfeng Hill

The wooded hill behind the resort, topped by the Sea-Viewing Pavilion with the whole bay below. ¥30 to enter, gloriously shady at midday, and the green counterweight to a beach itinerary.

Suggested itineraries

Two days of sea, plus an optional wall

The resort itself is compact and bus-friendly; the only long journey worth making is the day trip out to Shanhaiguan.

Beidaihe in two days

2 days

Day one for the beach and the market, day two for the sunrise and the seafront parks.

  1. Day 1

    Tiger Rocks and the market

    Arrive at Beidaihe station, take bus 37 or 5 to the Haibin coach station and drop your bags at a guesthouse near Tiger Rocks. Spend the morning and early afternoon on the beach — swim, dig for crabs, dry off on the rocks.

    Walk north to Olympic Avenue Park in the late afternoon, then go to Shitang Road market before 8 pm: buy live seafood by weight, have it cooked at a stall kitchen, and finish with a wander through the shell-trinket stalls.

    Stops: Tiger Rocks beachOlympic Avenue ParkShitang Road market

  2. Day 2

    Sunrise and the eastern shore

    Take a taxi at about 4 am to Pigeon's Nest for the sunrise — 40 minutes ahead of the published time. Feed the doves on the cliff, then go back for a nap and a late breakfast.

    In the afternoon walk the boardwalk at Qianshui Bay and the bird wetland, then finish at Biluota Bar Park, where the evening ticket includes the shows and the bonfire.

    Stops: Pigeon's Nest ParkQianshui Bay boardwalkBiluota Bar Park

Three days, adding the Great Wall

3 days

Run the two-day plan at leisure, then give day three to the wall and the sea at Shanhaiguan, 30 km east.

  1. Days 1–2

    The classic beach two

    Follow the two-day itinerary above, with a slower morning on day two and a proper birdwatching walk if you are travelling in the migration season.

    Stops: Tiger RocksPigeon's NestShitang Road market

  2. Day 3

    Shanhaiguan day trip

    Take bus 34 towards Sidaobiao and change to bus 25 for Old Dragon Head, where the Ming wall runs into the sea, then bus on to the First Pass Under Heaven. Three hours each way by bus — a taxi shared by three or four makes an easier day of it.

    Our Shanhaiguan travel guide has the full ticket and timing breakdown for the pass town.

    Stops: Old Dragon HeadFirst Pass Under Heaven

Sights

The places worth your time

Ticket prices in China change without much notice. Treat these as a guide and confirm on arrival.

Pigeon's Nest Park (Geziwo)

Sunrise · The classic view

Pigeon's Nest Park (Geziwo)

A fault cliff on the eastern shore topped by a rock shaped like an eagle — Yingjiao Stone — where pigeons and doves nest in the crevices. It is the best sunrise platform on this coast: the sun lifts straight out of the sea, and on clear mornings the 'bathing sun' effect over the water is the postcard every photographer here is chasing. Several hundred doves are fed on the cliff lawn and will land on an outstretched hand.

Ticket
¥20
Hours
May–Sep from about 03:00; Oct–Apr from 08:00; closes 18:00
Where
Gezhe Road, Dongshan, eastern Beidaihe
Getting there
Bus to Longxing stop then 820 m east on foot; take a taxi for sunrise
Time needed
1–2 hours

Tip Arrive 40 minutes before the published sunrise time — the good angles on the cliff fill up fast. Bring a layer: even in August the pre-dawn sea wind is cool. Phone 0335-4041774 for opening arrangements.

Tiger Rocks Marine Park (Laohushi)

Beach · The swimming one

Tiger Rocks Marine Park (Laohushi)

The centre of Beidaihe's seafront: a clean stretch of sand studded with granite boulders of all sizes, giving the beach its name and its best photo ops. The water here is the calmest and shallowest in the resort, which is why families base themselves on this stretch. Stand on the rocks at high tide and watch the waves break white against them, kites overhead.

Ticket
¥8
Hours
06:00–22:00
Where
Zhonghaitan, central Beidaihe seafront
Getting there
Bus to Laohushi or Baihuo Gongsi stop; or Haibin coach station then walk south
Time needed
Half a day, or all of it

Tip You can see the whole beach from outside without paying — but the ¥8 sand and water inside are noticeably better than the free stretches, so if swimming is the plan, pay it. Arrive before 10 am in July and August.

Wooded hill · The shady half-day

Lianfeng Hill Park (Lianfengshan)

The pine-covered hill behind the resort, its twin peaks linked like a lotus bud — hence the old name Lotus Hill. Paths climb past the Lotus Stone and an old bell tower to the Sea-Viewing Pavilion on the summit, where the whole bay and the resort's green roofscape spread out below. It is the cool, quiet counterweight to the beach, and in the migration season the woods are full of songbirds.

Ticket
¥30
Hours
May–Sep 07:00–18:00; Oct–Apr 08:00–18:00
Where
Lianfeng Road and Jianqiu Road junction
Getting there
Bus to Lianfengshan Park stop
Time needed
2–3 hours

Tip Do this at midday when the beach is at its most punishing — the tree cover keeps the paths cool. Phone 0335-4041591.

Seafront park · Evening shows

Biluota Bar Park

A peninsula at the east end of the beach, surrounded on three sides by sea, with a conch-shaped spiral tower as its centrepiece — the only one of its kind on this coast. By day it is a quiet park with fishing spots off the rocks; after dark it turns into the resort's nightlife hub, with beach bonfires, beer sessions, sea fishing trips and stage shows running late into the night.

Ticket
¥15 for sunrise · ¥60 for 15:00–18:00 · ¥100 for 18:00–21:30 with shows
Hours
Open around the clock in season
Where
East end of Donghaitan Road
Getting there
Bus to Kangle Road stop then 1.1 km on foot; taxi is easier in a group
Time needed
An evening

Tip The ¥100 evening ticket includes the stage shows — check what is on that night at 0335-4034566 before committing. The same ticket allows re-entry, so you can slip out for dinner.

Oddity · Good with children

Strange Villa and Wonder Garden (Guailou Qiyuan)

A castle-like maze rebuilt on the site of a genuinely strange 1920s villa, designed by an American resident as sun-therapy architecture for his neuralgia and later destroyed. The replacement is part funhouse, part garden: dark passages connect inside and outside, sound-and-light tricks fire as you pass, and children adore it even when the mechanisms misbehave.

Ticket
¥15 off season, ¥60 in peak season
Hours
08:00–21:00
Where
180 m west of the Lianfeng–Baihua Road junction
Getting there
Bus to Guailou stop, at the door
Time needed
1–2 hours

Tip Come after dark if you can — the light-and-sound effects work better at night, and it is a natural pairing with the evening at Biluota nearby.

Free park · Local evenings

Olympic Avenue Park

A large free park laid out along Olympic Avenue in 2004, telling the Olympic story through reliefs, statues, fountains and the hand-and-foot prints of Chinese champions. Nothing here is spectacular, and that is the point: this is where Beidaihe walks its dogs and its babies in the evening, a few minutes from the sea but away from the ticket booths.

Ticket
Free
Hours
Open all day
Where
Olympic Avenue, north of the western beach
Getting there
Bus to Olympic Avenue Park or Chitushan stop, then 8 minutes on foot
Time needed
45–60 minutes

Tip Combine it with the pre-dinner market run — it sits between the beach and Shitang Road, and costs nothing to wander.

The bird wetland and Qianshui Bay boardwalk

Wetland · Birdwatching

The bird wetland and Qianshui Bay boardwalk

A wooden boardwalk runs along the shore from mid-Binhai Avenue all the way to the Chitushan wetland, through dense vegetation and quiet shallows. In the migration seasons this is the best free birding on the coast; in summer it is simply a lovely, uncrowded walk. Qianshui Bay itself is a free beach opposite the safari park — fine for a paddle, though the water is not for serious swimming.

Ticket
Free
Hours
Open all day; early morning best for birds
Where
Mid-Binhai Avenue, opposite the safari park
Getting there
Bus to Beidaihe International Club stop
Time needed
1–2 hours

Tip The two migration windows — mid-March to late May, early September to mid-November — are when this walk earns its keep. Even in June there are breeding herons and orioles in the reeds.

Eating

What Beidaihe eats

The honest way to eat here is the market way: buy it live, watch it weighed, pay a kitchen a few yuan to cook it.

Roast prawns

The local classic: large Beidaihe prawns roasted and served with their cooking juices — glossy, intensely savoury and tender. It is the dish every seafront restaurant puts on the front of the menu, and the market kitchens do it just as well for less.

Mantis shrimp

Sold live at around ¥11–18 a jin at Shitang Road market, and best simply steamed. Spring and autumn are when they are fat with roe; summer ones are leaner but still sweet. Ordering the same dish in a beachfront restaurant costs several times the market price.

Swimming crab

The three-washboard crab, ¥45–60 a jin live. When you pick one up, press the belly: a hard, thick underside means a full, meaty crab; a soft one has just moulted and is mostly water. Never buy a dead crab, however cheap.

Scallops with garlic and vermicelli

About ¥20 a jin live, and the classic preparation costs roughly ¥5 a shell at a market kitchen: opened, topped with minced garlic and glass noodles, and grilled. Two or three make a meal with a beer on the seawall.

Abalone

Small farmed abalone, usually steamed and dressed with sauce — a ¥5-a-piece kitchen job on market shellfish. Rich and tender, but go easy if you are feeding small children: it is heavy protein for little stomachs.

Peanut mung-bean cake

A local sweet of mung bean and sugar, sometimes layered with peanut like a Beijing candy — around ¥25 a jin, made fresh with free tastes at the counter. The best-known stall sits inside Pigeon's Nest Park, which makes it a reward for surviving the 4 am taxi.

Where to eat

Eating well without the seafront markup

Phone numbers are local landlines; add +86 and drop the leading 0 if calling from abroad.

Market seafood · ¥53 a head

Shitang Road Market Restaurant

The eatery on the B1 floor of the market itself, where the seafood could not be fresher — the tanks are restocked from the boats next door. Pick what you want downstairs, pay by weight, and eat it upstairs. Choose carefully: anything already dead should stay dead.

Order
Steamed mantis shrimp, garlic scallops, roast prawns
Where
B1, Shitang Road market, near Caochang Middle Road
Price
About ¥53 a head, more if you love crab

Cook-your-catch · Cheapest

The market stall kitchens

The Beidaihe institution: you buy live seafood in the market, then hand it to any of the small kitchens around the edge, which charge by the jin to cook — steaming ¥2, boiling ¥1, stir-frying ¥5, dressed abalone or garlic scallops about ¥5 each. Stand at the wok and watch your bag become your dinner.

Processing
Steam ¥2/jin · boil ¥1/jin · stir-fry ¥5/jin
Where
Edge of Shitang Road pedestrian street
Hours
Until the stalls pack up around 20:00

Old sweet stall · Takeaway

Liu's peanut mung-bean cakes

The most-loved version of the local sweet, run from a counter inside Pigeon's Nest Park. Free tastes, honest weights, and the peanut version tastes like a finer Beijing peanut brittle. Buy a bag for the walk back along the cliff.

Order
Peanut mung-bean cake, plain mung-bean cake
Where
Inside Pigeon's Nest Park
Price
About ¥25 a jin

Where locals eat · Budget

The Yuhua Road market quarter

Follow Yuhua Road south, past the local campus, and you reach the residents' produce market. The small restaurants around it cook for Beidaihe households rather than tourists: same seafood, plainer rooms, noticeably smaller bills. Book nothing; wander in.

Order
Whatever is live in the tanks, home-style stir-fries
Where
South end of Yuhua Road, Liuzhuang
Good to know
Honest scales — but still watch the weighing

Sleeping

Where to stay

The Liuzhuang guesthouse quarter is the budget heart of the resort; the villa-lined streets behind Tiger Rocks are the classic middle. Book well ahead for mid-June to late August.

By Pigeon's Nest · From ¥224

Guanhai Tower Hotel

An older hotel east of Pigeon's Nest Park, which makes it the sunrise hotel: the headland is a short walk away, and rooms look over sea and pine. Ageing, but the cleanliness and the position carry it.

Price
From ¥224
Where
7 Yingjiao Road, east of Pigeon's Nest Park
Phone
0335-4688188

4-star · Near Tiger Rocks · From ¥323

Xinhua Holiday Hotel

The resort's long-standing four-star, five minutes' walk from the Tiger Rocks beach with sea-facing rooms. Ask for floors 7–8 of Tower A for the best water views. Solid, comfortable, and easy to reach from the coach station.

Price
From ¥323
Where
2 An'er Road, central seafront
Phone
0335-4280888

Liuzhuang guesthouse · From ¥60

Ruoshui Ju family inn

A four-storey family guesthouse in the Liuzhuang quarter between Biluota and Tiger Rocks, with bright, simply furnished rooms. Two food markets within a couple of minutes' walk, the free beach five to eight minutes south, and the Olympic park three to five minutes east.

Price
From ¥60
Where
Row 7, Zone 2, Yuhua Road, Liuzhuang
Phone
13833595886

Liuzhuang guesthouse · From ¥49

Yayi Ju family inn

An apartment-style family inn a five-minute walk from the free public beach. The selling point is the kitchen arrangement: guests can have their market seafood steamed or boiled for free. The seafront night market is at the door, and the sunrise end of town is a short walk east.

Price
From ¥49
Where
Building 4, Block 18, Liuzhuang Beili
Phone
13653352751

Apartment hotel · From ¥64

Mila Hotel

A serviced-apartment hotel in the busy middle of the resort, ringed by shopping plazas, minutes from the Strange Villa and the Shitang Road wholesale market. Price is the argument, and the location is honest for it.

Price
From ¥64
Where
East 2, Zhongjie, Dabohezhai village, near Strange Villa
Phone
13933549481

Getting around

Arriving, and moving about

Trains are the way in; the resort itself runs on ¥1 buses, cheap taxis and your own feet.

By train

Beidaihe station sits on the coast line with around 122 trains a day calling — high-speed, express and ordinary. From Beijing the fast trains take about 2 hours (from ¥81.5), which is what makes this a weekend beach for the capital. From the station to the seafront, buses 37, 5 or 22 run to the Haibin coach station in about 50 minutes.

From Beijing
About 2h by fast train, from ¥81.5
Station → beach
Bus 37 / 5 / 22, about 50 min, ¥1
Watch out
Book Golden Week seats days ahead — trains sell out

By coach

Bawangfen station in Beijing runs coaches roughly every 30–60 minutes from 7 am to 6 pm, about 3.5 hours to Qinhuangdao, then bus 34 for another 40 minutes to the resort. From Tianjin, coaches leave the West station and Tianhuan in the morning and afternoon, about ¥100. The local terminal is on Lianfeng North Road.

From Beijing
Bawangfen, 07:00–18:00, ~3.5h, then bus 34
From Tianjin
West station 16:30 / Tianhuan 08:00, 11:30, ~¥100
Local terminal
96 Lianfeng North Road, Beidaihe

Local buses

Flat ¥1, no change given, no IC card — keep coins. Bus 5 links the coach station, Lianfeng Hill and the station; bus 15 threads the seafront past Tiger Rocks to the Olympic park; bus 22 runs west to the Nandaihe beaches. Service runs roughly 6 am to 6:40 pm.

Fare
¥1 flat, coins only
Useful lines
5 to Lianfeng Hill · 15 along the seafront · 22 to Nandaihe
Hours
About 06:00–18:40 in summer

Taxis

Flag fall ¥5 for the first 2 km plus a ¥1 fuel surcharge — one of the cheapest taxi towns on this coast. They meter in high summer; off season a negotiated price can be lower still. A taxi from the airport to the resort runs about ¥70.

Flag fall
¥5 for 2 km + ¥1 fuel surcharge
Airport → resort
About ¥70 to the Haibin coach station
Watch out
Ignore station touts; use the rank or an app

Hiring a car

A family of three can hire a car-and-driver for a day of coastal driving for around ¥230 with half a tank included. If you drive yourself, note that the road by Tiger Rocks jams in season — the proper car park on the west side is ¥20 for unlimited time, and shopkeepers charge for the spaces outside their doors.

Car + driver
About ¥230 a day with fuel allowance
Parking
¥20 unlimited at the west Tiger Rocks lot
Watch out
Never take an unlicensed 'black cab' or their sightseeing advice

Shopping

What to take home

The souvenirs here are the sea's: shells worked into pictures, and the dried catch. Buy at Shitang Road market, not the airport.

Shell carvings

The proper local craft: selected natural shells, worked and fitted onto moulds to make birds, fish and flowers, then finished by hand. A good one genuinely recalls the beach; a bad one is a fridge magnet with ambitions. Buy at Shitang Road or the night market stalls.

Pearls

Freshwater pearl strands and bracelets are sold all over the market. Test before buying: rub two pearls together — real ones shed a fine powder and show no scratch when wiped; a scratch that stays means pressed shell. Price by lustre, not by size of claims.

Dried seafood

Dried scallop muscle, shrimp and seaweed keep for months and make the journey home better than anything chilled. Look for plump, unbroken pieces without excessive salt or dye, and buy from stalls with a fixed counter rather than a bucket and a scale.

Shell trinkets

Wind chimes, small lampshades, curio boxes — the market's default gift rack. Bargain hard, check the glue job, and do not put anything fragile at the bottom of a suitcase. Fun for children to pick, and they weigh nothing.

Practical

The numbers to save

Area code 0335. Mobile pay works in shops and hotels; keep some cash for market stalls.

Emergency (police / ambulance / fire)110 · 120 · 119
Tourist complaint line12301 · 0335-3661010
Beidaihe tourism bureau0335-4186310
Beidaihe Hospital200 Lianfeng Road · 0335-4041624
BankCCB Beidaihe branch, 74 Haining Road · 0335-4043017
Best monthsMay–October; warm enough to swim July–August
Bird migration windowsMid-March – late May; early September – mid-November
Peak seasonMid-June – late August plus Golden Weeks: book or be sorry

Tips

Small things that save a trip

Beat the sunrise by 40 minutes

Pigeon's Nest has staff on duty before first light in summer, but the good cliff positions go early. Check the next day's sunrise time, book the taxi the night before, and take a layer — 4 am by the sea is colder than you think.

Know the four seafood tricks

Watch the seller's hands while your bag is filled (the switch happens in one second); ignore 'helpers' who pick seafood for you and lead you to kitchens (they take commission both ends); distrust deep discounts on crab (made back on dead stock and added water); and re-weigh on the market's public scale.

Follow your dinner to the wok

When a kitchen cooks your market seafood, stand at the wok and watch it happen. Not because everyone is a crook, but because busy kitchens mix bags and the substitution trick needs only one distracted minute.

Respect the sun and the mosquitoes

Thick sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses are not optional on this beach in July; keep repellent or essential-oil balm for the evenings by the wetland. Sunburn on day one ruins the swim on day two.

Enter the water like a local

Splash cool water on your limbs and torso before wading in, do not dive where the crowd is thick, and note that the tide pushes in through the afternoon — the sandbar you stood on at noon may be gone by four.

Eat where the residents eat

The rule that saves the most money: anything inside the sightseeing zone costs double. Walk ten minutes into the residential streets around the Yuhua Road market for the same cooking at local prices.

Background

Why Beidaihe looks like this

Geography and climate

Beidaihe occupies the western edge of Qinhuangdao city, on the corridor between the Yan mountains and the Bohai Sea. The bathing strip runs roughly 10 km from the Dai river mouth in the west to Yingjiao pavilion in the east, backed the whole way by wooded hills — 54% of the district is under tree cover, and the air quality has been rated first-grade for years. Summers stay below the punishing heat of the plain; winters are mild and quiet.

That same geography makes it a bird highway. The wooded coast and the wetlands behind it sit squarely on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, and the spring and autumn passages have made Beidaihe one of the most respected birdwatching sites in Asia — a fact the summer crowds mostly ignore and the binocular crowd plans whole years around.

From fishing villages to the summer resort

People have lived on this shore since the Neolithic, through the ancient Guzhu kingdom and the Yan state that absorbed it. The resort's own story begins in 1893, when a British engineer named Kidd, surveying the Tianjin–Shanhaiguan railway, praised the gentle surf and soft sand as the finest bathing ground on the coast. Word spread through the treaty-port foreign community, villas followed, and in 1898 the Qing court formally designated Beidaihe a summer resort area for 'people of all nations'.

The twentieth century kept adding layers: sanatoria and leaders' villas under the People's Republic, the poem Mao Zedong wrote here in 1954 — 'The rainstorms fall on a land of tumbling waves' — and decades of workers' holidays that made the name Beidaihe shorthand for 'seaside' across northern China. The resort you walk through now is all of those at once, which is why it feels both nostalgic and entirely ordinary, in the best sense.

Travel with them

Beidaihe in song and verse

Not guides — the poem, the essay and the song that people actually carry to this beach.

Poem

Lang Tao Sha · Beidaihe

Mao Zedong, 1954

Written on this shore after a summer storm, and quoted on half the signage in town. 'A heavy rain falls on Youyan, billowing white-capped waves; beyond Qinhuangdao, fishing boats brave the vast and boundless sea.' Read it on the Pigeon's Nest cliff at dawn and the resort suddenly has a tenth century of depth.

Book

Fantasies Read on the Beidaihe Shore

Xu Zhimo

The republican-era poet's seaside essay — the tide's anger subsiding, the loose sand echoing, the broken shells at the water's edge. The Beidaihe it describes is emptier than today's, but the light and the mood are exactly the ones you get on an early-morning walk away from the bathing beaches.

Music

Beidaihe Song

Gala

A slightly odd, thoroughly catchy indie anthem whose key line — 'the Maldives are too far away; if I can only kiss your face, Beidaihe is paradise too' — turned it into the resort's unofficial theme. The sentiment holds: where you go matters less than who is beside you on the sand.

The questions visitors ask us most about Beidaihe, answered plainly.

Frequently asked questions

Prices and practical details are reviewed every month by our Beijing team and updated the day a rule changes.

When is the best time to visit Beidaihe?

May to October for the coast overall, but only July and August are reliably warm enough for swimming. If you are coming for the birds, come mid-March to late May or early September to mid-November instead — those are the two migration peaks. Avoid the first weeks of May and October if you dislike crowds.

How do I get to Beidaihe from Beijing?

Take a high-speed or intercity train to Beidaihe station — about 2 hours from Beijing, around ¥81.5 for a second-class动车 seat, with well over a hundred trains a day calling here. From the station, buses 37, 5 or 22 reach the Haibin coach station in the resort centre in about 50 minutes for ¥1.

Where is the best place to watch the sunrise?

Pigeon's Nest Park is the classic spot — ticket ¥20, and in summer the park has staff on duty from about 3 am, half an hour or more before first light. Take a taxi rather than a bus at that hour. Biluota Park also sells a ¥15 sunrise ticket, and in good weather you can camp on the free public beaches and wait for dawn.

Which beach should I swim at?

Tiger Rocks (¥8) is the cleanest and calmest central beach with proper facilities. The free public beaches near Liuzhuang are fine for walking and paddling. Qianshui Bay is free and quiet but the water quality is ordinary — walk the boardwalk there, swim at Tiger Rocks. July and August are the real swimming months.

How does the seafood market dinner work?

Go to Shitang Road market before about 8 pm, pick live seafood by weight — mantis shrimp around ¥11–18 a jin, crabs ¥45–60, scallops ¥20 — then hand it to a stall kitchen: steaming ¥2 a jin, boiling ¥1, stir-frying ¥5, garlic-vermicelli scallops about ¥5 each. Watch your bag from scale to wok, and re-weigh on the public scale if in doubt.

Do I need to book accommodation in advance?

Between mid-June and late August, and during the May and October Golden Weeks, yes — rooms fill completely and prices rise, and a booking may need a prepayment to count. Outside those weeks you can usually walk in and bargain, especially at the family guesthouses in Liuzhuang.

Can I visit the Great Wall at Shanhaiguan from Beidaihe?

Yes — Shanhaiguan is about 30 km away. Take bus 34 from the resort to Sidaobiao and change to bus 25 for Old Dragon Head, roughly 3 hours in total each way, or take a taxi for a faster day trip. Our Shanhaiguan travel guide covers the First Pass, Old Dragon Head and the Meng Jiangnu Temple in detail.

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City guides

Dalian Dalian City guide · 15 tours The Northern Pearl — China's most romantic coastal city. Shenyang Shenyang City guide · 12 tours Where the Qing dynasty began — an imperial palace, a warlord's mansion and the cheapest good food in the northeast. Changbai Mountain Changbai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano on the North Korean border, a jade-green crater lake at 2,189 m, and hot springs on the way down. Kunming Kunming City guide · 12 tours China's Spring City — a mild plateau capital of flowers, markets and the Stone Forest, with gulls on the lake in winter. Dali Dali City guide · 12 tours A walled Bai town between a 4,000 m mountain and a great lake — wind, flowers, snow and moon, and life at a slower speed. Shuhe Shuhe City guide · 12 tours The quiet version of Lijiang — a Tea Horse Road village of canals, stone bridges and slow afternoons, 4 km from the crowds. Lijiang Lijiang City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO Naxi old town of canals and cobbles beneath a 5,596 m snow mountain — the cultural heart of north-west Yunnan. Xiamen Xiamen City guide · 12 tours A subtropical island city of temples, fishing-village lanes and the best street food in Fujian — with the car-free islet of Gulangyu a 20-minute ferry away. Gulangyu Gulangyu City guide · 12 tours A car-free island of colonial villas, pianos and cats, twenty minutes off Xiamen — and the one place where the trick is simply to stay the night. Fuzhou Fuzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,200-year-old capital of banyan trees and mountains-within-the-city, where the Ming lanes of Sanfang Qixiang meet the dockyard that built China's modern navy. Lugu Lake Lugu Lake City guide · 12 tours A 2,680 m lake on the Yunnan–Sichuan border, home to China's last matrilineal people, pig-trough canoes and a great deal of doing nothing. Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna City guide · 12 tours China's tropical south — rainforest, wild elephants, Dai villages and the Mekong, wrapped around the gateway city of Jinghong. Shangri-La Shangri-La City guide · 12 tours A Tibetan town at 3,300 m in Yunnan's Diqing prefecture — monasteries, grassland, prayer wheels and cold thin air. Nanchang Nanchang City guide · 12 tours Jiangxi's 'hero city' on the Gan River — one great Tang pavilion, a 160-metre Ferris wheel, and the best claypot soup you will eat in China. Hefei Hefei City guide · 12 tours Anhui's 2,000-year-old capital: the hometown of China's model judge, a moat-turned-garden ring, and the fast rail gateway to Huangshan. Hongcun Hongcun City guide · 12 tours A 900-year-old Hui village laid out as an ox, with water running to every door and a mirror-still crescent pond at its heart. Wuhan Wuhan City guide · 12 tours Three towns, two rivers and the best breakfast in China — a huge, blunt river city of bridges, lakes and cheap, brilliant street food. Changsha Changsha City guide · 12 tours Hunan's loud, young capital: a 3,000-year-old city that eats chilli-hot food, stays up all night and treats foot massage as a civic duty. Fenghuang Ancient Town Fenghuang Ancient Town City guide · 12 tours The stilt-house river town of Shen Congwen's 'Border Town' — glowing lanterns, stepping stones and the best two nights in western Hunan. Lushan Lushan City guide · 12 tours A cloud-wrapped granite mountain with a Victorian hill station on top, waterfalls in three tiers, and the mist that Su Shi said you could never see through. Wuyuan Wuyuan City guide · 12 tours China's 'most beautiful countryside' — dozens of white-walled Huizhou villages strung along streams and terraced into the hills, and two weeks a year of gold. Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan) Mount Heng (Hengshan, Hunan) City guide · 12 tours The South Great Peak: a pilgrimage mountain of 72 summits where the temples run all the way to the top, and the sunrise over the cloud sea is the whole point. Huangshan Huangshan City guide · 12 tours Yellow Mountain: 82 granite peaks of twisted pines and grotesque rock, a sea of cloud that changes by the hour, and hot springs at the foot. Wudang Mountain Wudang Mountain City guide · 12 tours The Taoist first mountain of China — a gilded bronze hall on a 1,612 m summit, temples hung off cliff faces, and the birthplace of tai chi. Luoyang Luoyang City guide · 12 tours Thirteen dynasties, 100,000 Buddhas carved into a river cliff, China's first Buddhist temple — and a whole city that turns peony-pink every April. Yuntai Mountain Yuntai Mountain City guide · 12 tours A UNESCO geopark in Henan where red-stone gorges squeeze a river to a slot, a 314 m waterfall drops in one plunge, and every path leads to another pool. Rizhao Rizhao City guide · 12 tours A low-key Shandong beach town where the sun rises straight out of the Yellow Sea, the sand runs 60 km and a seafood dinner costs less than a coffee in Shanghai. Yantai Yantai City guide · 12 tours A northern Shandong port of fairy-tale cliffs, wine cellars and long golden beaches — where emperors once hunted the elixir of life and China's wine industry still begins. Lianyungang Lianyungang City guide · 12 tours A working Jiangsu port with a myth in the middle of it — the Flower-Fruit Mountain of Journey to the West, a sea causeway to a big island beach, and some of the cheapest seafood on the coast. Sanqing Mountain Sanqing Mountain City guide · 12 tours A vertical forest of granite pillars in Jiangxi — the Python Out of the Mountain, the Goddess of the East Sea, two cable cars and a cliff-hugging walkway at 1,660 metres. Tianjin Tianjin City guide · 12 tours Beijing's port city next door — a river of 24 bridges, 2,000 colonial villas, and the best street breakfast in northern China. Datong Datong City guide · 12 tours A frontier capital of carved Buddhas — the Yungang Grottoes, a temple pinned to a cliff, and the oldest wooden tower in China. Taiyuan Taiyuan City guide · 12 tours Shanxi's provincial capital and noodle heartland — the spring of Jinci, two Ming pagodas, and a museum that explains the whole province. Pingyao Pingyao City guide · 12 tours China's best-preserved ancient walled town — a Ming wall, the first Chinese bank, and two temples of painted clay just outside the gates. Wutai Mountain Wutai Mountain City guide · 12 tours China's foremost Buddhist mountain — fifty-plus temples in one valley, crowned by five flat-topped peaks up to 3,058 m. Hulunbuir Hulunbuir City guide · 12 tours China's finest grassland — a 263,000 km² sweep of steppe, birch forest and border river, best driven with the windows down. The Forbidden City The Forbidden City City guide · 12 tours Beijing's 600-year imperial palace — 8,700 rooms behind a 72-hectare wall, and the largest surviving wooden palace complex on earth. Sanya Sanya City guide · 12 tours China's only true winter-sun coast — four very different bays, a coral island and a 108 m sea Buddha, all at 18° north. Haikou Haikou City guide · 12 tours Hainan's capital is the island's living city — 600-year-old arcade streets, a volcanic village, and a morning-tea-to-midnight food culture. Beihai Beihai City guide · 12 tours 24 km of fine white sand on one side, a volcanic island of coral and lava on the other — plus a 19th-century arcade old street in between. Nanning Nanning City guide · 12 tours Guangxi's green capital is a gateway to Detian Falls, Beihai and Vietnam — and a genuinely excellent food city if you let it slow you down. Guangxi Guangxi City guide · 12 tours One autonomous region, a dozen landscapes — limestone peaks and rice terraces in the north, a Vietnam border and a warm gulf coast in the south. Huizhou Huizhou City guide · 12 tours A free West Lake, a Taoist mountain and 200 km of white-sand coast — the Pearl River Delta's most underrated weekend. Shanhaiguan Shanhaiguan City guide · 12 tours The town where the Great Wall stops being a rumour of mountains and walks into the Bohai Sea. Baiyangdian Baiyangdian City guide · 12 tours The biggest freshwater lake on the North China Plain — and almost none of it can be reached except by boat. Qinhuangdao Qinhuangdao City guide · 12 tours 126 km of Bohai coast in one municipality — a working port, two famous resorts, and the only desert dunes that meet this sea. Yesanpo Yesanpo City guide · 12 tours Gorge country where the Taihang and Yan ranges collide — 52.5 km of canyon walls, a cave that spits fish, and a river to fall off. Zhuhai Zhuhai City guide · 12 tours The delta's slow city: a 28 km promenade, 146 islands, oysters fattened where the river meets the sea. Wuyi Mountain Wuyi Mountain City guide · 12 tours Nine bends of clear water, red sandstone cliffs, and the tea that made a mountain's name. Jiuzhaigou Jiuzhaigou City guide · 12 tours 108 mineral-blue lakes in one 55 km valley — the place that ruins water everywhere else for you. Mount Siguniang Mount Siguniang City guide · 12 tours Four snow peaks, three valleys, and the friendliest 5,000 m mountain in China to stand on top of. Hailuogou Hailuogou City guide · 12 tours A glacier that comes down to 2,850 m, hot springs in the forest, and Gongga Shan filling the sky above both. Daocheng Yading Daocheng Yading City guide · 12 tours Three 6,000 m sacred peaks, glacial lakes at 4,600 m and twenty hours of road — the hardest, highest payoff in Sichuan. Shunan Bamboo Sea Shunan Bamboo Sea City guide · 12 tours Seventy thousand mu of bamboo over twenty-eight hills, a red sandstone corridor under a closed green roof, and a banquet made entirely of bamboo. Dujiangyan Dujiangyan City guide · 12 tours Not a monument but a machine: three pieces of engineering with no dam, still doing their job after 2,270 years. Qingcheng Mountain Qingcheng Mountain City guide · 12 tours The mountain where Daoism was organised, and the one Chengdu escapes to when the basin turns into an oven. Qingdao Qingdao City guide · 12 tours Red-tiled roofs, cold beer and a granite mountain that walks straight into the sea — the easiest good time on the Yellow Sea. Mount Tai Mount Tai City guide · 12 tours 1,545 metres, 6,290 stone steps and three thousand years of emperors — the one mountain in China that is also a document. Jinan Jinan City guide · 12 tours A provincial capital with 700 springs under the pavement — people still queue at the spouts to fill their kettles. Weihai Weihai City guide · 12 tours 1,000 km of clean coast, a free bathing beach, the island where the Beiyang Fleet died — and thousands of wild swans every winter. Qufu Qufu City guide · 12 tours One family, two thousand years of steles, and a ¥150 pass that covers the lot — the easiest serious day trip in Shandong. Penglai Penglai City guide · 12 tours China's immortals' coast — a Song-dynasty naval harbour you can walk for free, a mythology nobody ever found, and the ferry to 32 islands. Changdao Changdao City guide · 12 tours 32 islands, one causeway, a ¥150 land pass, tens of thousands of gulls and nowhere you can drive — the place where everything happens by boat. Nanjing Nanjing City guide · 12 tours Capital of six dynasties, capital of the Republic, and the city that eats more duck than anywhere else on earth. Suzhou Suzhou City guide · 12 tours Two thousand five hundred years of canals, sixty surviving gardens, and a city that shuts its gates at half past five. Zhouzhuang Zhouzhuang City guide · 12 tours Nine hundred years, fourteen bridges, one ticket — and a town that only makes sense before eight in the morning. Tongli Tongli City guide · 12 tours Fifteen canals, seven islets, forty-nine bridges — and a town that still gets up at dawn because it lives here. Wuxi Wuxi City guide · 12 tours Taihu on one side, a Grand Buddha on the next hill, and ribs sweet enough to argue about — the most underrated city on the Yangtze delta. Yangzhou Yangzhou City guide · 12 tours A city built by salt merchants who had more money than restraint — gardens, a narrow lake, and the best breakfast in China. Zhenjiang Zhenjiang City guide · 12 tours Three hills, one ferry landing, and an unreasonable share of Chinese literature — the Yangtze city people drive past. Changzhou Changzhou City guide · 12 tours A 2,500-year-old canal city that built a dinosaur park and refuses to apologise for it. Wuzhen Wuzhen City guide · 12 tours A town that is two towns: the older, quieter East Zone and the lit-up West Zone you sleep inside. Xitang Xitang City guide · 12 tours Nine canals, 122 lanes, one long roofed corridor — and a town that still works for a living. Hangzhou Hangzhou City guide · 12 tours A lake in the middle of a city, a tea village in the hills, and two thousand years of getting the mood right. Xixi Wetland Xixi Wetland City guide · 12 tours Ten square kilometres of marsh inside Hangzhou, and the only way into half of it is a boat. Ningbo Ningbo City guide · 12 tours A 7,000-year-old port with Asia's oldest private library, a free waterfront 20 years older than Shanghai's, and the best seafood before the islands. Mount Putuo Mount Putuo City guide · 12 tours A Buddhist island with no cars, three great temples and a ¥10 lunch that is the point of the place. Qiandao Lake Qiandao Lake City guide · 12 tours A thousand islands that did not exist sixty years ago, and the cleanest big-lake water in China. Shaoxing Shaoxing City guide · 12 tours Two and a half thousand years of water-town China, and Lu Xun's house is free. Zhoushan Zhoushan City guide · 12 tours 1,390 islands, one road bridge in, and a harbour that lands more fish than almost anywhere on earth. Hengdian Hengdian City guide · 12 tours A backlot the size of a town, where the palaces are copies and the film crews are real. Yandang Mountain Yandang Mountain City guide · 12 tours A volcano that weathering turned into scenery — 500-odd sights of peak, cave and waterfall across eight scenic areas. Zhejiang Zhejiang City guide · 12 tours One small, mountainous, absurdly rich province that holds a lake, two canal towns, a Buddhist island and a dead volcano. Hong Kong Outlying Islands Hong Kong Outlying Islands City guide · 12 tours Two hundred-odd islands, half an hour of ferry from the financial district, and not a car on three of them. Hong Kong Shopping Hong Kong Shopping City guide · 12 tours A duty-free port where the tag starts lower, two citywide sale seasons knock a third off, and every mall sits on an MTR exit. Macao Macao City guide · 12 tours Four hundred years of Portuguese streets, a fake Venice under a painted sky, and the best egg tart in Asia. Urumqi Urumqi City guide · 12 tours The city furthest from the sea, with a snow range on its doorstep and dinner starting at nine. Hong Kong SAR, China Hong Kong SAR, China City guide · 11 tours A harbour skyline you already know by heart, dim sum trolleys at dawn, and 260 islands an hour from the neon. Taiwan, China Taiwan, China City guide · 11 tours Night-market alleys, high-mountain railways, and a coastline that changes character every hundred kilometres. Qinghai Lake Qinghai Lake City guide · 12 tours A 4,400 sq km inland sea at 3,200 m, ringed by rapeseed gold, prayer flags and the best cycling road in China. Mount Emei Mount Emei City guide · 11 tours A 3,099-metre Buddhist summit you can reach by cable car before lunch — and a mountain full of monkeys that will absolutely rob you. Beijing Beijing City guide · 11 tours Six centuries of imperial red walls, a Great Wall you can climb before lunch, and the best roast duck on earth. Taipei Taipei City guide · 11 tours A 24-hour bookstore, a night market that never stops sizzling, and a city that apologises when you bump into it. North Xinjiang North Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Alpine lakes the colour of poured enamel, a village of log cabins under birch trees, and the last tear the Atlantic ever sheds. Lanzhou Lanzhou City guide · 11 tours A city split in half by the Yellow River, where beef noodles are a breakfast ritual and the Silk Road still runs through the streets. Mount Hua Mount Hua City guide · 11 tours Five granite peaks, one plank road bolted to a cliff face, and a sunrise that justifies the 2am start. Dunhuang Dunhuang City guide · 11 tours A desert oasis where Buddhist cave art survived a thousand years and a crescent lake refused to dry up. Gannan Gannan City guide · 11 tours 433 kilometres of the Yellow River's first bend, a 3.5 km prayer-wheel circuit, and Tibetan grasslands almost nobody has commercialised yet. Sichuan–Tibet Highway Sichuan–Tibet Highway City guide · 11 tours 2,142 kilometres of cliff-edge switchbacks, four of China's most beautiful mountains, and a road the Tibetans walk on their knees. Kangding Kangding City guide · 11 tours The town that gave Asia its most famous love song, a 7,556m sacred peak on its doorstep, and the last real Tibetan town before the road climbs to Lhasa. Lhasa Lhasa City guide · 12 tours A city of prayer wheels and butter lamps at 3,700 metres, where the sun shines 3,000 hours a year and the world's highest palace watches over it all. Nyingchi Nyingchi City guide · 11 tours Tibet's greenest corner — peach blossom valleys, a 7,782 m peak that hides from almost everyone, and the world's deepest canyon. Namtso Namtso City guide · 11 tours A 1,920-square-kilometre sheet of impossible blue at 4,718 metres, ringed by snow peaks and prayer flags. Chongqing Chongqing City guide · 12 tours A vertical city of fog, cable cars and cliff-side stilt houses, where the火锅 never stops boiling and the night skyline outshines Hong Kong. Qiandongnan Qiandongnan City guide · 11 tours A thousand Miao households stacked up a mountainside, drum towers and wind-rain bridges in Dong villages, and a 600-year-old Ming garrison town on the road to Guiyang. Libo Libo City guide · 11 tours Emerald rivers threading through karst peaks, a 600-metre forest growing out of a riverbed, and China's largest wild plum grove. Guiyang Guiyang City guide · 11 tours China's summer capital at 1,100 metres, where the nights run on sour fish soup, street-side barbecue and mahjong that never quite stops. Zhenyuan Zhenyuan City guide · 11 tours A 2,000-year-old river town where the Wuyang River carves an S through the mountains and every lane hides a story. Huangguoshu Huangguoshu City guide · 11 tours Asia's biggest waterfall, and the only one on earth you can walk behind, above and around — plus 600-year-old Ming dynasty villages a short drive away. Harbin Harbin City guide · 11 tours Minus 30 degrees, a frozen river you can walk across, and a cathedral built by Russians who never went home. Yunnan Yunnan City guide · 11 tours Snow mountains, tropical rainforest, twenty-five minorities and a plate of rice noodles — all in one province. Shanghai Shanghai City guide · 11 tours A 1920s waterfront of colonial banks facing a science-fiction skyline, soup dumplings you eat with a straw, and 20 million people moving like clockwork. Zhangjiajie Zhangjiajie City guide · 11 tours Three thousand sandstone pillars straight out of Avatar, a glass skywalk bolted to a cliff, and a cable car that leaves from downtown. Guangzhou Guangzhou City guide · 11 tours A 2,200-year-old trading port where dim sum is a religion, colonial islands sit beside 600-metre towers, and the food never stops. Guilin Guilin City guide · 11 tours Karst peaks rising straight out of a green river, rice terraces carved into mountainsides, and the best bowl of noodles you'll eat in China. Shenzhen Shenzhen City guide · 11 tours A fishing village that became a megacity in forty years — and it still has 500-year-old banyans, empty beaches and dim sum worth the border crossing. Chengdu Chengdu City guide · 11 tours A 3,000-year-old city where the schedule is tea, mahjong and hotpot — and the pandas are just the opening act. Xinjiang Xinjiang City guide · 11 tours Snow peaks, grassland, desert and oasis — one-sixth of China, and the longest road you will ever ride. Xi'an Xi'an City guide · 14 tours Thirteen dynasties of emperors, a terracotta army buried for 2,200 years, and a walled city you can cycle in 100 minutes. Qinghai Qinghai City guide · 11 tours China's high-altitude blue heart: a salt lake you can walk on, a 3,200-metre sea, and yak butter tea at the roof of the world. Tibet Tibet City guide · 11 tours A plateau the size of Western Europe where the sky starts at your feet, prayer flags carry the wind, and the roads run past 8,000-metre peaks.

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  • Pigeon's Nest Park opens before dawn in summer (ticket ¥20) — arrive 40 minutes ahead of sunrise time.
  • Tiger Rocks is the cleanest central swimming beach, ¥8 to enter; the free public beaches nearby are better for walking.
  • Birdwatching peaks mid-March to late May and early September to mid-November on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway.

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