Qingdao China
Frequently Asked Questions
At the international cruise terminal in the Shibei district, three or four kilometres from the old quarter. You step straight onto the pier, with no tender, and road shuttles and taxis reach the centre in minutes.
Only partly. The old quarter is three or four kilometres away: take the shuttle or a taxi in, then walk all day once you are there, as the historic centre is very walkable.
Zhanqiao Pier and the waterfront, then the climb to St. Michael's Cathedral and the German quarter, finishing at the Tsingtao Beer Museum. It all fits into half a day without rushing.
The city's emblem: a pier reaching 440 metres into the bay to the octagonal Huilan Pavilion, so famous that it appears on the Tsingtao beer label. Locals walk it with their families and photograph the gulls.
Because in part it was one. The German concession shaped it at the turn of the twentieth century: old villas, slate roofs, governors' residences and St. Michael's Cathedral, completed in 1932, still stand on the hillsides.
The original buildings of the brewery founded in 1903 by German settlers, from copper vats to modern bottling lines, with a tasting drawn straight from the plant. The surrounding district is lined with taverns and terraces.
A quarter of shaded avenues lined with hundreds of villas in Russian, British, French and Spanish styles. Each street is named after a fortified pass of the Great Wall and planted with a different tree species. Wander without a plan.
Only on a long call. This sacred Taoist massif takes a good hour of driving each way. If time is short, save your energy for the hills of old Qingdao, which pay off far better per hour.
Yes, the city has several urban beaches along the waterfront. The water stays cool: swimmers venture in from the first warm days, but most visitors come for the promenade and the views.
May to October, with late spring and early autumn the sweet spot. Shandong winters are cold and windy, and summer brings sea fog that sometimes hides the hills.
