Location: Qingdao
Top Things to do in Qingdao
Top Restaurants in Qingdao
- 1. Bei LvDao Italian MingCai Restaurant
- 2. Din Tai Fung (Marina City Branch)
- 3. Diner 22
- 4. Quanjude Roast Duck
- 5. HaiDao YuCun Restaurant
- 6. Italiano Doc
- 7. ChuanGe YuShui Jiao (MinJiang Road)
- 8. The Flying Catch Mediterranean Restaurant
- 9. Milano Italian Restaurant
- 10. Knuckles Sports Bar and Grill
What to do and see in Qingdao, Shandong: The Best Budget-friendly Things to do
Qingdao ([tɕʰíŋtàu]; also spelled Tsingtao) is a city in eastern Shandong Province on the east coast of China. It is the largest city in its province. Administered at the sub-provincial level, Qingdao has jurisdiction over six districts and four county-level cities. As of 2014 Qingdao had a population of 9,046,200 with an urban population of 6,188,100. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea, it borders Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west and Rizhao to the southwest.
Restaurants in Qingdao
1. Laoshan Scenic Area
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,055 reviews
One of China's most celebrated scenic areas, Laoshan presents a panorama of mountains, cliffs, waterfalls and temples.
Reviewed By Sillypiggys - Sydney, Australia
Snow capped peaks in winter! Perfect time to visit with barely any visitors. Spectacular views from the top! Great for hikers. We caught the 104 bus which starts at Taidong and travels down to the Xianggang West and Xianggang East Road (the West road becomes the East Road) along the coast until you reach Laoshan about 35km away. The cost is RMB3 from Taidong (terminus) to the Tourism Office of Laoshan. You just hop on and the ticket lady will tell you the correct fare to pay her. You need to book your tickets to the Laoshan scenic areas at the Tourism office before entering the park. Cost is RMB120 pp (low season) and RMB90 for students. Peak is RMB150 and RMB105 respectively. We then took one of the private driver’s offer of RMB300 for the day and she took us along the coast to see the Frog Rock, Laozhi statue, a look out to the Tea plantation and then Huayan Temple where we did a hike for a 1.5 hour round trip up the mountain. The temple was only 20mins walk up. We started at 10am and returned to Taidong around 6pm. The bus trip was 1hr in the morning (no traffic) but 2 hrs on the way back (peak weekday traffic). The private drivers speaks virtually no English and will try to take you to tea houses to sample teas and coerce you to buy or encourage you to eat at one of the restaurants. They won’t force you so gently decline if you are not interested. Note: there are no food options other than these restaurants so bring snacks or eat a good breakfast before you head out!!
2. Badaguan Scenic Resort
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 739 reviews
Reviewed By lingolewi101 - Melbourne, Australia
Definitely a must if you are coming to Qingdao. Along with most of what's on trip advisor's app, apart from the beer city. That's only in the summer of August. Badaguan is like a small zone of the city, easy to get to with 1 yuan buses. Also beautiful view of the beach and blue houses, I feel Qingdao hasn't even hit it's peak yet, plenty of construction everywhere we went. The castle was cool! A few wedding photos were taken during our visit there, and only 8.5 yuan entry fee! But definitely get there early, the line was about an hour long! Unsure of opening times
3. Qingdao Site Museum of the Former German Governor's Residence
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 179 reviews
Reviewed By 390ScottM - Tacoma, United States
A very European museum, furnishings, and architecture in the middle of China. It was a fantastic house and loved learning about the rich history.
4. Qingdao Beer Museum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 897 reviews
Reviewed By deanosaur89 - Edmonton, Canada
The museum was very well thought out and they have lots of memorabilia saved from decades of operations in Qingdao. I enjoyed the museum at the beginning of the self guided tour with its many advertisements, export records and bottle collection (everything from 1903 to KFC). The museum also goes through a thorough history of German ownership, Japanese era, Chinese takeover and modern day expansion. Tsingtao may not be the best beer but the beer museum was a lot of fun, well maintained and clean. Halfway through the tour there is a little pub where you can grab a small beer and a bag of honey roasted peanuts just after the history area. After the small pub there is the vats and bottling areas. Three quarters the way through there is a large gift shop which had some well made Tsingtao novelties, boxes of beer and ice cream (which included a beer flavoured ice cream which was pretty good). After you pass the gift shop there is the 1903 restaurant where you can grab another free beer. The regular ticket price was 50 RMB which includes two 200 ml beers and 1 bag of peanuts. There are quite a few different ticket prices which you could pay for depending on your inclination to drink Tsingtao at the beer museum. An option that seemed like an ok deal was spending 80 RMB to get the regular admission plus a 2 L bag of beer. We saw a few couples where one purchased the 80 RMB ticket and they split the beer at the restaurant at the end using the small glasses. There were other tickets which included a pint glass, beer flights or other souvenirs. If you don't get the extra beer but decide you want more during the tour it will cost double for the beer bag (60 RMB) during the tour. You could also get beer in a bag for pretty cheap at a plethora of restaurants accross the street from the beer museum. In addition to the displays and beer there is a nice open area between the museum and the brewery to take pictures. We would recommend this museum if you want to learn a bit about Qingdao's history, beer history in China or are a fan of beer. We figured the closest metro is Lijin Road but it is a bit of a hike from there. Didi is cheap in Qingdao and the drop off is "Tsingtao Brewery Museum - Ticket Office".
5. Signal Hill Park
6. Beijiushui River Laoshan
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 204 reviews
Reviewed By whitej_11 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Long time before I went to visit Laoshan for very famous Taoists there,but later I was attracted by the nice view of the mountain, and more the broken but well placed stone blocks, looks unstable and dangerous, but always staying there steadily. In autumn we could see colorful view of the stones with plants of red leaves. Water always there for nice view together with stones. If lucky still can see some colorful birds. So when go to qingdao you must try to visit Laoshan
7. Qingdao XiaoYushan Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 98 reviews
Reviewed By ROCruiser - Claremont, United States
It seemed like we were the only ones there on the day we visited. This is an excellent spot to see Qingdao from higher up. We did climb up to the top of the pagoda and it was a wonderful view of the older section of the city. With fewer visitors one can really enjoy the serenity and sight.
8. Protestant Church (Jidu Jiaotang)
9. Small Qingdao Island
10. Zhanqiao Pier
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 872 reviews
This 440 meter (1,440ft) strip that stretches into the sea was built in 1891 and was the first wharf in Qingdao.
Reviewed By jameshuang - Taipei, Taiwan
Zhanqiao Pier (棧橋) is close to the Qingdao Railroad Station (青島火車站) and is only 1.1 km (0.68 mi) away by walking. It located at the southern end of Zhongshan Road (中山路) and stretches into the sea. It is the most popular destination in Qingdao not because it is right in the city center but because of its unique type of attraction and the history behind it. The original 200 m (656 ft) long and 10 m (33 ft) wide stone base pier was built in 1892 during the Qing dynasty (清朝) about the same time the Qingdao established. It was the oldest pier for military use in Qingdao. Later it became a freight pier after Germany invaded in 1901, and the length was extended to 350 m (1,148 ft). The local government replaced the steel and wood construction to cement, extended the length again to 440 m (1,444 ft), and added a two-story octagonal Huilan Pavilion (迴瀾閣) on a newly half-round shape platform on the south. We planned on going to Zhanqiao Pier after we checked into the hotel, but the weather was foggy with rain. Therefore, we went to other attractions first. We ended up going to the site last by walking on the trail along the coastline. It was still rainy and misty. From the distance we saw lots of tourists walking on the pier on the Tuesday afternoon. We decided to find a place and waited for the rain to stop. We picked a window seat and ordered drinks plus chicken nuggets. The foggy rain didn’t look like it would stop soon; therefore, I decided to go by myself. It was around 4 pm, and tourists still kept coming. Zhanqiao Pier doesn’t look 10 m wide, but it looked sturdy with giant granite foundation compared to the wooden structure piers I have seen in the US. It is a wonderful place to see old and new buildings in the area as well as the Little Qingdao Isle (小青島) and the German colonial architectures. If you like water sports, you can find speed boating, water-skiing, windsurfing, parasailing, snorkeling, water-scooter, motorboat rides, yachting, etc. The nearby No. 6 City Beach also a popular spot. Most people come here just to stroll and enjoy the sunrise or sunset. Although we were here on a misty day, it is a nice and lovely place to visit. You don’t need to prepare anything special to visit here. Of course comfortable shoes are better than high heels. From here you can go to Little Qingdao Isle which is only 2.3 km (1.43 mi) away, and you can enjoy the beautiful bay while strolling along the seaside trail. If you can, don’t go there during the weekend to avoid the crowd.
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