Three days: the old town and the pier, the villa district and a beach, and a day out at Laoshan. The city is long and thin along its coast, so pick a base near the old town and use the metro east rather than trying to stay in the middle of everything. August is peak season and the beaches show it; June and September are the same weather with half the people.
At a glance
- Day 1Zhanqiao Pier → Zhongshan Road → St Michael's → the brewery
- Day 2Badaguan → No.1 Bathing Beach → Wusi Square → a barbecue
- Day 3Laoshan → the coast road → back
Day 1
The old town, uphill from the pier
Zhanqiao Pier → Zhongshan Road → St Michael's → the brewery
Zhanqiao is the pier on the city seal and the obvious place to start, then walk up into the old town: German shopfronts on Zhongshan Road, and the twin spires of St Michael's at the top of the hill with wedding photographers arranged around it. The Tsingtao brewery museum is a working brewery from 1903, and the ticket includes what it should include. Buy a bag of fresh draft from a street tap afterwards — unfiltered, sold by weight, and drunk within the hour.
Day 2
Villas, a bay, and a great deal of seafood
Badaguan → No.1 Bathing Beach → Wusi Square → a barbecue
Badaguan is eight streets of pre-war villas, each planted with a different tree, and the walk between them and the small stony bay at the end of it is the prettiest hour in the city. No.1 Bathing Beach is next door and is a real municipal beach rather than a resort one, which is its charm. Wusi Square and the red sculpture on the waterfront are the modern city. In the evening, barbecue: skewers, clams stir-fried with chilli, and more of the bag beer. If you do the market version — buying raw and carrying it to a cooking stall — read the tips below first, because that is where this city separates visitors from their money.
Day 3
The mountain that falls into the sea
Laoshan → the coast road → back
Laoshan is granite, pine and Taoist temples going straight up out of the water about forty minutes east of the city, and it is the half of Qingdao that people who only came for the beer never see. There are several entrances and they lead to genuinely different walks, so pick one and stay in it rather than trying to cover the mountain. The coast road back at the end of the afternoon is worth sitting on the right-hand side of the bus for.
Eat like you mean it
- Fresh draft beer in a bagFrom a street tap, by weight, with a straw. Drink it where you bought it.
- Clams & seafoodStir-fried with dried chilli and spring onion. The default table order.
- BarbecueSkewers over charcoal, eaten outdoors, from about six until very late.
- Sea-urchin egg custardSteamed egg served in the urchin shell. Ordered once and remembered.
- Sea-moss jellyCold seaweed jelly with vinegar and garlic — the summer starter here.
- JiaoziShandong dumplings, often with mackerel in them on this coast.
Where to stay
- Zhongshan Road · old townThe German quarter, the pier and the brewery all on foot.
- Huiquan Bay · No.1 Bathing BeachA beach at the end of the street, and Badaguan next door.
- Wusi Square · Fushan BayThe modern waterfront, hotels with views, and the metro.
- Shilaoren · Laoshan districtEast along the coast, nearest the mountain and quietest.
Before you go
- Bag beer does not keep. Buy it from a street tap and drink it within the hour, which is what everyone around you is doing.
- At the seafood markets you buy raw and pay a stall to cook it — roughly ¥10–20 a preparation. The people in yellow vests who attach themselves to you while you shop are touting for one particular stall. Say no and pick your own.
- Watch your seafood go into the pot. Swapping a live crab for a dead one happens often enough that regulars check the size and the shell before it leaves the counter.
- August fills every beach in the city. June and September are the same weather with half the crowd.
- Laoshan has several entrances leading to different walks. Pick one and stay in it — trying to cover the mountain in a day covers none of it.
- The city is long and thin along the coast. Base yourself near the old town and use the metro east rather than hunting for a central address.
One honest thing — Draft beer here is sold in a plastic bag with a straw from a tap on the street — that is how the city buys beer, and it does not travel. At the seafood markets you buy raw and pay a stall to cook it, which is where the touting and the short weights happen.
