Olympic Green (Olympic Park)

In just a few years since Beijing hosted the 2008 Olympic Games, the structures built within the Olympic Green (Olympic Park) have become just as representative of the Chinese capital as the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. While the Olympic Green houses half a dozen different venues, most visitors come to see the two most iconic, the Beijing National Stadium (more popularly known as the Bird’s Nest) and the Beijing National Aquatics Center (Water Cube).

Today, the Bird’s Nest is used mostly for concerts and other high-profile sporting events, while the Water Cube has been transformed into a recreational swimming facility open to the public. You can visit the interiors of either for an extra fee, but both are arguably more impressive from the outside, and it doesn’t cost anything to walk the grounds of the Olympic Green.

If you want to see the Olympic Green at its most beautiful, plan your visit for the evening hours with both the stadium and the Water Cube are lit up.