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The 8,000-hectare Mangshan National Forest Park on the east side of the Ming Tombs Reservoir in Changping district hosts Beijing's biggest mountains.

It's an hour from Yinshan Pagoda Forest, which features precipices said to resemble forged iron, including three particularly iconic peaks. It offers hot spring experiences in wooden barrels and traditional Chinese medicine baths, plus swimming pools and a kids' water park.

Xiaotangshan Modern Agricultural Science Demonstration Park offers rural tourism and educational activities. Visitors can pick fresh fruit and vegetables-even outside the normal harvest periods, making a winter visit a truly unique outing.

Then again, it's just one of many special experiences Beijing offers in winter.