City: Shandong
Top Things to do in Shandong
Top Hotels in Shandong
- 1. InterContinental Qingdao
- 2. Shangri-La Qingdao
- 3. Shangri-La Jinan
- 4. Holiday Inn Qingdao Expo, an IHG hotel
- 5. Crowne Plaza Yantai Sea View, an IHG hotel
- 6. Holiday Inn Express Jinan High-Tech Zone, an IHG hotel
- 7. Shangri-La Qufu
- 8. Ramada Jinan
- 9. Crowne Plaza Qingdao, an IHG hotel
- 10. Four Points by Sheraton Qingdao Chengyang
Countries
The 10 Best Budget-friendly Things to do in Shandong, China
Shandong (Chinese: 山东; formerly romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the East China region.
Restaurants in Shandong
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. Shandong Museum
3. Mount Tai
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,696 reviews
A symbol of the Chinese Spirit and the royal object of worship, Mount Tai has many spectacular scenic and historic sites.
Reviewed By Debby718 - Toowoomba, Australia
As I of our tour group said it was like watching an Olympic opening. 300 actors playing out the different dynastys down the century with amazing techno and lighting scenes and dancing, different musical instruments and it's on every night from April 12th to November 12th which was the night we went. A clear night with full moon and our only really cold time in our 10 day tour of China, but we were outside and on a mountain! Absolutely recommend this. Our whole tour was great.
4. Weihai International Bathing Beach
5. Thousand-buddha Cliff Statues
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 59 reviews
Reviewed By Solar77 - Santa Cruz, United States
Thousand Buddha Cliff statues were carved during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD) and the ancient buildings are beautiful.
6. 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
7. 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.
8. 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".
9. Signal Hill Park
10. Yantai Hill
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 139 reviews
Reviewed By 722barryl - New Orleans, United States
This scenic area gave its name to the city. Free and well maintained, there's plenty to do here. The area is the location of four former foreign consulates representing the UK, the US, Denmark, and Japan. There's also a Qipao Museum, two temples, and a lighthouse. Each of the attractions are small and manageable and all are close to each other. If you have kids with short attention span, this is a perfect place to while away an afternoon.
