Water Fun a Short Walk from Sanlitun

With temperatures reaching as high as 37 C today, and the National Meteorological Center issuing a yellow alert for extreme temperatures, summer is undeniably here. But don’t let the heat keep you inside under environmentally unfriendly air conditioners. Tuanjiehu Water Park (团结湖游泳池) is conveniently located in the middle of Tuanjiehu Park (团结湖公园), a short walk from Sanlitun. If you don’t mind crowds – and let’s face it, if you do you should probably be living in another city – the water park is a great place to escape the heat after work, cool off and have a good time.

For RMB 40 during the week and RMB 50 on Saturdays and Sundays, visitors get unlimited access to a sand beach, two water slides, a bathing pool, a kiddie playground, and a wave pool. If you need a locker (and you probably will), it’s an additional RMB 20 and RMB 10 service charge. The lockers are big enough to fit three people’s worth of shoes, shirts, and towels, so most groups will probably only need to hire one.

The sand beach was a little bit disappointing because of its small size, and the presence of some visitors lighting up while chillin’ out with their friends. Despite that, the sand felt like the real deal, and visitors were having fun building sand castles and taking part in other beach activities such as tanning and burying each other in sand.

For a more thrilling experience, guests can ride down one of two slides at the park. One takes riders straight down, while the other spirals before giving you a slightly frightening jolt on the last bend. Be warned that the pools at the end of the slides are very shallow – I found myself hitting the bottom after splashing into the water. It wasn’t painful, but it would have been a better experience if the water was just slightly deeper.

If you’re an extreme thrill seeker, the slides might disappoint as they definitely don’t measure up to some of the better water park slides out there, but even for a Las Vegas native who was spoiled as a kid by the local water park’s 76 footers, the slides at Tuanjiehu were still a lot of fun.

The wave pool (above) comes alive every thirty minutes. One downside to the pool is it attracts a large number of people at wave time, precluding any possibility of body surfing. We found ourselves simply jumping up and down with the waves, so what we thought would be exciting ended up being more of a gimmick.

Plan on eating before visiting the park, or else bring your own food if you think you’ll get hungry. There are a couple of food stands inside the park, but they are overpriced. RMB 4 for chuan’r? Come on…

Outside the park, there is also a skating rink with an entrance fee of RMB 2, and some fair rides such as merry-go-rounds, with ticket prices starting at RMB 5 for 15 minutes. Feeding the koi fish in the lake just outside also seemed to be a hit with the kids.

The crowds at this park are pretty intense (but then what water park wouldn’t be packed in this kind of heat?), and some of the attractions take a hit because of it. But the park gets the job done. If you’re looking for a quiet, relaxing evening, the Tuanjiehu Water Park probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking to cool off and a couple of hours of fun with friends and family, it’s the place to be over summer.

Tuanjiehu Water Park (团结湖游泳池), middle of Tuanjiehu Park (团结湖公园); 10.30am-8.30pm; Tickets sold from 10:15am to 7:40pm. RMB 50 (weekends)/40 (week days).